Yesterday, we learned in a mishnah:
If the seller sold wine and it is found to be vinegar, both the seller and the buyer can renege on the sale.
Left to sit for a long time, wine will turn to vinegar. Both are consumed and appreciated, but the mishnah suggests they are not the same product and therefore if someone sold wine but delivered vinegar, either party can cancel the sale. The tacit assumption here is that neither is a preferable product, only that they are not interchangeable.
On today’s daf, the Gemara explores this presumption that wine and vinegar are in fact different foods:
Shall we say that the mishnah is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and not in accordance with the opinion of the rabbis? As it is taught in a beraita: Wine and vinegar are one type of food. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: They are two types of food.
The Gemara has brought a beraita, another rabbinic teaching from the same era as the Mishnah (and therefore of comparable authority), that shows there was disagreement among early rabbis about whether wine and vinegar were, in fact, two different foods. While Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (who, not incidentally, compiled the Mishnah) holds that wine and vinegar are different, most rabbis of that era, represented by the anonymous opinion in the beraita, actually seem to hold that they are the same type of food. This presents a problem because the mishnah under consideration clearly views them as different foods.
The Gemara proceeds to explain that the rabbis of the beraita cited above may not in fact disagree with the mishnah, as the two sources are discussing different contexts:
You may say that the mishnah is in accordance with the opinion of the rabbis, as the rabbis disagree with Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi only with regard to the issue of whether one can separate ma’aser and terumah.
Wine and vinegar may be considered different foods when we’re thinking about selling them to consume, the Gemara suggests, but not when we are calculating and separating tithes (ma’aser and terumah). For tithing, the rabbis consider wine and vinegar to be the same entity, which means if you owe a tithe on your stock of wine, you can contribute vinegar to satisfy that requirement.
But vinegar is considered less expensive than wine. If you owe a tithe on your wine, is it really acceptable to contribute vinegar? Apparently so:
And the rabbis hold in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Ela. As Rabbi Ela says: From where is it derived with regard to one who separates terumah from poor-quality produce for superior-quality produce, that his terumah is valid terumah? As it is stated: And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, seeing as you have set apart from it its best. (Numbers 18:32)
With regard to the question of terumah, the rabbis consider vinegar to be, essentially, wine of inferior quality. Since, according to Rabbi Ela, even separating from produce of inferior quality for superior quality is effective (though discouraged), for the purposes of terumah, wine and vinegar are interchangeable.
This doesn’t mean the same holds true for selling wine to your neighbor who, presumably, plans to consume it:
But with regard to buying and selling, everyone agrees: There are those for whom wine is preferable and vinegar is not preferable, and there are those for whom vinegar is preferable and wine is not preferable.
A person preparing a meal presumably doesn’t want to dress their salad with wine or sip on a glass of vinegar. When it comes to consumption, wine and vinegar are not interchangeable. Further, neither is automatically preferred: We might think of wine as the generally superior product, but the salad eater may be sorely disappointed to discover they purchased wine instead of balsamic.
The Gemara, as it often does, resolves conflict between the mishnah and beraita by emphasizing the importance of context. A ruling in one area of law may not be applicable to another area. For the purpose of tithing, the rabbis view wine and vinegar as the same entity, but of different quality (wine being superior). In the case of sales, however, they are neither the same nor can we assume one is more valuable than the other.
Read all of Bava Batra 84 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on September 17, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world.
Your donation to My Jewish Learning fuels endless journeys of Jewish discovery. With your help, My Jewish Learning can continue to provide nonstop opportunities for learning, connection and growth.
