For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 56
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Beginning with the Mishna on daf 55a, Massekhet Avoda Zara begins to focus on the laws of yayin nesekh – wine forbidden to Jews because it has been sacrificed as a libation to pagan idols. Due to this concern, the Sages forbid all wine with which non-Jews come in contact. The Mishna teaches that as long as the grapes are still in the process of being squeezed in the wine press – even if there are non-Jews who are touching the grapes and placing them in the press to be tread upon – they will not be considered to have become yayin nesekh. The juice is only considered to have become wine when it flows out of the press and into the collection vats.
We examine the notion of wine (and water) libations in antiquity.