Gentiles and their Prohibited Foods

(3) These are the items of non-Jews which are prohibited, and their prohibition is on deriving any benefit from them at all: wine, the vinegar of non-Jews which began as wine, Hadrianic earthenware, and hides that were pierced at the heart. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: If [the hole is] round then it is prohibited, but if it is stretched it is allowed. Meat that is entering [a place of] idolatry is allowed, but leaving, it is prohibited, because it is like sacrifices of the dead, according to Rabbi Akiva. Those who are going on an idolatrous pilgrimage, it is prohibited to do business with them, but with those who are coming back, it is permitted.

(5) Rabbi Yehuda says: Rabbi Ishmael asked Rabbi Yehoshua [a question] as they were walking along the road. He said to him, "What is the cause for the prohibition against the cheese of non-Jews?" He said to him, "Because they curdle it inside the stomach of carrion." He said to him, "But is not [the law regarding] the stomach of a burnt offering more stringent than the stomach of carrion?! And they [the Sages] said: [It was proposed that] a priest with a good disposition may burn [a burnt offering after sucking out the fat from its stomach] while it it still raw [and has not yet been burnt with the offering, which would forbid one form deriving any benefit from it]. And they [the sages] did not agree with him [who proposed this opinion], but they said: One may not derive benefit [from the fats of the stomach], nor is one [who does so] liable for meilah [deriving prohibited benefit from from a sanctified object]." [Implying that one should therefore not be liable for the less stringent case of a stomach of carrion.] He [Rabbi Yehoshua] retracted, and [instead] said, "Because they curdle it in the stomachs of calves that were used for idolatry." And he [Rabbi Ishmael] said, "If so, why is there no prohibition to benefit from it?" He [Rabbi Yehoshua] redirected him to another topic. He said to him, "Ishmael, my brother, how do you read (Shir HaShirim 1): 'For dodechah [Heb. masc: "your love"] is better than wine,' or 'For dodayich [Heb. fem: "your love") is better than wine'? He said to him:, "'For dodayich is better than wine.'" He said to him, "The matter is not so. For its fellow [the following verse] teaches about it: 'For the fragrance of shemaneikha [Heb. masc: "your oils"] is good.'"

(6) These are the items of non-Jews that are prohibited, yet their prohibition is not against deriving benefit from them: milk that was milked by a non-Jew without a Jew watching, and [their] bread, and their oil [although] Rabbi and his court permitted [their] oil, and stewed vegetables, and pickled vegetables to which it is their custom to add wine and vinegar, and minced fish, and fish-brine that does not have kilbit [a kind of small fish] floating in it, and the chilaq fish, and a [cut] piece of asafoetida, and seasoned salt, all of these [items of non-Jews] are prohibited yet their prohibition is not against deriving any benefit from them.

(7) The following are permitted to be eaten: milk that was milked by a non-Jew with a Jew watching, and honey, and bunches of grapes [alt. honeycombs], even though they drip they are not considered primed [for impurity] by a liquid, and pickled vegetables to which it is not their custom to add wine and vinegar, and fish that is not minced, and brine that has fish in it, and [whole] asafoetida leaves, and rolls of [heated] olives. Rabbi Yose says: the [olives that became] very soft are forbidden. Locusts that come from the [shopkeeper's] basket are prohibited, from but those from the stock-room are allowed, and so too regarding the priestly tithe.