Avodah Zarah

MISHNAH. IF [AN ISRAELITE] PREPARES A HEATHEN'S WINE IN A STATE OF RITUAL PURITY  AND LEAVES IT IN [THE LATTER'S] DOMAIN, IN A HOUSE WHICH OPENS ON TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, SHOULD IT BE IN A CITY WHERE HEATHENS AND ISRAELITES RESIDE, IT IS PERMITTED;  BUT SHOULD IT BE IN A CITY WHERE ONLY HEATHENS RESIDE IT IS PROHIBITED UNLESS [AN ISRAELITE] SITS AND WATCHES.  THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE SUPERVISOR TO SIT AND WATCH [THE WHOLE TIME]; EVEN IF HE KEEPS GOING OUT AND COMING IN IT IS PERMITTED. R. SIMEON B. ELEAZAR SAYS: IT IS ALL ONE WITH THE DOMAIN OF A HEATHEN.  IF [AN ISRAELITE] PREPARES A HEATHEN'S WINE IN A STATE OF RITUAL PURITY AND LEAVES IT IN [THE LATTER'S] DOMAIN WHO WRITES FOR HIM 'I HAVE RECEIVED THE MONEY FROM YOU,' THEN [THE WINE] IS PERMITTED. IF, HOWEVER, THE ISRAELITE WISHED TO REMOVE IT AND [THE HEATHEN] REFUSES TO LET IT GO UNTIL HE PAID HIM — THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN BETH-SHAN AND [THE RABBIS] PROHIBITED IT. GEMARA. In a city where only heathens reside it should also [be permitted without a supervisor] since there are [Israelite] spice-sellers  going about the cities! — Samuel said: [The Mishnah refers] to a city which has doors and bolts.  R. Joseph said: If there is a window  it is the equivalent [of the house being in] a public domain; or if there is a rubbish-heap  it is the equivalent [of the house being in] a public domain; and similarly a date-palm makes it the equivalent of a public domain.  If the top [of the date-palm] had been cut off,  R. Aha and Rabina differ, one forbidding [the wine] and the other permitting it. He who forbids it [does so for the reason that the heathen thinks that the owner of the tree] has no cause to climb it; and he who permits it [does so for the reason that] an occasion may occur that [the Israelite's] cattle will stray and he will climb it to look for them. Our Rabbis taught: 'Whether [an Israelite] purchases or rents an apartment in the court of a heathen and fills it with [casks of] wine, and an Israelite resides in that court, it is permitted even though the key and seal be not in his [the Israelite's] possession.