Medieval Rabbis on Gentile Wine, featuring Prof. David Freidenreich

With gentile wine being seen as off-limits in the times of the Mishnah and Talmud, how did post-Talmudic rabbis advise on this matter? Joining the 83rd episode of The Jewish Drinking Show is Professor David Freidenreich.

Prof. Freidenreich is the Pulver Family Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College, where he serves as director of the Jewish Studies program and associate director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life. After receiving a B.A. from Brandeis University, he earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. His award-winning first book, Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law, explores attitudes toward adherents of foreign religions expressed in ancient and medieval laws about sharing food.

For those interested in gaining a sense of how the early rabbis dealt with gentile [libation] wine, you can check out episode #71 of The Jewish Drinking Show, “Gentile Libation Wine (יין נסך) In The Mishnah And Tosefta”, featuring Prof. Avram Shannon.

The episode is available for listening as a podcast on podcasting platforms (and below), as well as viewable on YouTube:


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