The Rock of Help

In the year 1151/2 the following incident occurred:

My son-in-law, Elyakim, poured wine from a barrel into a small vessel from which a non-Jew had drunk kosher wine, and the vessel was one that was used in idolatrous practices. He asked me whether the wine was kosher.

I said to him, “Do you know if the vessel was dry?”

He said, “Yes.”

So I permitted it.

This was on the Sabbath. After I ate, I was sleeping, and my teacher, my father-in-law, came to me in a dream. He was reading, “Who drink wine from bowls (Amos 6:6) and [eat the flesh of] pigs.” And in the dream, I interpreted this to be about non-Jews, who drink forbidden wine and eat the flesh of pigs.

When I woke up, I realized that he was informing me about the wine—that it was forbidden, because the vessel had not been dry.

So, I tested it. I took the very same vessel and left it out for two days and one night, and it was not dry. So, I knew that it was not right that I had permitted it. I prohibited the wine in the barrel from being drunk, and I, as well as the others who had drunk from it, fasted for two days.