2,419. A Convert and His Father's Estate

Maachalos Assuros 13:21

If a non-Jew owes a Jew a maneh (a sum of money), he is permitted to sell an idol and wine that was poured as a libation and to give the Jew that money. If he tells the Jew beforehand to wait for him to sell the idol or the libation wine and he will then bring him the money, after which he does so, then the money is prohibited. This is true even of regular non-Jewish wine. The reason is because this causes the Jew to want the prohibited item to endure because it will lead to him being repaid.

Maachalos Assuros 13:22

Similarly, if a convert and a non-Jew are business partners and they go to divide their profits, the convert may not tell the non-Jew to take an idol in exchange for which he’ll take its cash equivalent, or to take non-Jewish wine in exchange for its equivalent in produce. Again, this is because it causes him to hope for the prohibited item to endure so that he will receive something in lieu of it. However, if a convert and a non-Jew inherit their non-Jewish father’s estate, the convert may tell the non-Jew to take an idol in exchange for which he will take cash, or to take the wine in exchange for which he will take the oil. This is a leniency extended in the case of an estate inherited by a convert so that he won’t revert to his previous ways. However, once the prohibited item enters the convert’s domain, such an arrangement becomes prohibited.