Gifts of Forbidden Food, Drink
Bottle of Stam Yeinam
31. Issur of stam yeinam. Chazal forbade one to drink or get benefit from wine of a non-Jew if one does not know whether it was poured for avoda zara (שו''ע סי' קכ''ג ס''א ). Some poskim say that even nowadays, when non-Jews do not usually pour wine for avoda zara, stam yeinam is still assur to drink or get benefit from (שו''ע שם) ). Others say only drinking stam yeinam is assur today, but benefit is mutar (רמ''א שם ). The minhag is to be meikel to prevent a substantial financial loss (שם ).
32. Bottle received as a gift. Thus, according to the opinion that one may not benefit from stam yeinam (דע ת המחבר ), if a Jew received a bottle of wine as a gift from a non-Jew or bought it mistakenly and has no use for it, he may not pass it on to a non-Jew, as he benefits from doing that. However, some allow him to regift it to a non-Jew, as it is considered a situation of financial loss since it is already in his possession (שו''ת שב ורפא ח''ג סי' ל''ב ).
33. L’chatchila one should not buy bottles of wine from non-Jews to give to non-Jews, as we hold that l’chatchila, one may not benefit from the wine even today if it is not a situation of financial loss. Some suggest that in a pressing situation, one should have in mind when buying the wine not to acquire it. This way, it never belonged to him, and in a pressing situation, he may pass it on to a non-Jew (שו''ת ויען דוד ח''ו בסוף הספר ראש דוד סי' ט''ז ).
Meat, Fish
34. One may not do business with any food item that is assur d’oraisa even if there is no issur to get benefit (שו''ע יו''ד סי' קי''ז ס''א ). Thus, there is an issur to buy neveila or treifa meat to give to a non-Jew.
35. One may not buy non-kosher meat or fish as a gift for a non-Jew, as that is an issur of doing business. A gift is like a sale, as if he weren’t getting any benefit from it, he would not give it as a gift (ש''ך שם סק''ג ).
Cholov Stam
36. There is no issur to do business with an issur d’rabanan, so as long as there is no issur to get benefit, one may give it as a gift to a non-Jew. Thus, non-kosher cheeses which are only assur d’rabanan may be given as a gift to a non-Jew.
37. Dairy chocolate. Similarly, one may buy a dairy chocolate platter as a gift for a non-Jew since all it is is cholov stam, which is only an issur d’rabanan.
