Jews and the Wine Trade in Medieval Europe

Although Jews were at the centre of commercial activity in medievalEurope, a talmudic ban on any wine touched by a Gentile prevented them fromengaging in the lucrative wine trade. Wine was consumed in vast quantities inthe Middle Ages, and the banks of the Rhineland hosted some of the finestvineyards in northern Europe. German Jews were, until the thirteenth century, amerchant class. How could they abstain from trading in one of the region’smajor commodities? In time, they ruled that it was perm