The Torah in Parashat Ki-Tisa (Shemot 34:12-15) warns against entering into treaties with the pagans, which will result in partaking in their sacrificial offerings. The warning is formulated with the expression “Hishamer Lecha” (literally, “Guard yourself”), and according to tradition, when the Torah uses this formulation, it establishes a prohibition. And thus the Sefer Ha’hinuch lists as one of the Biblical prohibitions the command forbidding eating or drinking anything which had been offered as a pagan sacrifice. The reason for this command, quite obviously, is that the Torah wanted to distance us as much as possible from pagan worship, to the point where it forbade eating or drinking any food or beverage that was part of a pagan ritual. The Sefer Ha’hinuch mentions a number of Halachot relevant to this prohibition, noting, for example, that it applies to anything offered as a pagan sacrifice, even something small and insignificant, like salt, or water. This prohibition includes also “Yayin Nesech” – wine poured as a libation to a pagan god. The Halacha of “Yayin Nesech” is exceptional in that Torah law forbids consuming even a single drop of this wine, even it is mixed in permissible foods. This provision is learned from the verse in the Book of Debarim (13:18), “Ve’lo Yidbak Be’yadecha Me’uma Min Ha’herem” – “Nothing at all shall remain in your hand from the forbidden property.” If a person drinks even one drop of “Yayin Nesech,” he has transgressed this Biblical prohibition and is liable to Malkut. The Sefer Ha’hinuch mentions also the Rabbinic prohibition of “Setam Yenam” – ordinary wine owned by a gentile. Even though it is not known whether this wine had been used in a pagan ritual, it is nevertheless forbidden by force of Rabbinic enactment. Similarly, a statue in a gentile’s home is forbidden for any sort of benefit even if it is not known whether it was worshipped. The Sages extended the prohibition of “Stam Yenam” a step further, forbidding even wine owned by a Jew that was touched by a non-Jew. Due to the singular severity of the prohibition of Aboda Zara (foreign worship), the Sages forbade even wine which a gentile merely handled. Another expression of this unique standard of severity is the Halacha forbidding one to receive payment for destroying barrels containing “Yayin Nesech.” Although this person is being paid specifically to destroy this wine, nevertheless, if he receives payment, he has interest in this wine’s temporary existence, in that its existence enables him to earn money. Therefore, such an arrangement is forbidden, and one who receives payment to destroy these barrels may not use the money paid to him. This prohibition applies at all times, in all places, and to both men and women. The Sefer Ha’hinuch’s discussion of this command is exceptional, marking the only time that he does not follow the Rambam’s view regarding the Biblical source of a Misva. The Rambam understood that the source forbidding deriving benefit from pagan wine libations is not the verses in Parashat Ki-Tisa, but rather a verse in Parashat Haazinu (Debarim 32:38) which says of the pagans, “who eat the fat of their sacrifices, drink the wine of their libations.” The verse compares the pagans’ sacrificial foods with the wine of their libations, and the Rambam thus infers that just as the sacrificial food is forbidden (as the Rambam derives from a different verse), the wine used for libations is likewise forbidden. The Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that although throughout his work he follows the Rambam’s view, in this instance, he felt compelled to accept the Ramban’s understanding, inferring the prohibition against partaking of pagan offerings from the aforementioned verses in Parashat Ki-Tisa. He explains that the verse in Parashat Haazinu cited by the Rambam makes no reference whatsoever to a prohibition; it merely states as a fact that the pagans offered sacrifices and libations to their gods. In the verses in Parashat Ki-Tisa, by