Rabbi Yosef Kushner
Answer: Religious artifacts are not part of this discussion, as people generally will not buy religious artifacts for an Akum. It is more common to buy non-kosher wine, or even actual non-kosher food (for a corporate party or something to that effect). When we say non-kosher, we are talking about something that is assur min hatorah to eat, such as neveilus/treifos and the like.
There is an issur d'oraysah for a Jew to do business with non-kosher food (issur sechora). What about giving a gift? This is very interesting because of what we discussed in the previous shiurim. We said that one is not allowed to give a gift to an Akum unless there is an expectation of reciprocation involved. The reason for this is that Chazal looked at that as more of a mecher (transaction). This same concept of a gift being considered a mecher is what actually makes gifting non-kosher food assur, as one is not allowed to deal with transactions involving non-kosher food. Regarding issurei achila, even though one can't purchase it to give as a gift, one can re-gift it if he received it as a present from an Akum.
Giving stam yeinam (any non-kosher wine) as a gift is also assur. Wine is different than non-kosher food because there may also be an issur to have hana'ah (benefit) from it. Therefore if one received a wine bottle as a gift, one is not permitted to give it back or pass it on as a gift to someone else.
This is referring to interpersonal gifts. We will discuss in the next segment the potential issues in ordering non-kosher food for a corporate party.
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