daf bit: Avodah Zarah 61

The mishna teaches: if an Israelite prepares a gentile's wine in a state of ritual purity and leaves it in the gentile's domain, in a house which opens on the public domain, then it is permitted for benefit to the Israelite if and only if Israelites live in the town along with the gentiles. If only gentiles live there it is forbidden unless an Israelite watches it, though the watching does not need to be 24x7. (61a)

The rabbis' concern is that the gentile will use the wine for idolatry, which disqualifies it for any use by Jews (including payment for sale or production). However, the presumption is that if the house is open to some amount of public view, the gentile won't do so for fear of being caught.

[SCA] persona resources

Dear SCA Lazyweb,

(Ok, not completely; I'm doing my own work on this too.)

What are your favorite accessible, beginner-friendly resources for persona development? I'm especially interested in suggestions for specific periods. If a beginner is interested in the Crusader era or the Italian renaissance or early Celts (for example) and wants to do more than pick a name and wear roughly the right clothing, where would you send him? Aside from Google and "talk to so-and-so", I mean. :-)

(I've been asked to teach a class for newcomers in a couple weeks and want to hand out a list of sources they could try, sorted by period where appropriate.)