The Ups and Downs of Shevuos

(1) The commandment of the sacrifice that varies up and down: To sacrifice the sacrifice that varies up and down for specific sins - and they are: Impurity of the Temple, meaning to say a man who is impure with a primary source of impurity and enters the Temple inadvertently; likewise, the impurity of its consecrated [foods], that he is impure and ate consecrated meat inadvertently; an oath of expression, meaning to say that he swore falsely about a thing to do it or not to do it, and the other known angles of an oath of expression, and he transgresses it inadvertently; likewise an oath of testimony, meaning to say that he swore to his fellow that he does not have testimony for him [when he actually does], whether inadvertently or volitionally. For these sins, a person is obligated to bring a sacrifice that varies up and down - meaning to say, according to the wealth or poverty of a person; as it is explicit in the verse (Leviticus 5:1), "And if a soul shall sin and he heard the voice of an oath" - meaning to say the voice of the oath that they swore him to, whether he knows testimony, "if he does not say, he will carry his iniquity." And the end of the matter is (Leviticus 5:6), "And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And it is not stated there, "and it was hidden from him," to teach that he is liable for the sacrifice, whether [he is] inadvertent or volitional.

(2) And it is written about impurity of the Temple and its consecrated foods (Leviticus 5:2), "Or a soul that touches anything impure, etc. and it was hidden from him"; and it is stated about it all at the end of the matter (Leviticus 5:6), "And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And the verse does not come explicitly that the liability of the impure one there would be with his entering the Temple or with his eating consecrated meat. Rather, we have understood from the tradition that it speaks about this (Shevuot 6b). And even though the thing is from the tradition, we have found the liability for excision for one who ate consecrated [food] or entered the Temple explicit in another place, as it is stated (Leviticus 7:20), "And the soul that eats meat from the sacrifice of the peace-offering that is to the Lord and his impurity is upon him, he shall be excised"; and another verse (Numbers 19:20) states about the impure one that enters the Temple, "for the Temple of the Lord he has made impure, and he shall be excised." And once excision has been written about its volitional transgression, there is a sacrifice for its inadvertent transgression - with our rule, that everything that is with excision for its volitional transgression, is with a sin-offering for its inadvertent transgression. And it is written about an oath of expression (Leviticus 5:4-6), "Or if a soul swears to express with his lips, etc. and it was hidden from him, etc. And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And from where [do we know] that the liability there [for them] is with a sacrifice that varies up and down? As it is written in the section (Leviticus 5:11), "And if his hand does not reach, etc."

(3) From the roots of the commandment, we have already said (Sefer HaChinukh 95) that the matter of the sacrifice is to remind - and to have the thinker place in his heart - by force of action that he made his deeds bad; and that he request forgiveness about the past and be careful about the future. And it is from His wisdom, blessed be He, and His awareness of the lightness of people's intellect, the limitation of their understanding and the weakness of their power, that He was lenient upon them [regarding] the atonement of these sins that are mentioned - that they be according to the wealth of people or their poverty - as stumbling in them is [common] for people. As there is no doubt that (every) sin of the the tongue is more [common] and frequent than the sin of action. And this will suffice for you about oaths.

(4) And also regarding the impurity of the Temple and its consecrated [foods], it is known that stumbling is common with it. As the matter of purity is very difficult for any man to guard it, to the point that the pure man must be careful from approaching [other] people out of the concern for impurity. And the matter would be lengthy if I had come to write of the several angles of stumbling that are found with it - however, it is known to all that understand (See Guide for the Perplexed 3:41).

(5) And from this root that we have said - that stumbling in these matters is [common] - He was further lenient upon them with testimony of an oath that they bring atonement whether [he was] inadvertent or volitional. As since the matter of testimony is very frequent, 'and the impulse of the heart of man is bad,' they [can] attribute the falsehood to forgetting and not be precise in their testimony. There are also some among the creatures that do not [pay so much attention] to the great evil they are doing in swaying the direction of the testimony - since they did not steal and did not extort with their hands. Even though a man is oppressed and broken because of them, they do not [pay attention] to this. And so from the frequency of the matter and its lightness in the eyes of the masses of people, it was from His kindnesses, may He be blessed, that the atonement be whether for the inadvertent or for the volitional.

(6) And yet one who is understanding among people knows that everything from which God distances us - even if He gives atonement for the thing - is fitting for us to distance with the utmost distancing. And the matter is as if God, blessed be He, informs people, "It is not My will that you do thing x in any fashion. However one of you who stumbles and transgresses it should repent with all of his might, protect himself with many fences and bring a sacrifice to fix the thing in his heart, that he not stumble in it again." And nonetheless, that person is not saved from having transgressed the commandment of his Creator.

(7) From the laws of the commandment is that each one of these four sins obligates its doer to bring a ewe or a female goat, like the well-known law of the fixed sin-offering; and he is only exempted with fowl or flour if he is poor. But if he is poor and he brings a ewe or a female goat, he has not fulfilled his obligation. And the reason is that since God, blessed be He, had mercy upon him and exempted him with [something less expensive] it is not appropriate that he push himself to bring more than what his hand can reach. And from this, every understanding person will acquire good counsel: to not make expenditures [that are] more than what is fitting according to his money - as this is a cause to steal from the creatures when he seeks that to which he is accustomed and does not find [it]. And they also said (Keritot 27b) that one who was wealthy and separated money to buy a ewe or a female goat with it and became poor and needs the money, should take two doves or two young pigeons; and he should say, "Behold this money is rendered profane upon these birds." And afterwards, he may benefit from all of the money. And so [too, if] he separated money for fowl and became poor and needed them, he renders them profane on a tenth of an eifah of flour, and benefits from [the money]. And so [too,] a poor person who separated money for a tenth of an eifah [of flour] and became wealthy, adds upon it and brings a ewe or a female goat. And for this matter, a wealthy person is called one so long as he has [the wealth]. And the liability for these sacrifices is only when inadvertent - and with an oath of testimony even when volitional - but if under duress, there is no liability for a sacrifice with any of them (Shevuot 31b). As the Torah exempts any [one under] duress from any liability (Pesachim 71b).

(8) The sides that are in oaths through which a person is called under duress and exempt or inadvertent and liable, and the sides that he is only liable for one sacrifice even for many oaths (Shevuot 31b) or a sacrifice for each and every oath. And so [too,] the sides to make liable or exempt regarding the sacrifice for the impurity of the Temple and impurity of its consecrated [foods] - the side to obligate is when the sinner has awareness of the impurity and the consecrated [food] or the Temple, at first and likewise at the end, but it was hidden [from him] in the middle. How is this? He became impure and he knew that he became impure, and consecrated meat came to his hand and he knows that it is consecrated meat, or he comes to enter the Temple and he knows that it is the Temple - such that he has awareness of the impurity and of the consecrated at the beginning. And afterwards [it is] hidden, as he forgot his impurity and thought that he was pure, and likewise that the consecrated [foods] or the Temple became hidden from him and he thought them to be non-sacred, and he ate from the consecrated [foods] or he entered the Temple, such that this is hiddenness in the middle. And afterwards, it becomes known to him that he was impure or that the meat was consecrated or that they were in the Temple, such that this is awareness at the end. In such a manner [must] he bring a sacrifice; and about this did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say, (Shevuot 2a), "Awareness at the beginning and at the end and hiddenness in the middle."

(9) And the side of exemption is (for example,) that he became impure and he did not know that he became impure and he entered the Temple or ate consecrated meat, and afterwards it became known to him that he had become impure. In this manner, he is exempt from a sacrifice. And this law is not like other liabilities for excision [when volitional and a sacrifice when inadvertent] in the Torah. As with other excisions - once he knows at the end, even if did not know at the beginning, he is liable for a sacrifice. And the verse determines to judge like this here, as it is written about the impurity of the Temple and its consecrated [foods] (Leviticus 5:2), "and it was hidden from him" - [which] implies that there was a time of awareness at the beginning; and afterwards it is stated, "and he knew." Behold, you have learned that that it needs awareness at the beginning and awareness at the end and hiddenness in the middle. But with other [instances of those] that are liable for excisions, it is written (Leviticus 4:27-28), "in his doing one of the commandments of the Lord which shall not be done, etc. Or his sin is made known to him" - meaning to say, once he knew at the end, even if he did not know at the beginning. As behold, it is not written there, "and it was hidden," from which we would learn awareness at the beginning.

(10) And also from the matter of the commandment is that which they said (Shevuot 2a) that one who has awareness at the beginning but not at the end may not bring atonement, as they said that the goat of Yom Kippur, that is executed inside, and Yom Kippur itself, puts it into the balance until it is made known to him and he brings the sacrifice for his atonement. But one who has no awareness at the beginning, but has awareness at the end - about which we said, he does not bring a sacrifice - the goat executed outside, and Yom Kippur, atone for him. And for the one that has no awareness, not at the beginning and not at the end, the goats of the holidays, and the goats of Rosh Chodesh, atone. And for volitional impurity of the Temple and its consecrated [foods], the bull of the high priest atones - if the volitional [party] is a priest. But if he was from Israel, the blood that is executed inside and Yom Kippur atone, as it stated (Leviticus 16:16), "And atone for the Holy from the impurities of the Children of Israel." And that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Horayot 9a), "As with these four sins, all are equal in the sacrifice - the king, the anointed priest and the commoner" - as there is no distinction among them in their sacrifice except for the commandments for which they are obligated a fixed sin offering for their inadvertent transgression, but all are equal with these that their liability is [for a sacrifice] that varies up and down. And the rest of its details are elucidated in Keritot and Shevuot.

(11) And [it] is practiced at the time of the Temple by males and females; except for the sacrifice of the oaths of testimony, which is not practiced by females - since they are not in the category of testimony, as we have written above (Sefer HaChinukh 122). And one who transgresses it and does not offer his sacrifice for one of these has violated a positive commandment.

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