Y donde no hay conciencia, ni al principio ni al final, los niños de los festivales [(los niños para las ofrendas por el pecado se prescriben para las ofrendas adicionales (mussaf) de todos los festivales)] y los niños de Rosh Jodesh expian , [está escrito con respecto al niño de Rosh Jodesh (Números 28:15): "como una ofrenda por el pecado al Señor" —Por un pecado que solo el Señor conoce, este niño repara. Es decir, donde no hay conciencia ni al principio ni al final. Y los niños de los festivales se derivan por identidad del niño de Rosh Jodesh. Porque "niño" podría haberse escrito con respecto a todos los festivales, y está escrito (con respecto a los festivales) "y un niño", para agregar a lo que precede (es decir, el niño de Rosh Jodesh), para compararlos , es decir, expiaron lo mismo que las primeras expiaciones.] Estas son las palabras de R. Yehudah. R. Shimon dice: Los niños de los festivales expian (por falta de conciencia al principio y al final), pero no los niños de Rosh Jodesh. ¿Y para qué expian los niños de Rosh Jodesh? Para un tahor (uno que está limpio) comiendo (sin darse cuenta) algo impuro. R. Meir dice: La expiación de todos los niños es la misma, (expiando por) la contaminación del santuario y sus objetos sagrados. [Todos los niños adicionales, ya sean los niños de los festivales, o el niño de Rosh Jodesh, o el niño presentado afuera en Iom Kipur—Su expiación es la misma. Expiaron tanto la falta de conciencia al principio y la conciencia al final, la falta de conciencia ni al principio ni al final, y el tahor comiendo algo inmundo. La (única) diferencia es con respecto a la impureza que ocurre entre una (oferta) y la otra. Pero con respecto al niño presentado en Yom Kipur, todos están de acuerdo en que "suspende" donde hay conciencia al principio pero no al final, como se dijo.] R. Shimon solía decir: Los niños de Rosh Jodesh expiaron un tahor comiendo algo inmundo; los de los festivales expiaron el desconocimiento ni al principio ni al final; y el de Iom Kipur, para la conciencia al principio, pero no al final. [Esto se repite por lo que sigue, a saber: "Le preguntaron, etc."] Le preguntaron: ¿Puede ofrecerse esto por el otro? [Si el niño designado para Yom Kippur se perdió, y se hizo la expiación con otro, y el primero fue encontrado en un festival o en Rosh Jodesh, ¿puede usarse como la ofrenda del niño del día?] Él respondió: Pueden ser Ofrecido. Le preguntaron: Pero si su expiación no es la misma, ¿cómo se puede sustituir una por la otra? [R. Meir le pregunta esto a R. Shimon: si concedes que su expiación es la misma, él puede hacerlo, ya que todos efectúan la misma expiación. Pero, según usted, este (el niño de Yom Kippur), que fue designado para expiar la inconsciencia al principio y la conciencia al final—¿Cómo se puede ofrecer en el festival para expiar el desconocimiento tanto al principio como al final? ¿O en Rosh Jodesh, para expiar a un tahor que come algo inmundo?] Él respondió: Todos vienen a expiar por contaminar el santuario y sus objetos. [Y dado que son iguales a este respecto, aunque haya diferencias en el tipo de expiación, puede ser sustituido].
Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
שעירי הרגלים – On all the Festivals, it was stated, “the oats as a sin offering”” (see, for example, Numbers 28:22 for Passover).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Introduction
Our mishnah discusses which goat offerings atone for which sins. There are three goat offerings discussed in this mishnah, all of which are sin-offerings (hatat): 1) Those offered on festivals; 2) Those offered on the first of the new month; 3) The goat offered on the outer altar on Yom Kippur. The Sages all agree in general that these sin-offerings atone for one who imparts impurity either to holy food or to the Temple. However, they disagree as to which goat atones for which specific sin.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
ושעירי ראשי חדשים מכפרים – as it is written with regard to the goat on the New Moon/Rosh Hodesh (Numbers 28:15): “And there shall be one goat as a sin offering,” a sin that one doesn’t recognize other than God [Himself], this goat will atone, and that means that he has no awareness neither at the beginning nor at the end. And the goats of the Festivals, we learn from the goat for the New Moon through a juxtaposition, for “goat” could have been written in all the Festivals, and it (i.e., the Torah) wrote, “and a goat”, and the VAV adds on the first matter, to make the juxtaposition that just as this one expiates/atones, so all of the others atone.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Where there is no knowledge [of the impurity] either at the beginning or at the end, the goats offered as sin-offerings on festivals and new months bring atonement, the words of Rabbi Judah. According to Rabbi Judah, the goats offered on the holidays and on the new months atone for sins of impure people who entered the Temple or ate holy food, in cases where their impurity never became known to them. In the previous two mishnayoth we learned the procedures of atonement in cases where their impurity did become known to them, either in the beginning in the end.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
כל השעירים כפרתן שוה – all the goats of the Musaf [sacrificial] service, whether they are the goats of the festival or the goat of the New Moon, whether the goat that is offered outside on Yom Kippur, their expiation/atonement is equivalent, for they atone whether there was no awareness at the at the beginning but there is awareness at the end, or whether there is no awareness either neither at the beginning nor at the end, whether about someone pure who ate something ritually impure, and we derive from it, for a defilement that occurred whether for one or the other. But a goat that is prepared for sacrifice inside on Yom Kippur, they did not disagree about, for it is assigned to the case where he has awareness at the beginning but does not have awareness of it at the end, as we have stated.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Rabbi Shimon says: “The festival goats atone [for such sins] and not the new moon goats. And for what do the new month goats bring atonement? For a pure man who ate impure holy food.” According to Rabbi Shimon, the goats offered on the festival atone for sins of pure people eating holy food or entering the Temple. The goats offered on the new month atone for sins whereby a pure person unintentionally ate impure holy food.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
היה רבי שמעון אומר – this is for one who retracted, that it [i.e., the Mishnah] took it, because it was necessary to state that they said to him: what is the Halakha if they are offered together?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Rabbi Meir says: “All the goats have equal powers of atonement for imparting impurity to the Temple and holy food. According to Rabbi Meir all three of the goats mentioned here atone for all three of the crimes mentioned in this mishnah and in the previous one: 1) An impure person who entered the Temple or ate holy food and only realized that he had been impure after the fact; 2) An impure person who entered the Temple or ate holy food and never realized that he had been impure; 3) A pure person who unintentionally ate impure holy food.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
מהו שיקרבו – if he lost a goat that was set aside for Yom Kippur, and they were expiated with another [goat] and this one (i.e., the original goat) was found on the Festival (i.e. Sukkot) or on Rosh Hodesh, what is the law regarding that it be offered for the purpose of the goat [of the sin offering] of that day?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Rabbi Shimon used to say: “The new month goats bring atonement for a pure man who ate impure holy food; and the festival goats atone for transgression of the laws of impurity where there was no knowledge either at the beginning or at the end; and the ‘outer’ goat of the Day of Atonement atones for transgression of these laws where there was no knowledge at the beginning but there was knowledge at the end. This section reviews Rabbi Shimon’s opinion with regards to the three goats and the three sins. According to his opinion each goat atones for its own sin. 1) The goat offered on new months atones for a pure person who unintentionally ate impure holy food. 2) The goat offered on festivals atones for an impure person who entered the Temple or ate holy food and never realized that he had been impure. 3) The goat offered on the outer altar on Yom Kippur atones for an impure person who entered the Temple or ate holy food and only realized that he had been impure after the fact.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
אמרו לו הואיל ואין כפרתן שוה – It is Rabbi Meir who says to Rabbi Shimon, it is all well if you said that all of them their expiation is equivalent, then let it be offered, for all of them are atone for one expiation, but according to you, this one that was set aside/separated to expiate for a case where he had no awareness at first, and there is awareness of it at the conclusion, how can he sacrifice [it] on the Festival to expiate where he had no awareness [of having sinned through uncleanness] either at the beginning or at the conclusion, or on Rosh Hodesh to atne for a pure person who ate something impure/unclean?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
They said to him: “Is it permitted to offer up the goat set apart for one day on another?” He said to them: “Let it be offered.” They said to him: “Since they are not equal in the atonement they bring how can they take each other's place?” He replied: “They are all at least equal [in the wider sense] in that they bring atonement for transgressions of the laws of impurity in connection with the temple and holy food.” The Rabbis ask Rabbi Shimon what happens in a situation where one of the goats set aside to be offered on one of these occasions is lost and then found on a different occasion. Since all three of the goats are all sin-offerings can the goat set aside for one occasion be offered on another? Rabbi Shimon answers that it can. The other Rabbis then raise a difficulty on Rabbi Shimon’s response. Since according to Rabbi Shimon each goat atones for its own sin, it would seem that each goat is different from the other goats. Therefore, how could a goat intended for example for a new month be offered on a festival? Rabbi Shimon responds that they all have a common denominator in that they atone for sins of imparting impurity to the Temple and to holy food. Since they are all means of atonement for similar types of sins, each can replace the other.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
לכפר על טומאת מקדש וקדשיו – because in this, they are equivalent, even though their expiations are divided, he can offer it up.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Questions for Further Thought: • Section five: Why is this question asked of Rabbi Shimon and not of Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Judah? What might these other Sages have responded to this question?
