Commentaire sur Shabbat 7:1

כלל גדול. השוכח עיקר שבת– since he thought that Shabbat is not in the Torah, and even though that from the beginning, he had heard [about Shabbat] but now had forgotten it.

Introduction In the introduction to Shabbat we explained that a person who performs a forbidden labor on Shabbat intentionally is liable for the death penalty (if they warned him) and for karet extirpation (if unwarned). For accidental performance of a forbidden labor, one must bring a sin-offering. Our mishnah asks a frequently-asked rabbinic question: how do we know how many sin-offerings a person is liable for? Asked another way, what constitutes one performance of a forbidden labor?

אינו חייב אלא חטאת – on all the Sabbaths that he had desecrated for all of it is one [inadvertent] error as it is written (Exodus 31:13): “you must keep my Sabbaths,” and which implies one observance for any Sabbaths.

A great principle they stated in respect to Shabbat: anyone who forgets the fundamental law of Shabbat and performs many labors on many Shabbatot, is liable for only one sin-offering. The mishnah begins by referring to a person who doesn’t remember that work is prohibited on Shabbat. Such a person has in essence only transgressed once, no matter how many Shabbatot she performed the forbidden labor and no matter how many labors she performed. For instance, a person who never learned about Shabbat and then later in life learned that it was forbidden to work on Shabbat, would only be liable for one sin-offering.

היודע עיקר שבת – that is Shabbat in the Torah and creative work was forbidden on it, but he did many forms of creative work on many Sabbaths via the inadvertent error on Shabbat for he does not know that Shabbat is today, he is liable for each and every Shabbat one sin, and on this, it is stated (Exodus 31:16): “The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath” that implies that observance of each and every Shabbat, that is to say that he is liable for a sin-offering on each and every Sabbath and even though that it was not known to him in the meantime and it is one act of forgetfulness, we say that the days that are in-between that is a knowledge that is impossible that he hadn’t heard [about Shabbat] in the meanwhile that this day was Shabbat but he was not reminded of the creative works that he did on it. Therefore, each and every Shabbat is one error.

One who knows the fundamental law of Shabbat and performs many labors on many Shabbatot is liable for a sin-offering for each and every Shabbat. This section refers to a person who knows that it is forbidden to work on Shabbat but doesn’t know which day of the week is Shabbat. All of the forbidden labors which she performs on any given Shabbat are considered one transgression. Therefore she brings one sin-offering for every Shabbat which she forgot was Shabbat, no matter how many forbidden labors she performed.

היודע שהוא שבת ועשה מלאכות הרבה – that he did not know that the forms of creative work were forbidden and he performed them several times on several Sabbaths, he is liable for each of the chief labors that are forbidden on the Sabbath one sin-offering and even though he went back and repeated them (i.e., the forbidden labors) on several Sabbaths, each principal form of labor is one error and he was not informed about it in the interim and here one cannot say that the days in-between are considered knowledge [of them] to differentiate, for the days in-between he would not know which chief labor is forbidden and which is permitted other than if he sat and engaged before Sages in the laws of Shabbat. And the same law applies that he is liable on two derivatives of two primary forbidden forms of labor whereby each one is divided into one sin-offering apiece, but if he had done a principal form of forbidden labor and its derivative or two derivatives of one principal forbidden labor, he is not liable other than for one [sin-offering] as it is taught at the end of the Mishnah: A person who performs many forbidden actions of one prohibited labor [on the Sabbath], he is not liable for other than for one [sin-offering] such as two derivatives of one primary forbidden labor because it is like a person who performed an action and repeated it in one act of forgetfulness and there is no separation/division of sin-offerings with one act of forgetfulness but other than the actual transgression which is not similar or distinguished on [many] Sabbaths for the matter of an error on Shabbat.

One who knows that it is Shabbat and performs many labors on many Shabbatot, is liable for every primary labor. This person knows which day is Shabbat and knows that it is forbidden to perform work on Shabbat but doesn’t know which labors are prohibited. Such a person is liable for every primary labor. As we shall see in tomorrow’s mishnah, there are thirty-nine categories of prohibited labor. Each category is a “primary labor.” Within each category there are derived labors, prohibitions which are similar enough to the primary labor to also be prohibited. Derived labors” are as prohibited as “primary labors” (they are all in the category of “deoraita” toraitic prohibitions.) The only difference is that if one performs several different “primary labors” she is liable for a sin-offering for each primary labor. However, if she performs a primary labor and several derived labors from the same category, she is only liable for one sin-offering. Furthermore, in the case in this section since the person didn’t know that such a labor was prohibited on Shabbat, she is only liable for one sin-offering no matter how many Shabbatot she performed the labor.

One who performs many labors belonging to the same category is obligated for only one sin-offering. In this case the person knows pretty much everything (that labor is prohibited on Shabbat, which labor is prohibited and which day is Shabbat). She is liable for every primary labor she performs on each Shabbat. However, if she also performs derived labors that are under the same category, she is liable for only one sin-offering for each category of labor she performs.