R. Shimon n. Yehudah a dit dans son [R. Le nom de Shimon] [«R. Shimon», non qualifié, est R. Shimon b. Yochai]: Les enfants de Rosh Chodesh expient pour un tahor mangeant quelque chose d'impur. Au-dessus d'eux, il y a ceux des fêtes, qui expient le tahor mangeant quelque chose d'impur et l'inconscience au début et à la fin. Au-dessus d'eux se trouvent ceux de Yom Kippour, qui expient un tahor mangeant quelque chose d'impur, l'inconscience au début et à la fin, et l'inconscience au début et la conscience à la fin. Ils lui ont demandé: cela peut-il être offert pour l'autre? Il a répondu: Oui. Ils ont demandé: Si oui, que ceux de Yom Kippour soient offerts à Rosh Chodesh; mais comment ceux de Rosh Chodesh peuvent-ils être offerts à Yom Kippour pour une expiation qui n'est pas de leur espèce? (Voir 1: 4.) Il répondit: Ils viennent tous pour expier le fait de souiller le sanctuaire et ses objets.
Bartenura on Mishnah Shevuot
משמו – of Rabbi Shimon. And the anonymous Rabbi Shimon (without his patronymic) is Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Introduction
Mishnah five is a continuation of the discussion in the previous mishnah. There we learned three different opinions with regards to the topic of which sin-offering goats bring atonement for which sin. The final opinion was that of Rabbi Shimon, whose full name is Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. 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. Our mishnah contains a different version of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai’s opinion, taught by Rabbi Shimon ben Judah, one of his students. It seems that the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, who lived in the middle of the second century C.E., disputed what their teacher’s opinion really was. The previous mishnah contained one student’s opinion and our mishnah contains another’s.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Rabbi Shimon ben Judah said in his name [of Rabbi Shimon (bar]: “The new month goats bring atonement for a pure person who ate impure holy food; the festival goats, in addition to bringing atonement for a pure person who ate impure holy food, atone also for a case where there was no knowledge either at the beginning or at the end; the ‘outer’ goat of the Day of Atonement, in addition to bringing atonement for a pure person who ate impure holy food and for a case where there was no knowledge either at the beginning or at the end, atones also for a case where there was no knowledge at the beginning but there was knowledge at the end. According to Rabbi Shimon ben Judah the goats offered on the festival atone for a pure person who ate impure holy food, the goats offered on the new months atone for this sin as well as a case where an impure person entered the Temple or ate holy food and never realized that he had been impure, and the goat offered on the outer altar on Yom Kippur atones for both of these previous sins as well as a case where an impure person entered the Temple or ate holy food and only realized that he had been impure after the fact. In other words festival goats atone for one sin, new month goats for two sins and Yom Kippur goats for all three of the sins under discussion.
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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, “Yes.” They [further] said to him: “Granted that the Day of Atonement goat may be offered up on the new month, but how can the new month goat be offered up on the Day of Atonement to bring atonement for a sin that is not within its scope?” 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.” Similar to the previous mishnah, our mishnah now continues with a discussion of a case where one of the goats set aside to be offered on one of these occasions is lost and then found on a different occasion. The question is asked: since they are all sin-offerings, can one be offered in another’s place? Rabbi Shimon ben Judah answers that they can, just as his teacher Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai answered in the previous mishnah. The Rabbis then raise a difficulty with this answer. It is possible to understand how a Yom Kippur goat could be offered on the new month, since all of the sins for which the new month goat atones, the Yom Kippur goat also atones. However, how can a new month goat be offered on Yom Kippur since the new month goat does not atone for all of the sins for which a Yom Kippur goat atones? Rabbi Shimon ben Judah’s answer is the same answer as that of his teacher. All of the goats 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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English Explanation of Mishnah Shevuot
Questions for Further Thought: • What is the difference between the end of this mishnah and the end of the previous mishnah?
