פירוש על תמורה 4:1

ולד חטאת שעברה שנתה – it is not appropriate to sacrifice it as a sin-offering, for it is written (Numbers 15:27): “[In case it is an individual who has sinned unwittingly, he shall offer a she-goat] in its first year as a purification offering (i.e., sin-offering).” However, because of this disqualification alone it does not die, but rather, it should be sent out to pasture until it develops a blemish until there are two causes for suspicion/unfavorable conditions, that one year passed and it was lost, or that it was lost and it was found with a blemish. And this is how the Mishnah is resolved in the Gemara (Tractate Temura 22a), and that which was lost, as it is taught, counts both here, and there. And this is what it means: that its year had passed (i.e., the animal now being older than one-year) and that which was lost and when it was found there was a blemish in it.

Introduction Chapter four is about the hatat, the sin-offering. As we have learned in 2:2, there are five types of hataot (pl. of hatat) that are left to die because they can’t be sacrificed and neither can they be eaten. Our mishnah deals with these five hataot.

אם משכיפרו הבעלים – if after this (i.e., animal) was found, the owners effected atonement with another.

The offspring of a hatat, the substitute of a hatat, and a hatat whose owner has died, are left to die. These are the first three categories of hataot that are left to die. Basically, once the owner has been atoned for, the hatat cannot be sacrificed. The first two cannot be sacrificed because the owner received atonement from the original animal. If the owner died, then he no longer needs atonement so his hatat too cannot be sacrificed.

תמות – and even according to the Rabbis who dispute Rabbi [Judah the Prince] further on in our chapter (see the concluding clause of Mishnah 3), who states, that the sin-offering did not die, but rather that it was found after the owners effected atonement, in this they admit, for since there are two causes for unfavorable conditions, that its [first] year had passed and that it was lost, or that it was lost, and it was found to have a blemish. But if it was only lost, since it was found prior to atonement, even though after it was found, the owners had effected atonement with another [animal], it does not die but rather is put out to pasture.

A hatat whose year has passed or which was lost and found blemished: If the owners obtained atonement [afterwards, through another animal], is left to die, and it does not make a substitute; it is forbidden to derive benefit from it, but the laws of sacrilege do not apply. If the owners have not yet obtained atonement, it must go to pasture until it becomes unfit for sacrifice. It is then sold and another is bought with the money. It makes a substitute, and the laws of sacrilege do apply. When it comes to the fourth and fifth types of hatat that must be left to die, it depends on whether the owners have already received atonement through another animal. If the owners have already been atoned for by bringing another animal as a hatat, then the original hatat (the one whose year had passed or which had been lost and then was found) must be left to die. If the owner tries to substitute for it, it no longer can make a substitute. It is forbidden to derive any benefit from it, as it is always forbidden to derive benefit from dedicated animals; however, if one does derive benefit from it, it is not considered sacrilege because the animal is not really sanctified any more. If, however, the original hatat is found (and is blemished) or passed a year before the owners had been atoned for, then the animal need not be left to die. The hatat whose year had passed is let out to pasture until it is blemished and then it can be sold. The hatat that was found blemished can be sold immediately. With the proceeds he buys a new hatat, and that hatat has all of the sanctity of regular hatat. It can make a substitute and if one derives benefit from it, he has committed sacrilege and will have to make restitution.

לא נהנים – according to the Rabbis.

ולא מועלין – if they benefitted from them, they are exempt from the sacrifice of misappropriation (or religious sacrilege), for since neither it nor its monetary value is offered [as a sacrifice], its holiness departs [from it].

ואם עד שלא כיפרו הבעלים – and they did not want to be atoned with another [animal].

תרעה עד שתסתאב – this refers to and its year had passed (i.e., it was now older than a year), for that where it was lost and it was found with a blemish, it is sold immediately and he purchases another with its monetary value.

ועושה תמורה – for since its monetary value stands to be offered, for something that stands in order that it should sent out to pasture and develop a blemish makes for an exchange/substitution.