E onde não há consciência, nem no começo nem no fim, os filhos dos festivais [(Crianças para ofertas pelo pecado são prescritas para as ofertas adicionais (mussaf) de todos os festivais)]] e os filhos de Rosh Chodesh expiam , [sendo escrito em relação ao filho de Rosh Chodesh (Números 28:15): "como oferta pelo pecado ao Senhor" —Por um pecado que somente o Senhor conhece, esse garoto expia. Ou seja, onde não há consciência nem no começo nem no fim. E as crianças dos festivais são derivadas pela identidade da criança de Rosh Chodesh. Pois "garoto" poderia ter sido escrito em relação a todos os festivais, e está escrito (em relação aos festivais) "e um garoto", para adicionar ao que precede (ou seja, o garoto de Rosh Chodesh), para compará-los , isto é, eles expiam a mesma coisa que a primeira expia.] Estas são as palavras de R. Yehudah. R. Shimon diz: As crianças dos festivais expiam (pela falta de consciência no começo e no fim), mas não as crianças de Rosh Chodesh. E pelo que os filhos de Rosh Chodesh expiam? Para um tahor (alguém que está limpo) comendo (sem querer) algo imundo. R. Meir diz: A expiação de todas as crianças é a mesma, (todas expiando) profanar o santuário e seus objetos sagrados. [Todas as crianças adicionais, sejam as crianças dos festivais, ou a criança de Rosh Chodesh, ou a criança apresentada do lado de fora no Yom Kipur—a expiação deles é a mesma. Eles expiam tanto a inconsciência no começo quanto a consciência no final, a inconsciência nem no começo nem no final, e o tahor comendo algo impuro. A (única) diferença é em relação à impureza que ocorre entre uma (oferta) e a outra. Mas, no que diz respeito à criança apresentada no Yom Kipur, todos concordam que ela "suspende" onde há consciência no começo, mas não no final, como afirmado.] R. Shimon costumava dizer: Os filhos de Rosh Chodesh expiam um tahor comendo algo impuro; os dos festivais expiam a inconsciência nem no começo nem no fim; e o de Yom Kipur, para conscientização no começo, mas não no final. [Isso é repetido em prol do que se segue, a saber: "Eles perguntaram a ele etc."] Eles perguntaram a ele: Isso pode ser oferecido ao outro? [Se a criança designada para Yom Kipur estivesse perdida, e a expiação fosse feita com outra, e a primeira fosse encontrada em um festival ou em Rosh Chodesh, ela poderia ser usada como a oferenda de criança do dia?] Ele respondeu: oferecido. Eles lhe perguntaram: Mas se a expiação deles não é a mesma, como um pode substituir o outro? [R. Meir pergunta a R. Shimon: Se você concede que a expiação deles é a mesma, ele pode fazê-lo, pois todos efetuam a mesma expiação. Mas, de acordo com você, este (o filho de Yom Kipur), designado para expiar a inconsciência no começo e a conscientização no final—como pode ser oferecido no festival para expiar o desconhecimento, tanto no começo quanto no final? Ou em Rosh Chodesh, para expiar um tahor que come algo impuro?] Ele respondeu: Todos eles expiam por profanar o santuário e seus objetos. [E, como são iguais a esse respeito, mesmo que haja diferenças no tipo de expiação, ela pode ser substituída.]
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).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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?
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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?
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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?
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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?
