פירוש על ויקרא 4:13

עדת ישראל [AND IF THE WHOLE] CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL [ERR] — This is the Great Sanhedrin (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Chovah, Section 4 2; cf. Horayot 4b).

in the event the Supreme Court issued an erroneous decree, a very remote chance, ישגו ונעלם דבר מעיני הקהל, although this court is to function as עיני הקהל, “the watchful eye of the community,” not only did they fail to protect their community from sinning but they did not even succeed in preventing themselves from committing such an error. Nonetheless the Torah attributes such an error by the Supreme Court as ואשמו, “they sinned,” the “they” being the congregation which is held responsible if their “seeing eye” fails. The Torah here warns of the need to do teshuvah, i.e. all those concerned, before proceeding with the sacrifice, as the sacrifice would be useless unless all the people had confessed their errors. Seeing that the combined guilt of the Supreme Court and the people of their generation is severe, the blood of the atonement is sprinkled on the dividing curtain inside the sanctuary and the sin offering is burned up on the altar completely.

ואם כל עדת ישראל ישגו, And if the entire community of Israel shall err, etc. The word עדת, "community of" is taken by Torat Kohanim as referring to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court. The word עדה in this verse and the word עדה in Numbers 35,24-25 both are a reference to the Sanhedrin of 71 sages. The word ישראל is presumed to mean the Court which is unique to Israel, i.e. the Court comprising 71 judges. The word ישגו teaches that the legislation introduced here applies only if the Court erred in its judgment and the people acted upon that error in judgment. If the members of the Court themselves acted upon their faulty judgment this is still no reason to apply the legislation stated in this paragraph seeing that the Torah writes הקהל ועשו, "and the community did accordingly." Thus far the Torat Kohanim.

ואם כל עדת ישראל ישגו, “and if the entire assembly of Israel err, etc.” The “assembly” referred to in our verse is the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court. It could not be otherwise, as it is quite impossible for the entire Jewish nation by themselves to commit the same sin by mistake. In order to make this point quite clear the Torah added the words ונעלם הדבר מעיני העדה, “and the matter became obscured from the eyes of the congregation.” The Supreme Court, prophets, and Torah scholars are traditionally regarded as “the eyes of the congregation.” An example of this is found in Isaiah 29,10: “and has shut your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.” Isaiah makes it plain that the prophets are the eyes of the people.
We also have a statement by our sages (Sifra, Vayikra 4,2) to that effect where we are told: “I might have supposed that here we are talking about the entire community; to ensure we do not misunderstand the Torah wrote the words עדה, whereas in Numbers 35,24 the Torah also used the word עדה, when describing judgment being pronounced on a murderer; just as there the word עדה refers to a court and not to the whole people, so here too the Supreme Court is meant and not the whole people.” Just as in that instance a court comprising not less than 23 judges is meant, so here too a court of not fewer than 23 judges is meant. What then is the precise meaning of the words כל עדת ישראל? It means a congregation peculiar to the Jewish people, i.e. the great Sanhedrin which had its seat on the Temple Mount.

The Sanhedrin. [Rashi knows this through a gezeirah shavah:] because it says here “עדה (congregation)” and it says later “עדה” (Bamidbar 35:24-5): “Then the congregation shall judge... The congregation shall protect”: Just as עדה that is mentioned later refers to the Beis Din, so too עדה that is mentioned here refers to the Beis Din. And since it says: “Congregation of Yisroel,” perforce [it is referring to] the special congregation of the people of Yisroel, which is the Great Sanhedrin that sits in the Chamber of Hewed Stone.

ונעלם דבר AND A THING (a matter of law) WAS HID [FROM THE EYES OF THE ASSEMBLY] — i. e. they (the Synhedrion) erred, deciding in respect to one of all those acts for which excision is, according to tradition), implicitly mentioned in the Torah that it is permissible (Horayot 8a).

That the community acted according to their decision. The word הקהל (the community) is linked to the previous phrase and to the next phrase. [It is linked to the previous phrase, as follows]: “And the matter was concealed from the eyes of the community” — which is the Great Sanhedrin; they decided against the Halachah and said to the nation: “You are permitted.” [And it is linked to the next phrase:] “The community and they did” — that the community acted according to their decision. In such a case the Great Sanhedrin bring a young bullock...

A moral-ethical approach to this verse considers the word ישגו as referring to Israeli society committing moral errors and departing from Jewish norms. As a result of such conduct it would follow that the Jewish Supreme Court will also hand down faulty judgments as the judges and their Torah knowledge reflect the level of the people whom they represent. They are to blame for the people straying as they had not used their authority in controlling public morals. It had been their duty to discipline the individuals who were responsible for a trend away from traditional Jewish values. We have the example of Abbaye in Gittin 60, who erred in a ruling as he had not first obtained permission from his teacher to issue a ruling. We have been told this specifically in Sanhedrin 5.

הקהל ועשו — [AND THE THING BE HID FROM THE EYES OF] THE ASSEMBLY AND THEY HAVE DONE — It means that the assembly did according to their (the Sanhedrin’s) decision (cf. Horayot 2a).

That is that He commanded us that the court should offer a sacrifice if they erred in a directive. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "And if the whole community of Israel has erred, etc." And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in Tractate Horayot and Zevachim. (See Parashat Vayikra; Mishneh Torah, Offerings for Unintentional Transgressions 2.)