Halakhah su Levitico 5:6

From the laws of the commandment is, for example, that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Horayot 9a) that the liability of the one that sins inadvertently to bring a sin-offering is only for a sin for which we are liable excision for its volitional transgression. But there are three sins in the Torah that, even though there is excision for their volitional transgression, there is no sin-offering for their inadvertent transgression. And these are them: one who curses; one who undoes circumcision; and one who refrains from enacting the Pesach sacrifice. And they give a reason for each one and it is explained in its place. And all other sins for which their volitional transgression has excision, their inadvertent transgression has a fixed sin-offering - except for an impure person that eats consecrated [foods] and an impure person that enters the Temple; as even though their volitional transgression has excision, we do not bring a fixed sin-offering, but rather a sacrifice that varies up and down - which is fowl or flour, as is explained in the verse (Leviticus 5:6,13). You come out learning that all of the sins in the Torah for which an individual brings a fixed sin-offering for their inadvertent transgression are forty-three (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Offerings for Unintentional Transgressions 1:4) - go and count, because you will find it so. And most of them are for forbidden sexual relationships. And so [too,] from this matter is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 112a) that there is only liability for a sacrifice when he is inadvertent from beginning to end. And the different awarenesses that it is possible for an inadvertent sinner to have in his inadvertence are many. And the rest of its many details are elucidated in Horayot and Keritiot, and in [various] places in Shabbat and Zevachim.

The commandment of the sacrifice that varies up and down: To sacrifice the sacrifice that varies up and down for specific sins - and they are: Impurity of the Temple, meaning to say a man who is impure with a primary source of impurity and enters the Temple inadvertently; likewise, the impurity of its consecrated [foods], that he is impure and ate consecrated meat inadvertently; an oath of expression, meaning to say that he swore falsely about a thing to do it or not to do it, and the other known angles of an oath of expression, and he transgresses it inadvertently; likewise an oath of testimony, meaning to say that he swore to his fellow that he does not have testimony for him [when he actually does], whether inadvertently or volitionally. For these sins, a person is obligated to bring a sacrifice that varies up and down - meaning to say, according to the wealth or poverty of a person; as it is explicit in the verse (Leviticus 5:1), "And if a soul shall sin and he heard the voice of an oath" - meaning to say the voice of the oath that they swore him to, whether he knows testimony, "if he does not say, he will carry his iniquity." And the end of the matter is (Leviticus 5:6), "And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And it is not stated there, "and it was hidden from him," to teach that he is liable for the sacrifice, whether [he is] inadvertent or volitional.

And it is written about impurity of the Temple and its consecrated foods (Leviticus 5:2), "Or a soul that touches anything impure, etc. and it was hidden from him"; and it is stated about it all at the end of the matter (Leviticus 5:6), "And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And the verse does not come explicitly that the liability of the impure one there would be with his entering the Temple or with his eating consecrated meat. Rather, we have understood from the tradition that it speaks about this (Shevuot 6b). And even though the thing is from the tradition, we have found the liability for excision for one who ate consecrated [food] or entered the Temple explicit in another place, as it is stated (Leviticus 7:20), "And the soul that eats meat from the sacrifice of the peace-offering that is to the Lord and his impurity is upon him, he shall be excised"; and another verse (Numbers 19:20) states about the impure one that enters the Temple, "for the Temple of the Lord he has made impure, and he shall be excised." And once excision has been written about its volitional transgression, there is a sacrifice for its inadvertent transgression - with our rule, that everything that is with excision for its volitional transgression, is with a sin-offering for its inadvertent transgression. And it is written about an oath of expression (Leviticus 5:4-6), "Or if a soul swears to express with his lips, etc. and it was hidden from him, etc. And he shall bring his guilt-offering." And from where [do we know] that the liability there [for them] is with a sacrifice that varies up and down? As it is written in the section (Leviticus 5:11), "And if his hand does not reach, etc."

And since this commandment of confession comes with the obligation to bring an offering - as is written in Parshat Vayikra there (Leviticus 5:6), "And he shall bring his guilt-offering, etc." - one might think that the confession is not an independent commandment on its own, but rather only one of the things that are an extension of the sacrifice. Therefore they had to elucidate in the Mekhilta that such is not the case, but rather it is indeed an independent commandment. And so they said there, "I might have thought that I only confess when they brought [offerings]. From where do I know even at the time that they do not bring [them]? Since it is stated, 'the children of Israel[...] and they shall confess'" - meaning to say that the tradition comes to expound [it] in this way. "Still, I might have thought that there is confession only in the Land"; that is, even though one may confess without the sacrifice, nonetheless, that the obligation for confession is only in the Land, as that is the locus of atonement, and the sacrifices are there and the locus of everything is there. "From where do I know to include the Diaspora? From that which is written (Leviticus 26:40), 'And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers.'" That is, the iniquity of their fathers who sinned and were exiled from the Land. "And so [too,] did Daniel say outside of the Land (Daniel 9:7) 'For You, Lord, is the righteousness and for us is the shame on this day.'" Hence it is elucidated that confession is an independent commandment and that it is practiced in all places. And they also said in the Sifra (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 4 6), "'And they shall confess' - that is verbal confession."