Musar su Levitico 4:78

And this matter is further clarified from that which is written in the Torah (Leviticus 4:27-28), “If any person from among the populace unwittingly incurs guilt by doing any of the things which by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and he realizes his guilt. Or the sin of which he is guilty is brought to his knowledge, etc.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said that a sin offering comes for being inadvertent about something for which volition [would bring] excision. And on account of a sin that [brings] excision - due to its significance - the atonement of the sinner will not be complete until he brings a sin-offering, even though he confessed his sin. For without the confession and repentance, his iniquity will not be atoned by the sin-offering, as it is stated (Proverbs 21:27), “The sacrifice of the wicked man is an abomination.” But after the confession and the sacrifice, his iniquity is atoned, as it is stated (Leviticus 4:20), “the priest shall make expiation for them, and they shall be forgiven.” And you [should] understand from this how strong the punishment of the volitional one [must be], if the inadvertent one is not pure after repentance until he brings a sacrifice. Indeed, his iniquity is atoned with afflictions, as it is stated (Job 33:19-26), “He is reproved by pains on his bed, etc. He prays to God and is accepted by Him.” And it is stated (Proverbs 3:12), “For whom the Lord loves, He rebukes, as a father the son whom he favors.” But there is [also] advice and rectification for the sinner to protect himself from [such] pains - with good deeds, as will be explained.

And this matter is further clarified from that which is written in the Torah (Leviticus 4:27-28), “If any person from among the populace unwittingly incurs guilt by doing any of the things which by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and he realizes his guilt. Or the sin of which he is guilty is brought to his knowledge, etc.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said that a sin offering comes for being inadvertent about something for which volition [would bring] excision. And on account of a sin that [brings] excision - due to its significance - the atonement of the sinner will not be complete until he brings a sin-offering, even though he confessed his sin. For without the confession and repentance, his iniquity will not be atoned by the sin-offering, as it is stated (Proverbs 21:27), “The sacrifice of the wicked man is an abomination.” But after the confession and the sacrifice, his iniquity is atoned, as it is stated (Leviticus 4:20), “the priest shall make expiation for them, and they shall be forgiven.” And you [should] understand from this how strong the punishment of the volitional one [must be], if the inadvertent one is not pure after repentance until he brings a sacrifice. Indeed, his iniquity is atoned with afflictions, as it is stated (Job 33:19-26), “He is reproved by pains on his bed, etc. He prays to God and is accepted by Him.” And it is stated (Proverbs 3:12), “For whom the Lord loves, He rebukes, as a father the son whom he favors.” But there is [also] advice and rectification for the sinner to protect himself from [such] pains - with good deeds, as will be explained.

וכי תשגו ולא תעשו את כל המצות האלה . Midrash Tanchuma as well as the Yalkut Shimoni, have the following comment on Leviticus 4,2: "When a person unknowingly commits a transgression in respect of any of G–d's negative commandments, etc." They say that this verse teaches us that transgression of any prohibition is equivalent to transgression of all of the Torah's commandments. Conversely, the Reishit Chochmah writes in Parshat Nasso, that if one performs a single positive commandment in all its pertinent details, it is as if one had performed all 248 positive commandments. The reason of course, is that there is no מצוה that does not contain some element of all the other מצות. Having said this, we understand why transgression of a single negative commandment is viewed as if one had transgressed all of them, seeing that it involved negation of those particular elements of all the other negative commandments that were associated with the single negative commandment one has flouted. This is the real meaning of the wording of the verse quoted above in 15,22.

And the brunt of the responsibility lies in the city dignitaries, who have the power to protest and to amend, as Chazal have said on the verse, Vayikra 4:21: "It is the sin-offering for the assembly," followed by (Ibid. 21): "If a leader sin," to teach us that the sin of the assembly is the sin of the leader, in that he is held responsible for not seeing to it to correct matters.

אשר נשיא יחטא . Rashi comments on this that the אשר word can be read as אשרי, "hail to" a generation in which the leader acknowledges personal guilt (4,22). When the leader acts in such a way the ordinary people are encouraged to own up to their own shortcomings and to make amends. Another moral lesson to be learned from the positioning of this verse next to a verse discussing the errors of the whole community is that the sins of a community automatically reflect on its leader, because the leader should have used his authority to prevent any sin by the community.

נפש כי תחטא וגומר או הודע אליו חטאתו . Both in the Zohar and in the Tzror HaMor much has been written about these verses (4,22-23). The words או הודע אליו חטאתו are understood to refer to pre-natal knowledge, information given to the soul of the person in question prior to his being born. These commentators compare the situation to Jeremiah 1,5: "Before I created you in the womb I selected you, etc." This proves that communication with man commences before he is born. His soul is exhorted to behave in a certain way once he is on earth. The subject is explained by Rabbi Simlai in Nidah 30: "While the embryo is in the womb of its mother it may be compared to a writing book folded over, his two hands at his sides, etc.. A light is lit near his head enabling him to view every corner of the globe. He is taught the entire Torah as we know from ויורני ויאמר לי יתמך דברי לבך, "He also taught me and said to me: 'let your heart retain my words'" (Proverbs 4,4). Another verse from scripture along similar lines is Job 29,4: ואומר בסוד אלוקה עלי אהלי, "When the secrets of G–d were in my tent," i.e. I was privy to the mystical aspects of Torah while still in the womb. The baby is not born until it has been made to swear to be a צדיק not a רשע. He is told that even though the whole world may describe him as a צדיק, he must still consider himself a רשע. He should remain aware of the purity of G–d and his angels, as well as of the purity of the soul he has been equipped with. He is warned that as long as he preserves the purity of his soul all is well and good, but should he fail to so preserve its purity, his soul will be removed from him. This is the gist of Rabbi Simlai's statement.

Man was thus forewarned of the consequences of improper conduct even before he was born. This will help him to refrain from sinning. Whenever he remembers this he will hasten to make amends. This is the meaning of the words או הודע אליו חטאתו אשר חטא in 4,28. Perhaps this is also the reason the Torah continues in the paragraph following with the words: ונפש כי תחטא ושמעה קול האלה, "When a person sins and hears the voice of the oath, etc." The "oath" in question may allude to the one he himself swore before he was born as described above by Rabbi Simlai. This may also be what David alluded to in Psalms 24,4 when he described someone who has never sworn a vain oath as a person fit to ascend the Mountain of G–d. [otherwise we could ask why such a person had to swear an oath altogether, seeing our sages frown on any oath. Ed.] The remainder of 5,1, i.e. והוא עד או ראה או ידע may also be understood as applying to an experience every person had prior to his birth when he was sworn to remain free of sin. The verse concludes with the statement ונשא עונו, that a person who ignores what he was taught as an embryo will bear his guilt.

The Rekanati (page 111) on Leviticus 4,2: דבר אל בני ישראל לאמור נפש כי תחטא בשגגה מכל מצות ה' אשר לא תעשינה, "Speak to the Children of Israel; if a person commits an unintentional sin involving any of the negative commandments,etc," comments that we must realise that anyone committing a transgression of any of G–d's commandments is called a sinner, חוטא, to the extent that the particular commandment depended on him to fulfil it. Since negative commandments fall under the heading of שמירה, have to be observed by not violating them, a transgressor has to bring a sacrifice to atone for his sin in a manner appropriate to the nature of his error. It is fitting therefore that the animal chosen for such a sin offering be a female sheep or a female goat. [The sinner should have remained passive like a female, whereas he actively violated the commandment. Ed.] The reason that the sin offering called אשם must be a male animal is explained by Rekanati as follows: The sin offering called חטאת applies in respect of sins which would have carried the penalty כרת, a form of premature death possibly involving one's descendants, i.e. a return of one's נפש, life-force, to G–d who had granted it in the first place. The sin offering called אשם is not brought for sins which, if committed intentionally, would have resulted in the כרת type of death. It therefore may be viewed as closer to the עולה offering which is converted to ריח ניחוח, a sweet smelling fragrance for G–d. It rises to a higher region in Heaven. The bull of the כהן המשיח and the bull of the High Court in atonement for errors of judgment committed, both sin offerings, are brought only to פתח אהל מועד (4,4), only the blood to be sprinkled on the altar within the Sanctuary.

The reason the blood had to be sprinkled on the altar "seven times before the Lord," as the Torah states in 4,6, is connected to the deeper meaning of the number seven. The addition of the words: "before the Lord," may indicate that it addresses itself to G–d's anger, i.e. the face of the dividing curtain. Thus far the Rekanati.