פּירוש אויף ויקרא 4:22

“In case it is a chieftain who incurs guilt” [4:22]. The Torah wrote concerning a chieftain, “who will.” This means that he will certainly commit a sin, since the chieftain is important and his heart is haughty, so he will quickly come to commit sins. Concerning the high priest it is written, “if he will sin.” The high priest is warned and he does not commit sins quickly. Similarly, concerning the Sanhedrin it is not written, “if he will sin.” This means, if they will commit sins, they will not quickly commit sins, since the Shekhinah rests on them. Therefore, they are pious. The Midrash writes, “In case it is a chieftain who incurs guilt.” Happy is the generation where the chieftain, the important person, desires to repent for his sins that he did not willingly do. How much more so will he repent for the sins that he willingly did. Our sages say, when a community commits sins, the Holy One punishes the chieftain, the head of the community, who did not warn them.¹⁹Bahya, Leviticus, 4:22.

אשר נשיא יחטא — The word אשר is connected in meaning with ‎‎‏אשרי “happy”. Happy is the generation whose prince (king) takes care to bring an atonement sacrifice even for an inadvertent act of his; how much the more certain is it that he will do penance for his wilful sins (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Chovah, Section 5 1; Horayot 10b)

If a chief sins The verb and noun are reversed, to mean “If he who sins is the chief….” This verse is a continuation of the previous paragraph, beginning, “If the entire Assembly of Israel” [:13], as if Scripture had said, “and if the sinner is a chief of a tribe, or of a clan,”