Monday 2 April 2018

Horayot 2: Offerings Made in Error

We begin Masechet Hodayot, rulings, with a foundational mishna.  It teaches about incidences when offerings are slaughtered as instructed by the beit din but the beit din is in error. Perhaps the offerer did not hold the requisite intention.  Perhaps the offerer misspoke, misrepresented or misunderstood the beit din.  All of the offerings mentioned are punishable by karet: sin offerings, guilt offerings, and the Pascal offering.  The offerer  is not obligated to bring another offering as atonement.  

The rabbis then argue about the beit din.  Where might the great rabbis go wrong?  Might it be the timing involved in the Pascal offering?  Did they forget to say a specific pronouncement required to announce their ruling?  What is the beit din required to say in their rulings?  The rabbis agree with Rav Dimi: they must say "you are permitted to do" aloud.  Is "you are permitted" enough?  The rabbis debate this and similar ideas.  They are determined to understand why certain words are included in this mishna.  Further, they wonder why the particular cases included in this mishna were chosen.  

Rabbi Yehuda speaks in the name of Shmuel.  He explains that a mishna that exempts someone who follows the erroneous direction of the beit din are in line with his own opinion.  The Sages maintain that someone who follows an misguided ruling of the beit din is obligated to bring an offering.  Baraitot are introduced to further elucidate this point.

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