Entering Leviticus: Incurring Guilt

(27) If any person from among the populace unwittingly incurs guilt by doing any of the things which by Adonai's commandments ought not to be done, and he realizes his guilt— (28) or the sin of which he is guilty is brought to his knowledge—he shall bring a female goat without blemish as his offering for the sin of which he is guilty. (29) He shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and the sin offering shall be slaughtered at the place of the burnt offering.

(15) When a person commits a trespass, being unwittingly remiss about any of Adonai's sacred things, he shall bring as his penalty to Adonai a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into payment in silver by the sanctuary weight, as a guilt offering. (16) He shall make restitution for that wherein he was remiss about the sacred things, and he shall add a fifth part to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make expiation on his behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

(17) And when a person, without knowing it, sins in regard to any of Adonai's commandments about things not to be done, and then realizes his guilt, he shall be subject to punishment. (18) He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, or the equivalent, as a guilt offering. The priest shall make expiation on his behalf for the error that he committed unwittingly, and he shall be forgiven. (19) It is a guilt offering; he has incurred guilt before Adonai.

(21) When a person sins and commits a trespass against Adonai by dealing deceitfully with his fellow in the matter of a deposit or a pledge, or through robbery, or by defrauding his fellow,

ואשם, “and he has become guilty;” he found out himself that he had committed an inadvertent sin.

1) (Vayikra 4:27): ("And if a single soul sin unwittingly of the people of the land in doing it …"): "soul," "single," "in doing it": These (expressions are redundant [in the Hebrew] and) signal (three) exclusions. (One exclusion:) One who acts on his own is liable (for a sin-offering), and not one who acts on the ruling of beth-din.

(A mussar text) 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

‎'‎‎וחטאה כשגגה מקדשי ה‎‎ AND SIN IN ERROR, CONCERNING THE HOLY THINGS OF THE LORD — i. e. that one has derived some benefit from (made use of) a holy thing. And where is this prohibited, that Scripture should describe it here as sin? But the expression חטא is mentioned here and חטא is mentioned further on in the case of misuse of תרומה (Leviticus 22:9): “[They — the priests — shall therefore keep my charge] not to eat תרומה when they are in a state of uncleanness: (see Rashi thereon), lest they bear sin (חטא) for it”. (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Chovah, Section 11 2; Meilah 18b).

an offense [Hebrew: ma‘al] something that was concealed from him (from the word “covering” [Hebrew: m‘il]), here denoting a desecration of the articles consecrated to God. He must bring a ram that is worth shekels — the use of the plural means at least two shekels.

These are the halakhot of communal peace offerings and guilt offerings. These are guilt offerings: The guilt offering for robbery, brought by one from whom another demanded payment of a debt and he denied it and took a false oath (see Leviticus 5:20–26); the guilt offering for unwitting misuse of consecrated property (see Leviticus 5:14–16); and the provisional guilt offering, brought by one who is uncertain as to whether he committed a sin that requires a sin offering (see Leviticus 5:17–18).

ולא ידע ואשם … והביא [AND IF A SOUL SIN, AND DO ANY OF THESE THINGS WHICH SHOULD NOT BE DONE …] AND HE DOES NOT DISCOVER THAT HE IS GUILTY … HE SHALL BRING [A RAM … FOR A GUILT OFFERING] — This paragraph (vv. 17—19) is speaking of a person to whom there has occurred a כרת ‎ספק, karet safek (i. e. it is speaking of a person who is doubtful whether he has inadvertently committed an act of such a character as to be punishable with כרת karet if done willfully), and he does not know whether he has actually committed a sinful act or not. ... Then such a one has to bring an אשם תלוי asham talui (the guilt-offering for a doubtful sin, lit., the guilt-offering in suspense, from תלה to “be in suspense”); and this protects him against punishment so long as he does not become cognisant that he has undoubtedly sinned, and if he becomes cognisant of this after a time he has to bring a sin-offering (cf. Keritot 22b, 23a).

ואשם ונשא עונו, our sages have a tradition that the Torah here speaks of an asham taluy, a guilt offering offered while the exact nature of the guilt is unclear. The person offering it is not even sure that he is guilty of an offence. Considering this state of affairs the Torah writes ונשא עוונו, he carries (the burden) of his guilt. The guilt is not spelled out precisely as it is not yet known. He may not actually have committed a sin, but this does not mean that he is free from guilt as had he been careful he would never have been in the predicament of not knowing if he had committed the specific sin he is afraid he might have committed.