First of two halachas, this halacha has to do with a case in which the court taught the halacha incorrectly and caused other people to sin, when the resulting sin is one in which, in the normal case, a person would be liable to bring a sin offering for violating inadvertently.
In such a case where the bezdan errs, and here it does not matter whether the judges themselves transgressed, all that matters is that they ruled incorrectly and people followed their ruling and therefore violated the halacha,
the court would be liable to bring a sin offering as a result of their error.And all of the people who followed the Bezdin's instructions and therefore sinned would be exempt from having to bring any offering.
The offering that the Bezdin brings is based upon the nature of the sin.If it had to do with the worship of false gods, they would be required to bring a bull as a burnt offering and a goat as a sin offering for each tribe.
So that's 12 of each, and they would be completely consumed on the Mizbeach, and the goats are referred to as Sirei of Edezara, the goats of Edezara.
But if they ruled erroneously with regard to any other sin, which one would be liable for Qaris for violating willfully?And which one would be liable for a sin offering for violating inadvertently?They would be liable for bringing 12 bulls.
That's one for each tribe.They would be sin offerings and they would be completely consumed on the Mizbeach.And these are referred to as bulls that were brought as a result of a matter that was hidden from the community.
And this halakhah would apply if everybody in Yisroel sinned as a result of the Bezdin, or if the majority of the people sinned.
without regard for whether the majority of each tribe sinned, or if it was a majority of the tribes that sinned, even though it was a minority of the population of the Jewish people.In any of these cases, this halacha would apply.
That is, that one bull would be brought for each tribe, and if the sin involved the Veidah Zarah, it would be one bull and one goat for each tribe.
Finally, Rambam rules that even if it was simply a majority of a single tribe, nonetheless there would be a requirement that 12 bulls are brought on behalf of the community, and in the case of Avedezara, 12 bulls and the 12 goats.
Second and final halacha, if a court did not know whether it had erred in its ruling, The court would not be required to bring an Asham Talui, that is, a provisional guilt offering.
Rather, the court would be liable to bring a sin offering if it knew that it had erred in its ruling.
Now we're going to discuss what is the specific case when the Bezdin would be required to bring Karbanes, and in which all of the people who relied upon the Bezdin were exempt.
First of all, this only applies to the Sanhedrin, that is, the great court of 71 elders.And the head of the yeshiva would have to be with them in the ruling.
All of the judges would have to rule together, or at least a majority of the judges would have to rule together. and the ruling would have to be clear.That is, they would have to say, you are permitted to do X, and you should go do that.
And in that case, if the people who heard the Besden rule then went and told everybody they know, this is what the Besden ruled, and you can go do this, and as a result, a majority of the nation, or a majority of the tribes, or a majority of one of the tribes, as we discussed in the last halacha, followed the Besden's ruling and sinned,
Further, in order to fall under this halacha, the ruling would have to be to nullify an aspect of a mitzvah, but also to preserve an aspect of the mitzvah as well.In other words, the ruling could not be to negate the mitzvah altogether.
And finally, when they become aware of their mistake, they must know precisely what their mistake was.
If any of these conditions are missing, the court would be exempt from bringing a sacrifice, and all of the people who followed their directions, and therefore sinned, would be liable for bringing a fixed sin offering.
And here we mean each person individually would be liable. Right, it wouldn't be group liability, it would be individual liability for each person.
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