Derasha 11 on Vayikra 4:13

Parashas Vayikra · Aliyah 5 · Passuk 13 · Unit 11 of 11

The Complete Passuk

וְאִ֨ם כׇּל־עֲדַ֤ת יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ יִשְׁגּ֔וּ וְנֶעְלַ֣ם דָּבָ֔ר מֵעֵינֵ֖י הַקָּהָ֑ל וְעָשׂ֣וּ אַחַ֗ת מִכׇּל־מִצְוֺת יְהֹוָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־תֵעָשֶׂ֔ינָה וְאָשֵֽׁמוּ׃

Chabad.org — English translation + Rashi

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to Toras Kohanim (Sifra), Vayikra Dibbura DeChovah, on 4:13 (ve-ashemu — community punished like individual) (unit 11; single primary locus per emergency Core plan).

Sefaria — Sifra / Toras Kohanim, Vayikra Dibbura DeChovah

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text — Toras Kohanim (Sifra), Vayikra Dibbura DeChovah, on 4:13 (ve-ashemu — community punished like individual)

״וְאָשֵׁמוּ״ — מְלַמֵּד כְּשֵׁם שֶׁנִּפְרָעִין מִן הַיָּחִיד כָּךְ נִפְרָעִין מִן הַצִּבּוּר.

English: “And they are guilty” — this teaches that just as one exacts from the individual, so one exacts from the community.

In the sugya: The Sifra draws a parallel between individual and communal shegagah: the same principle of liability that applies to a private sinner applies, mutatis mutandis, to the public body.

Type of Learning

Parallel of communal and individual liability — the community is held to account for shegagah just as an individual is.

What Is Learned

The word “ve-ashemu” places the congregation under the same framework of accountability that governs the individual. Just as a private person who sins in error must bring a chatas, so the community that sins through its court and its people must bring its own chatas. The verse refuses to exempt the public from the ordinary demands of atonement.

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