Vayikra 4:28 · unit 5 · Toras Kohanim, Dibbura DeChovah Section 5

Complete Passuk

אוֹ הוֹדַע אֵלָיו חַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר חָטָא וְהֵבִיא קָרְבָּנוֹ שְׂעִירַת עִזִּים תְּמִימָה נְקֵבָה עַל־חַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר חָטָא׃

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Torah Temimah cites Toras Kohanim (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura DeChovah, Section 5 on se’iras izzim).

Sefaria — Toras Kohanim (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura DeChovah, Section 5)

Core Text — Toras Kohanim · Sifra DeChovah Sec. 5

שְׂעִירַת עִזִּים — וּבְחַטַּאת עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה הוּא אוֹמֵר ״תּוֹרָה אַחַת יִהְיֶה לָכֶם לָעוֹשֶׂה בִּשְׁגָגָה״; מַה תַּמָּם עֵז בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ, אַף כָּאן עֵז בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ.

“A she-goat of the goats” — and regarding the chatas of idolatry it says “there shall be one law for you for the one who acts unwittingly”; just as there a goat in its first year, so here a goat in its first year.

In the midrash: The Sifra notes that the ordinary individual’s chatas is a female goat, but the verse does not state its age. It therefore links this offering to the chatas of idolatry through the shared phrase “one Torah shall there be for you for the one who acts unwittingly” (Bamidbar 15:29). Because the idolatry chatas must be a goat in its first year, the same age requirement is transferred here.

Type of Learning

Hekesh via the shared “torah achat” language that equates all unwitting sinners to the standard of the idolatry chatas.

What Is Learned

The ordinary individual’s female goat for a chatas must be in its first year. The Sifra does not invent the age requirement from silence; it derives it by hekesh from the explicit age of the idolatry chatas, using the common formula that there is one law for every unwitting transgressor. The result is that a goat older than one year is invalid for this offering.