Vayikra 5:17 · unit 5 · Kiddushin 81b

Complete Passuk

וְאִם־נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֱטָא וְעָשְׂתָה אַחַת מִכָּל־מִצְוֺת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵעָשֶׂינָה וְלֹא־יָדַע וְאָשֵׁם וְנָשָׂא עֲוֺנוֹ׃

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Torah Temimah cites Kiddushin 81b.

Sefaria — Kiddushin 81b · E-Daf

Core Text — Kiddushin 81b

וְלֹא יָדַע וְאָשֵׁם — כְּשֶׁהָיָה רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מַגִּיעַ לְפָסוּק זֶה הָיָה בּוֹכֶה… מִי שֶׁנִּתְכַּוֵּן לֶאֱכֹל חֵלֶב וְאָכַל חֵלֶב עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה.

“And he did not know and is guilty” — when R’ Akiva reached this verse he would weep… if one who intended to eat chelev and ate chelev [is liable], how much more so.

In the sugya: R’ Akiva’s homiletic intensification: if even an unintended sin still leaves a person “bearing iniquity,” how much greater is the burden of deliberate transgression.

Type of Learning

Homiletic intensification — from the unintended to the intentional.

What Is Learned

The verse’s burden on accidental wrongdoing underscores the gravity of intentional transgression. R’ Akiva wept because the Torah already assigns weight to the unintended; the deliberate sinner stands under a far heavier accounting.