חומרת החטא גם כשנכשלו בה בשוגג
The severity of a sin even if one stumbles with it unintentionally
וְהִקְרִיתֶם לָכֶם עָרִים עָרֵי מִקְלָט תִהְיֶינָה לָכֶם וְנָס שָמָה רֹצֵחַ מַכֵה נֶפֶש בִשְגָגָה: (להּ:יא)
You shall arrange cities for yourselves, cities of refuge shall they be for you, and a killer shall flee there, one who takes a life unintentionally. (35:11)
The description ‘killer’ that we usually apply to someone who committed murder, in general, ‘a premeditated murderer’. However, in the Torah we see that even someone who killed unintentionally is categorized as a ‘killer’. This tells us that even one who stumbles unintentionally has acted improperly, true, he is not guilty, but in the end, his actions are severe and need atonement, and for this reason he must flee to a city of refuge.
We find further on (35:27), that if the killer who killed unintentionally goes outside his city of refuge, and the avenger kills him, there is no retribution, for it is considered as if he had killed a dead man. You see from here that one who kills unintentionally has a partial liability for death, even if this was unintentional.
It is similar with sins in general, we must remember that even one who transgresses a sin unintentionally is still called ‘a sinner’, and he does not quickly forgive himself for stumbling and receiving this name, and he does not think to himself that unintentional sins are all right with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and he can save himself by saying “Selichah!” [Sorry]. Rather, even for ‘unintentional sins’ we must do Teshuva from the depths of the heart, and when the Bais HaMikdash was standing, one would have to bring a ‘karban chattas’, and he did not quickly attain atonement.
So that we understand the severity of ‘unintentional’ we will present what HaRav HaKadosh the ‘Oheiv Yisrael’ from Apt told, that he testified about himself that he remembered his previous incarnations and one of them was when the Bais HaMikdash was standing. In that incarnation, he merited to serve as the ‘Kohen Gadol’ in the Bais HaMikdash. He told more of what he remembered from that incarnation, an even earlier time when he was one of the ‘pirchei kehuna’ [young Kohanim].
One of the distinguished Jews in the holy city of Yerushalayim, and Rebbe Gronam was his name. Rebbe Gronam was known as a ‘yarei shamayim merabim’ – ‘exceptionally fearful of Heaven’, however, one day he unintentionally stumbled with a sin, and he had to bring a ‘karban chattas’.
Rebbe Gronam went to a seller of goats and asked to buy one goat. The seller who had known Rebbe Gronam for many years, did not understand why Rebbe Gronam needed a goat, for no man like Rebbe Gronam were aware of matters of this world at all, and he certainly knew nothing about ‘raising goats’ or ‘milking animals’. The place of Rebbe Gronam was always in Bais Medrash within the four amos of halacha and knew nothing of matters of this world.
The seller did not keep these wonders to himself, and presented them before Rebbe Gronam, “Since when have you, Rebbe Gronam, become involved with goats? Go to your place in the Bais HaMedrash!”
Shamefaced, Rebbe Gronam responded to the seller, he did not need the goat for the milk, nor did he want to sell it at a higher price, rather, to his great distress, he had stumbled with sin!
The seller upon hearing this could not believe what he had heard, a Jew like Rebbe Gronam could stumble like this?! While examining ‘the goat’ to make sure there was no blemish and it was fit for a karban, he scolded Rebbe Gronam and asked him, “How were you misguided, and how did you forget your Creator and His mitzvos when you stumbled? Is this the man they say is of the ‘pure minds of Yerushalayim’?!”
Rebbe Gronam listened to the rebuke and accepted his disgrace in silence. Who knows how right the seller was with every word. Finally, the seller brought him the goat and taught Rebbe Gronam how to hold it so it would not run away, and Rebbe Gronam paid and left with the goat in his arms.
Rebbe Gronam’s soul laid heavy on him, as a result he did not remember what the seller showed him how to hold the goat so it would not run away, and so when the goat exerted some effort, it succeeded in jumping out of his arms and ran away.
Rebbe Gronam began to run after it; however, he was not expert in running like his goat. Therefore, he ended up running in all the streets of the city and all the residents saw this, the righteous Rebbe Gronam chasing after a goat. Everyone understood what this meant, that Rebbe Gronam had stumbled with a sin, and he had to bring a karban, and from Heaven, they also wanted to embarrass him with this in all the streets of the city, that everyone should know that Rebbe Gronam is a ‘sinner’!
Eventually, Rebbe Gronam succeeded in grabbing his goat, and walk with it from one end of the city to the other, where the Bais HaMikdash stood, and ask the Kohanim to offer his karban before Hashem.
It is self-understood, that every step he took he was also accompanied by terrible shame, anyone who was outside saw that Rebbe Gronam was obligated to bring a chattas. The children pointed their fingers at the man he had not controlled himself so well not to stumble with sin, and some of the adults teased him about this, and talked about his negligence, and he must bear his insult so that he would not be negligent again...
When Rebbe Gronam appeared in the Bais HaMikdash, the young kohanim immediately surrounded him to ask about this karban, and when Rebbe Gronam responded that he was bringing it for a chattas, they also began to torment him for his error that he sinned, and for not being diligent to not do this.
Only after this did the Kohanim begin to tend to his karban, and immediately slaughtered the goat as a chattas. Rebbe Gronam placed both his hands on its head, and with a shaky voice admitted his sin. The Leviim began to sing which broke Rebbe Gronam’s heart to pieces, and while Rebbe Gronam cried, the Kohanim began to offer the fats of the karban on the Mizbeach.
Then, they all faced the fire of the Mizbeach to inform Rebbe Gronam that Hashem accepted his karban, however, their hope was dashed when they noticed the figure of a dog emerging from the fire. Rebbe Gronam was in distress, and burst into tears and cried out, “Ribono shel Olam, if my broken heart has not earned me atonement, then add in my shame that I endured today from when I bought the goat until now, and it should be atonement. This pure Tefillah rose and was accepted before Hashem, along with his karban, and the figure of the dog changed into a figure of a lion.
From this incident we see that even if HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us a gift to atone with a karban, it is not enough to just bring it, one must also acknowledge the severity of the sin and regret it.
