Sin-Offerings from Individuals
Sixth Reading 27 Now that we have discussed the special sin-offerings for the nation’s leaders, we will now turn to the sin-offering brought by an ordinary individual. If some other person, who is one of the common people of the land, unintentionally commits a sin punishable by excision if committed intentionally, by his (or her) transgressing any of the passive commandments of God, thereby incurring guilt, then—
28 if his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring either a goat or a sheep as a sin-offering. If he chooses to bring a goat, then he must bring his sacrifice, an unblemished female goat, for his sin that he committed, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
29 He must lean his hand forcefully on the sin-offering’s head and slaughter the animal—with the intention that it be a sin-offering—in the place where the ascent-offering is slaughtered, i.e., on the north side of the Altar within the precincts of the Courtyard of the Tabernacle.
30 The priest must ascend the ramp of the Altar, take some of animal’s blood with his finger, and place it on the four protrusions of the Altar used for ascent-offerings. If, however, he applies the blood to only one of the protrusions, the sacrifice is still valid after the fact. He must then descend the ramp and pour all of its remaining blood onto the south side of the base of the Altar.
31 He must remove all of its fat, just as the fat would be removed from the peace-offering of goats. The priest must then burn it up on the Altar with the intention that it please God. Thus the priest makes atonement for the individual so that he may then be forgiven.
32 If he brings a sheep for his sin-offering, he must bring an unblemished female.
33 He must lean his hand forcefully upon the sin-offering’s head and slaughter it—with the intention that it be a sin-offering—in the place where he slaughters the ascent-offering, i.e., on the north side of the Altar within the precincts of the Courtyard of the Tabernacle.
34 The priest must ascend the ramp of the Altar, take some of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and place it on the four protrusions of the Altar used for ascent-offerings. If, however, he applies the blood to only one of the protrusions, the sacrifice is still valid after the fact. He must then descend the ramp and pour all of its remaining blood onto the south side of the base of the Altar.
35 He must remove all its fat, just as the sheep’s fat is removed from the peace-offering (i.e., similar to the goat but also including the tail). The priest must then burn them up on the Altar, upon the fires that are there on which to burn up the sacrifices offered to God. Thus the priest makes atonement for the individual for his sin that he committed, so that he may then be forgiven.
Chasidic Insights
There are two basic explanations of how sacrificing an animal atones for sin:
- Sacrificing the animal is an enactment of what ought to be done to the sinner. The sinner should imagine all that is being done to the animal being done to him. The sacrifice thus jolts the sinner out of his negative ways.
- The animal personifies the animal instincts of the sinner, which led to the sin, whereas the sinner’s true essence, his Divine soul, did not participate in the sin. This realization stirs the sinner’s Divine soul, inspiring him to renew his devotion God and to serve Him better than previously.
The first explanation is harsher than the second and is therefore appropriate for more severe sins. Therefore, the guilt-offering, which can atone for deliberate sins, is brought from male animals, suggesting the “male” type of meditation necessary to shake a person free from deliberate sins. The second, softer, more “female” type of meditation is more appropriate for unintentional sins; therefore, the sin-offering, which atones for such sins, is brought from female animals.
Similarly, nowadays, when an individual feels estranged from God, he must evaluate what is causing this feeling. Then he can meditate on his relationship with God in the way appropriate to his situation and awaken himself to Divine reality.
