14 The community must bring: If it is the Sanhedrin who erred, why must the community pay for the sacrificed animal and seek atonement? Normally, as we have seen, an inadvertent sin must be atoned for because it bespeaks some hidden flaw that has suddenly surfaced. But in this case, the people acted exactly as the Torah instructs them to; how, then, can they be expected to feel remorse or regret?
Indeed, if it was merely a question of fault, the people would have no reason to regret their actions. But since, regardless of who was at fault, the will of God was transgressed—His plan for the world was in whatever way not carried out—the people are expected to be sensitive enough to Divine concerns to regret having contravened them, even inadvertently, even through no fault of their own. The easiest way the people can acquire such keen sensibility to the significance of even the most forgivable sin is through the example of their leader. The true leader, rather than pretending to be infallible, should serve as an example of honest self-appraisal to his people, and not hesitate to seek atonement for even his inadvertent sins. In this way, he will inspire the people to seek atonement for their sins as well, even one so pardonable as the one described here. It is for this reason that the sin-offering of the leader is treated directly after the sin-offering of the Sanhedrin, to indicate that the people will seek atonement for themselves on account of the Sanhedrin’s error only if the leader inculcates them, by his own behavior, with proper sensitivity to the gravity of sin.
13 If the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the entire community of Israel, errs because the correct decision regarding a matter—specifically, a passive commandment punishable by excision—eluded the Sanhedrin (who are allegorically termed ‘the eyes’ of the community), and, relying on the Sanhedrin’s incorrect ruling that this matter is permissible, the people transgress any of the passive commandments of God punishable by excision if performed intentionally, thereby incurring guilt, then—
14 when the sin that they had committed is discovered, the community (i.e., each tribe individually) must bring a young bull (i.e., between one and three years old) as a sin-offering. They must bring it before the Tent of Meeting.
15 The elders of the community, i.e., the Sanhedrin, must lean their hands forcefully upon the bull’s head before God, i.e., within the precincts of the Courtyard of the Tabernacle, and one of them or their agent must slaughter the bull before God, i.e., within the precincts of the Courtyard of the Tabernacle.
16 After the blood has been received in a consecrated vessel, the anointed high priest must bring some of the bull’s blood into the Tent of Meeting,
