FIVE CASES OF CHATOS THAT ARE ALLOWED TO DIE
היתה פילגש (בראשית לו:יב) ותמנע “And Timna was a concubine”
This verse alludes to law of Chatos Ha’meisos, a halacha of Moshe from Sinai (Temurah 15a)
(מעשי תורה פרק י"א)
(They are no longer fit to be offered as a korban and they are not allowed to be used as chullin)
- Offspring of a female Chatos
לד חטאת ו - Animal consecrated as the temurah of an existing Chatos
מורת חטאת ת ת - A Chatos that its owner died prior to being offered
תו בעליהמ מ - A Chatos whose owner atoned with another offering while original offering was missing
תכפרו בעליה נ באחרת נ - A Chatos whose first year passed
ברה שנתה ע ע
Why did Timna merit having her name used as a mnemonic for the five "Chatos Ha'meisos?"
The five Chatos are all cases of an animal having the sanctity of a sacrifice capable of providing atonement which was not used, where instead another Chatos was used or another manner of atonement was achieved. The Hadar Z'keinim mentioned the story of Timna's dissuading Amalek from attempting to kill Yaakov by advising him that if he would be successful, the burden of suffering for many generations as slaves in Egypt would fall onto his family. She saved Yaakov from possibly being killed. Golus Mitzrayim is an atonement for a shortcoming of Avrohom as mentioned in the Gemara Nedarim 32b. There was the possibility of the atonement being achieved by either Yaakov's or Eisov's descendants. Timna, in her saving Yaakov's life, said to Amolek that his family should not be the one to bring about the atonement, but rather that Yaakov's should. It is therefore most befitting that she has a place in our Torah study by the subject of atonement not being achieved with Chatos Ha'meisos, where the sinner receives his atonement through another means. These five Chatos are instead put to death. Correspondingly, may the zerah Amolek have a "kein yovdu kol oi'vecho Hashem" “So all the enemies of HaShem should be destroyed (Shoftim 5:31). (Sedrah Selections Rabbi Zvi Fleischer)
