Zevachim chapter five, Mishnah five. In this Mishnah, we conclude the topic of the most holy offerings in Zevachim, and it opens: "Zivchei shalmei tzibur va'ashamos" - communal peace offerings and guilt offerings.
Peace offerings in general are offerings of lesser holiness, and we will deal with them later in the chapter, a few Mishnayos from here. However, there is one type of peace offering that has the status of most holy offerings: the special peace offering lambs brought on the festival of Shavuos, which are waved together with the two loaves of bread. This offering is called communal peace offerings, because it is purchased with communal funds - from the half-shekel donation - and is brought on behalf of the entire community. Therefore, its law is like that of most holy offerings, as will be explained in the Mishnah.
Alongside them, the Mishnah lists the guilt offerings. An asham (guilt offering) is an offering brought in six different cases, and we will detail each one of them.
The six guilt offerings:
Asham gezeilos: A person who owes money to his fellow - whether he robbed him, found a lost object and did not return it, or withheld a hired worker's wages - and the claimant brought him to a rabbinic court, and there the defendant swore falsely that he does not owe the money. When he comes to repent and rectify the wrongdoing, he must bring, among other things, a robbery guilt offering for the transgression he committed. This guilt offering is brought for an act done intentionally.
Asham me'ilos: Me'ilah is the unlawful use of consecrated property. One who derives financial benefit from a consecrated item - such as riding on the back of a sin offering goat or eating it - unintentionally, without intent to transgress the prohibition of me'ilah, pays the value of his benefit plus a fifth (twenty-five percent), and brings a misuse guilt offering. Unlike the robbery guilt offering, this guilt offering is brought only for an unintentional transgression.
Asham shifchah charufah: This is an unusual case, and the Tannaim debate the exact reality being discussed. The halachah follows Rabbi Akiva, and here is the basic explanation of his view:
A Jewish man cannot marry a Canaanite maidservant, and betrothal does not take effect with her at all - even if he gave her a ring and said "Behold, you are betrothed to me" and she accepted it, she is not betrothed. If, however, she is freed, she is a full-fledged Jewess.
When two people own her in partnership - for example, a person who died and bequeathed her to his two sons, or two partners who bought her together - and one of the owners frees his share, she is half free and half Canaanite maidservant. The freed half can marry a Jew, but the maidservant half cannot.
The only Jew that a Canaanite maidservant can live with is a Hebrew slave: a Jew who fell into debt - such as one who stole and cannot repay - and was sold to pay his debt, and works and lives in that person's house. He is a Jew in every respect, and is not a person's property, and there is no difference between him and another Jew except this: in certain situations, his master may give him a Canaanite maidservant to live together as man and wife, and the children born are the master's slaves; and when the slave goes free, he does not leave with his family.
Therefore, a woman who is half free and half maidservant can live with a Hebrew slave: her free half is married to him, since he is a Jew, and her maidservant half is also permitted to live with him, since he is a Hebrew slave. She is sort of married, like half married, but she is not a fully married woman, since betrothal does not take effect on the maidservant half.
Because of this, one who cohabits with her is not a complete adulterer, and does not incur the regular death penalty for being with a married woman (strangulation), because she is not fully married. Instead, his punishment includes bringing a designated maidservant guilt offering.
Asham nazir: One who takes a vow of nezirus accepts upon himself not to become ritually impure with the tumah of a corpse, not to eat grape products, and not to cut his hair. If he becomes impure with corpse tumah, he must restart his nezirus, and at the end of the process - after he is purified - he brings several offerings, including a nazir's guilt offering for having become impure, in addition to the sin offering and the other offerings.
Asham metzora: A metzora who was healed - one who was afflicted with tzaraas following his antisocial behavior - undergoes a seven-day purification process. On the eighth day he brings several offerings, and one of them is the metzora's guilt offering.
Asham talui: This guilt offering is different from all the others. It is brought when a person is in doubt whether he committed a transgression that requires a sin offering - one of those forty-three transgressions - and does not know if he actually committed it. For example: in the refrigerator are two portions of shawarma, one of permitted fat and one of cheilev - that forbidden fat for which one who eats it intentionally incurs kares, and unintentionally requires a sin offering. Reuven ate one of them and does not know which, and Shimon ate the second one, and he too is in this doubt. Reuven cannot bring a sin offering, since it is possible he did not eat the cheilev; on the other hand, it is possible he is obligated to, since he may have eaten cheilev unintentionally. Therefore, he brings a suspensive guilt offering, which suspends the consequences that would have resulted from not bringing the sin offering. If it becomes clear to him afterward that he indeed ate the cheilev, he will still be obligated to bring a sin offering.
It is worth noting the type of animal: four of the guilt offerings are brought from an ayil (ram) - a male sheep that is at least one year, one month, and one day old - and these are the misuse guilt offering, the robbery guilt offering, the designated maidservant guilt offering, and the suspensive guilt offering. Meanwhile, the nazir's guilt offering and the metzora's guilt offering are brought from a keves (lamb), a younger male sheep.
The order of their service:
"Shechitasan batzafon" - as in all previous cases, their slaughter is in the northern part of the Courtyard.
"V'kibul daman bikli shareis batzafon" - the receiving of the blood in a ministering vessel is also done in the northern part of the Courtyard.
"V'daman ta'un shtei matanos shehen arba" - as we saw with the burnt offering: two sprinklings, one on the northeastern corner and one on the southwestern corner, and through this the blood reaches all four walls of the Altar.
"V'ne'echal lifnim min hakla'im" - since these are most holy offerings, they are eaten within the curtains. This wording refers to the Tabernacle, and in the Holy Temple the intention is within the walls of the Courtyard.
"L'zichrei kehunah" - to the male kohanim only, and not to their wives and families.
"B'chol ma'achal" - it is permitted to prepare and eat them in any manner they wish, unlike the Passover offering.
"L'yom valaylah ad chatzos" - for one day: the day they were slaughtered and the night following it. By Torah law, their time is until dawn, but the Sages restricted the time until midnight, lest a person err and overestimate the time he has, and the meat become left over (nosar), and one who eats it incurs kares.
In summary: In this Mishnah, we learned about the communal peace offerings - the Shavuos lambs brought from communal funds, whose law is like most holy offerings - and about the six guilt offerings: robbery, misuse, designated maidservant, nazir, metzora, and suspensive, four of which are brought from a ram and two from a lamb. For all of them, the slaughter and receiving of the blood are in the north, their blood requires two placements that are four, and they are eaten within the curtains by the males of the priesthood, prepared as any food, for a day and a night until midnight.
In the upcoming Mishnayos, we will discuss the offerings of lesser holiness, foremost among them the peace offerings.