We will now turn to the question of which animals are brought for the various offerings we have been discussing. The Mishnah states a general rule: "Kol hamitzvos shebaTorah sheyeish bahen chiyuv kareis im asa'an bemeizid" - all the mitzvos in the Torah that carry liability of kareis if one transgressed them intentionally; and if one transgressed them unintentionally, he brings a chatas for them. These are the sins we counted among the thirty-six kareisos, which the Rambam counts as forty-three, as we resolved earlier. Of these, we will deal here with only forty-two, since idolatry is treated as a different category of offering.
The fixed chatas - who brings it and what he brings:
The individual: brings a female lamb or a female goat, either one of the two.
The nasi (the king): brings for those very same sins - if he desecrated Shabbos unintentionally, he too is liable for a fixed chatas - except that his chatas is always a goat, and specifically a male and not a female.
The mashiach (the anointed Kohen) and the beis din (the Sanhedrin): when they are liable for a special offering on account of a mistaken ruling, they do not bring a goat or a lamb but a bull, that is, a male of cattle.
To illustrate, let us take an example: a person ties his shoes with a double knot on Shabbos, and afterward remembers and says, "I forgot that today is Shabbos," or, "I forgot that this is forbidden." What is the law regarding each of the parties involved?
The individual: brings a chatas - a female goat or a female lamb.
The nasi, that is, the king: brings a male goat.
A Kohen Gadol who tied a double knot on Shabbos: brings no offering at all. Even though he is fit to rule and is anointed with the anointing oil, here it is merely an unintentional act - he did not issue a mistaken ruling, he simply acted unintentionally - and therefore he is completely exempt from any chatas.
The anointed Kohen in a case of a mistaken ruling: if he studied the matter, ruled and decided that "tying a double knot in one's shoes on Shabbos is permitted," and acted according to his ruling, and afterward retracted - he is obligated to bring a chatas, and it is the bull.
It is worth noting the difference between the offerings: the bull of the anointed Kohen is offered, its blood is sprinkled inside, and its meat is not eaten. By contrast, the fixed chatas of the individual - the female lamb or female goat - as well as the king's male goat, are offered on the altar and their meat is eaten by the kohanim.
The same law applies to the beis din: if the Sanhedrin issued a mistaken ruling and the majority of the nation acted according to its ruling in one of those forty-two sins for which an individual is liable for a fixed chatas, they bring a par he'elem davar, as was explained in the first chapter, and according to the halachah, twelve bulls.
Regarding idolatry:
From the verses we learn that the sin of idolatry committed unintentionally is not included in the fixed chatas described above; rather, a different type of offering is brought for it. In the words of the Mishnah: "Uva'avodah zarah, hayachid vehanasi vehamashiach mevi'in se'irah" - and for idolatry, the individual, the nasi and the anointed Kohen all bring a female goat. All of them are equal in this law: the individual, the king, and the kohen, even the anointed Kohen, all bring a se'irah, which is a female goat.
There is a dispute regarding the law of the anointed Kohen in the case of idolatry, whether a mistaken ruling is required in his case:
Rabbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi): his law is the same as that of the king in this matter, and there is no difference between them.
The Sages, and this is the halachah: a mistaken ruling is specifically required - that he ruled that it is permitted to perform an act of idolatry, and afterward retracted.
And as for the beis din: if the Great Sanhedrin issued a ruling in matters of idolatry, as we saw in the previous chapter, and the nation acted according to its ruling, and afterward they retracted - they bring a bull and a goat. Here, however, the bull does not serve as a chatas: the bull comes as an olah and is offered on the outer altar, and the goat - a male goat - comes as a chatas, following the law of a chatas of he'elem davar, and it is brought from all twelve tribes as before. This goat is offered, its blood is sprinkled inside the Sanctuary toward the Paroches and on the golden altar, and its meat is burned outside the camp.
In summary: In this section we learned which animal is brought for each of the offerings - an individual brings a female lamb or a female goat, the nasi brings a male goat, and the anointed Kohen Gadol and the court bring a bull. We noted the distinction between an unwitting act, for which the Kohen Gadol is exempt, and an erroneous ruling, which obligates him in a bull. We also saw that for idolatry the individual, the nasi and the anointed Kohen Gadol are all alike in bringing a female goat, while the court brings a bull as an olah and a goat as a chatas.