Horayot 9B

קשיין אהדדי!

If so, these two passages are difficult, as they contradict one another.

אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע: לא קשיא. כאן ⁠– בדלות, כאן ⁠– בדלי דלות. ורבי שמעון סבר לה כרבי עקיבא בחדא ופליג עליה בחדא: סבר לה כרבי עקיבא בדלי דלות דפטור, ופליג עליה בדלות.

Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: This is not difficult, as there is a distinction between the rulings. Here, in the passage that deems the anointed priest liable in cases other than the defiling the Temple, it is in the case of an offering brought due to poverty, whereas there, in the latter clause, it is in the case of an offering brought due to extreme poverty. And R' Shimon holds in accordance with the opinion of R' Akiva with regard to one halakha and disagrees with him with regard to one other halakha. He holds in accordance with the opinion of R' Akiva in the case of extreme poverty that the anointed priest is exempt from bringing that meal-offering. And he disagrees with R' Akiva in the case of poverty, as he does not hold that the anointed priest is completely exempt from bringing a sliding-scale offering.

אלא שאין כהן גדול חייב כו׳. אמר חזקיה: מאי טעמא דרבי שמעון? דכתיב: ״ונכרתה הנפש ההיא מתוך הקהל״, מי שקרבנו שוה לקהל. יצא זה שאין קרבנו שוה לקהל.

§ The Mishnah teaches that R' Shimon says: But an anointed High Priest is not liable for the defiling of the Temple or its sacrificial foods. Ḥizkiyya said: What is the reason for the opinion of R' Shimon? It is as it is written with regard to one who becomes ritually impure and enters the Temple: “And a man who should be impure, and should not be purified, that soul should be excised [venikhreta] from the midst of the congregation, because he has defiled the Sanctuary of YHWH; the water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled on him: He is impure” (Numbers 19:20). It is derived from this verse that this halakha applies specifically to one whose offering equals the offering of the congregation, i.e., the Jewish people. This serves to exclude the High Priest, as his offering does not equal the offering of the congregation, as on Yom Kippur he brings a bull for his unwitting transgression, while he brings a goat to achieve atonement for the Jewish people.