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Text Excerpt
רבי אליעזר היא, דאמר: מתנדב אדם אשם תלוי בכל יום. הילכך, אמרינן ליה: אייתי אשם תלוי ואתני: אי אכל ראשון שומן, הוא אכל חלב – ליהוי כפרה, ואי לא – ליהוי נדבה.
It is in accordance with the opinion of R' Eliezer, who says a person may volunteer to bring a provisional guilt offering every day. Therefore, we say to the second person: Volunteer and bring a provisional guilt offering, to prevent the first individual from bringing an unwarranted sin offering. And he should stipulate: If the first person ate the piece of permitted fat, that means that he himself ate the forbidden fat and consequently the offering should be an atonement for his own transgression. And if not, i.e., if the first person ate the forbidden fat and he himself committed no transgression, let it be a gift offering.
תנו רבנן: אכל ספק חלב ונודע לו, ספק חלב ונודע לו – רבי אומר: אומר אני, כשם שמביא חטאת על כל אחת ואחת – כך מביא אשם תלוי על כל אחת ואחת.
A baraita states: A person unwittingly ate a piece of fat about which it was uncertain whether it was forbidden fat or permitted fat, and he was subsequently informed of its questionable status. He then unwittingly ate another piece of fat about which it was uncertain whether it was forbidden fat or permitted fat, and he was again informed of its questionable status. R' Yehuda HaNasi says: I say that just as he would be liable to bring a sin offering for each and every one if he was later informed that they were all pieces of forbidden fat, so too, in these cases of uncertainty he must bring a provisional guilt offering for each and every one.
רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה ורבי אלעזר ורבי שמעון אומרים: אין מביא אלא אשם תלוי אחד, שנאמר: ״על שגגתו אשר שגג״ – אפילו על שגגות הרבה אינו חייב אלא אחת.
R' Yosei, son of R' Yehuda; R' Elazar; and R' Shimon all say: He is obligated to bring only one provisional guilt offering, as it is stated: “And the priest should make atonement for him concerning the unwitting error which he committed unwittingly and he should be forgiven” (Leviticus 5:18). It is derived from the verse’s double mention of his unwitting status, for which he is liable to bring one offering, that a person is obligated to bring only one offering even for many unwitting sins, despite the fact that he was informed of the uncertainty in between each instance of consumption.