Study Keritot folio 22B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
גמ׳ תנו רבנן: ״ואם נפש״ – לחייב על ספק מעילות אשם תלוי, דברי רבי עקיבא, וחכמים פוטרים.
Talmud: With regard to the issue of whether one brings a provisional guilt offering for an uncertain misuse of consecrated property, A baraita states: Immediately following the passage in the Torah discussing a guilt offering for misuse of consecrated property the Torah introduces the halakhot of a provisional guilt offering by stating: “And if anyone sin” (Leviticus 5:17). The term “and” serves to render one liable to bring a provisional guilt offering for uncertain misuse of consecrated property; this is the statement of R' Akiva. And the Rabbis deem him exempt in such a case.
The Talmud suggests: Let us say that they disagree about this following method of halakhic derivation: That R' Akiva holds that when the Torah connects two topics with the term “and” one learns the halakhot of the earlier passage from those in the later passage. Consequently, it can be derived that one who is uncertain about whether he misused consecrated property must bring a provisional guilt offering. And the Rabbis hold that one does not learn the halakhot in the earlier passage from those of the later passage.
אמר רב פפא: דכולי עלמא למדין עליון מתחתון, דאם כן, צפון בבן בקר לא משכחת להו,
Rav Pappa said: In fact, everyone agrees that one learns the halakhot of the earlier passage from those of the later passage, as if one does not say so, you will not find a source for the requirement that a young bull brought as a burnt offering must be slaughtered in the north section of the Temple courtyard. This is derived from the fact that the Torah states the halakhot of a young bull brought as a burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3–9) and then states: “And if his offering is of the flock, from the sheep or from the goats, as a burnt offering, an unblemished male he should present it, and he should slaughter it on the side of the altar northward” (Leviticus 1:10–11).