Study Keritot folio 7B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הכי קאמר: מגדף מביא קרבן הואיל ובא בו כרת במקום קרבן, דברי רבי עקיבא. קסבר: מיגו דבעי מכתב כרת בעלמא, וכתיב כרת במקום קרבן, שמע מינה מייתי קרבן.
The Talmud answers that this is what R' Akiva is saying: One who unwittingly blasphemes brings an offering, since its punishment of karet comes, i.e., is written, in a place where the Torah discusses an offering, i.e., karet is mentioned in a passage that discusses a sin offering (see Numbers 15:27–31). This is the statement of R' Akiva, as he maintains: Since the verse should have written karet in general, i.e., without connecting it to bringing an offering, and yet this karet is written in a place where the Torah discusses an offering, conclude from it that the unwitting blasphemer brings an offering for his transgression.
ואומר: ״חטאו ישא״. אתא[ן] לרבנן, והכי קאמר רבי עקיבא לרבנן: אמריתו מגדף לית ביה מעשה, מהו מגדף – מברך את השם. אלא כרת דכתיב, למאי אתא?
The Talmud analyzes the next clause of the baraita: And the verse states: “Whoever curses his God should bear his sin” (Leviticus 24:15). The Talmud explains: Here we arrive at the opinion of the Rabbis, and this is what R' Akiva is saying to the Rabbis: You say that the transgression of one who blasphemes does not involve an action, as what is the case of one who blasphemes? It is one who blesses, i.e., curses, the Name, i.e., God. But if so, then concerning the punishment of karet that is written: “That person blasphemes YHWH; and that soul should be cut off [venikhreta] from among his people” (Numbers 15:30), for what purpose does it come, if not to render him liable to bring an offering?
אמרי ליה: ליתן כרת למקלל, דכתיב במקלל: (״חטאו ישא האיש ההוא״) [״ונשא חטאו״], וכתיב בפסח שני: ״חטאו ישא״, מה להלן – כרת, אף כאן – כרת.
The Rabbis say to him: It comes to give the punishment of karet to one who curses God, in order to teach that the phrase: “should bear his sin,” written in the verse: “Whoever curses his God should bear his sin” (Leviticus 24:15), is referring to karet, so that one can derive by verbal analogy that an individual who was obligated to bring a Paschal offering for the second Pesaḥ and did not do so is likewise liable to receive karet. As it is written with regard to one who curses God: “Whoever curses his God should bear his sin,” and it is written with regard to one who was obligated to bring a Paschal offering for the second Pesaḥ and did not do so: “That man should bear his sin” (Numbers 9:13). Just as there, with regard to one who curses God it is referring to the punishment of karet, so too here, with regard to the Paschal offering it is referring to the punishment of karet.