1When they would reach the end of the place that they desired to consecrate, the inner thanks-offering would be eaten and the outer one would be burned. The details of this ceremony will be described in the Gemara. And with regard to any addition to the Temple that was not made with all these ceremonial procedures, one who enters there while ritually impure is not liable to bring an offering if his entry was unwitting, nor to be punished with karet , excision from the World-to-Come, if his entry was intentional.
2The first part of the mishna discussed one who became ritually impure before entering the Temple. The mishna proceeds to consider a case involving one who was ritually pure when he entered the Temple but who became impure while in the Temple courtyard, and afterward, his impurity was hidden from him but he remembered that he was standing in the Temple, or the fact that he was standing in the Temple was hidden from him but he remembered his impurity, or both this fact and that fact were hidden from him. In all these cases, if he bowed down, or he tarried in the Temple courtyard long enough to bow down even though he did not actually bow, or he went out by way of a longer route when he could have taken a shorter route, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering. But if he left the Temple via the shortest way, he is exempt.
3This mitzva that the ritually impure must be sent out of the Temple is the positive mitzva concerning the Temple for which, as is taught elsewhere in the Mishna ( Horayot 8b), the Sanhedrin is not liable to bring an offering for an erroneous ruling. A communal bull sin-offering is brought because of the unwitting transgression of a prohibition involving an action by the Jewish people resulting from an erroneous halakhic decision handed down by the Sanhedrin. But if the Sanhedrin mistakenly ruled that one who became impure while in the Temple may leave by way of a longer route, they do not bring this offering, as it is brought only for an erroneous ruling on a matter that requires the bringing of a fixed sin-offering, and not a sliding-scale offering, for its unwitting violation.
4And which is the positive mitzva with regard to a menstruating woman for which, as is taught in Horayot there, the Sanhedrin is liable to bring a bull offering for an erroneous ruling? If a man was engaging in intercourse with a ritually pure woman, and during the course of their act of intercourse she experienced menstrual bleeding and said to him: I have become impure, and unwittingly he immediately withdrew from her and did not wait until his penis became flaccid, he is liable to bring a sin-offering for engaging in intercourse with a menstruating woman, because his withdrawal from her is as pleasant to him as his entry. If the Sanhedrin mistakenly ruled that one may withdraw immediately, they bring a bull offering for their erroneous ruling.
5Rabbi Eliezer says: With regard to the sliding-scale offering the verse states: “Or if a person touches any impure thing, whether it is the carcass of a non-kosher undomesticated animal, or the carcass of a non-kosher domesticated animal, or the carcass of a non-kosher creeping animal, and it is hidden from him” (Leviticus 5:2). A precise reading of this verse indicates that in a case where one has a lapse of awareness that he had contracted ritual impurity by touching a creeping animal, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering for having defiled the Temple or the sacrificial food, but he is not liable to bring such an offering in a case where he has a lapse of awareness that he is entering the Temple or partaking of sacrificial food.
6Similarly, Rabbi Akiva says: The verse states: “And it is hidden from him, so that he is impure” (Leviticus 5:2), thereby teaching that in a case when one has a lapse of awareness that he had contracted ritual impurity, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering, but one is not liable to bring such an offering in a case when he has a lapse of awareness that he is entering the Temple or partaking of sacrificial food.
7Rabbi Yishmael says: The verse states: “And it is hidden from him” (Leviticus 5:2), and it states: “And it is hidden from him” (Leviticus 5:3), twice, in order to render one liable to bring a sliding-scale offering both in a case where one has a lapse of awareness that he had contracted ritual impurity and in a case where one has a lapse of awareness that he is entering the Temple.
8GEMARA: The mishna teaches that the halakhot concerning awareness of ritual impurity are two that are further subdivided into four. Rav Pappa said to Abaye: Are these actually two states of awareness that are subdivided into four? As the mishna lists them, they seem to be two that are subdivided into six: Awareness of the impurity at the beginning and at the end, awareness of the sacrificial food at the beginning and at the end, and awareness of the Temple at the beginning and at the end.
9Abaye answered him: According to your reasoning, that you count all the various cases listed in the mishna, there are eight states of awareness, as there is also awareness of the impurity in connection with eating the sacrificial food, at the beginning and at the end, and awareness of the impurity in connection with entering the Temple, at the beginning and at the end. The mishna mentions awareness of the impurity both in the first clause, which discusses partaking of sacrificial food, and in the second clause, which discusses entering the Temple.
10Rav Pappa refutes this: This is not difficult, as the status of ritual impurity carries one name in both cases: The person was aware that he had contracted ritual impurity and then it became hidden from him, and there is no reason to distinguish between impurity in connection with partaking of sacrificial food and impurity in connection with entering the Temple. Accordingly, Rav Pappa’s first question remains: In any case there are six states of awareness.
11Rav Pappa said in answer to his own question: Actually, there are eight states of awareness, two of the impurity in connection with partaking of sacrificial food, two of the impurity in connection with entering the Temple, two of awareness of the sacrificial food, and two of awareness of the Temple, each pair having one awareness at the beginning and one at the end. But the first four states of awareness at the beginning do not in themselves bring the unwitting transgressor to liability to bring an offering, as if he does not reach awareness at the end, he will not have known that he transgressed. Therefore, the tanna does not count them. But the tanna does count the last four states of awareness, which bring the unwitting transgressor to the liability to bring an offering.
12And there are those who say that Rav Pappa said as follows: Actually, there are eight states of awareness, and it is the first four states of awareness at the beginning, which are not found in the entire Torah, that the tanna counts. In all the other instances where one is liable to bring an offering for an unwitting transgression, it is not necessary that there be any awareness at the beginning. Since this is a novel requirement, the tanna counts these states of awareness. But the tanna does not count the last four states of awareness at the end, which are found also in the entire Torah, as a standard sin-offering is brought when one is made aware after the fact that he had transgressed.
13The amora’im try to define the awareness of the impurity mentioned in the mishna. Rav Pappa raises a dilemma: If the halakhot of impurity became hidden from him, what is the halakha ? Is he liable to bring a sliding-scale offering in such a situation? The Gemara asks: What are the circumstances of the case under discussion? If we say that he did not know whether a creeping animal is impure or pure or whether a frog is impure or pure, this is a topic that you could go learn in a children’s school. As these matters are explicitly recorded in the Torah, they can never be considered hidden.
14Actually, Rav Pappa must have been asking about a case where he knew the essential halakha with regard to the ritual impurity of a creeping animal, and it is a case where he touched a portion of the animal that was of a lentil-bulk and he did not know the halakha concerning whether a portion that was of a lentil-bulk renders a person impure or does not render him impure. What is the halakha in such a case? The Gemara explains the two possibilities: Does one say that since he knows generally that a creeping animal renders a person impure, it is awareness? Or perhaps one says that since he does not know whether a portion that was of a lentil-bulk renders a person impure or does not render a person impure, it is considered hidden from him. The Gemara comments: The dilemma shall stand unresolved.
15Rabbi Yirmeya raises a dilemma concerning the awareness of the Temple: If a Babylonian or a resident of another country ascended to Eretz Yisrael, and the site of the Temple was hidden from him, so that he unwittingly entered into the Temple in a state of ritual impurity, what is the halakha ? Is he liable to bring a sliding-scale offering to atone for his offense, or not?
16The Gemara clarifies: In accordance with whose opinion was this dilemma raised? If it was raised in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who requires that there be awareness at the beginning in order for one to become liable to bring an offering, that is difficult, as Rabbi Akiva does not deem one liable when he had a lapse of awareness that he was entering the Temple. And if the dilemma was raised in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, who deems one liable when he had a lapse of awareness that he was entering the Temple, that is difficult, as Rabbi Yishmael does not require that there be awareness at the beginning. According to both tanna’im , the dilemma is not relevant.
17The Gemara explains: No, it is necessary to raise the dilemma only in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who requires awareness at the beginning and also deems one liable when he had a lapse of awareness that he was entering the Temple, and he also says that awareness that one gains in the house of his teacher is called awareness (see 5a). What is the halakha in such a case? The Gemara explains the two possibilities: Does one say that since he knows that there is a Temple someplace in the world, it is awareness? Or perhaps one says that since he does not know the precise location of the Temple, it is considered hidden from him. The Gemara comments: This dilemma shall stand unresolved.
18§ The mishna teaches: The same halakha applies to one who enters the area that was part of the original Temple courtyard and to one who enters the later addition to the Temple courtyard, as additions can be made to the city of Jerusalem or to the Temple courtyards only by a special body comprising the king, a prophet, the Urim VeTummim , and the Sanhedrin of seventy-one judges, and with two thanks-offerings and with a special song. The Gemara asks: From where is this matter derived? Rav Shimi bar Ḥiyya said: As the verse states: “According to all that I show you, the form of the Tabernacle, and the form of all its vessels,