We find ourselves now deep in a discussion about what happens when someone accidentally defiles the Temple precinct or sacrifices but only becomes aware of it later. The rabbis discuss how this might happen. One possibility under consideration is that someone knowingly comes into contact with impurity but doesn’t realize this contact has rendered them impure. Only later, after subsequently coming into contact with the Temple or its sacrifices, does this person realize they must have been impure at the time. In this case, they would be liable for a sliding-scale sacrifice.
The rabbis want to know: Is this a realistic scenario? Can we assume someone who comes into contact with impurity doesn’t realize this has caused them to contract it? Based on a teaching of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, Abaye is doubtful:
Abaye said: And Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds that the elementary knowledge of the halakhot of ritual impurity that a person gained in his childhood from his school is sufficient, in light of his awareness of the fact he came into contact with a source of impurity, to be considered awareness of the fact that he was impure, and thereby render him liable to bring a sliding-scale offering.
Today, our lives are not significantly governed by the Jewish laws of purity and impurity. But this was not true in ancient times. The rules surrounding impurity were alive and active and a working knowledge of them was considered elementary. As a result, says Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, we can expect pretty much everyone in the Jewish community to be familiar with these rules. Therefore, the scenario outlined above, in which someone came in contact with an impurity but didn’t realize they had contracted the impurity, is highly unlikely.
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Now we have a challenge to this view from the opening mishnah of this tractate:
Rav Pappa said to Abaye: But how can you explain the halakhah that is taught in the mishnah: “For cases in which he did not have awareness at the beginning but had awareness at the end?” According to your explanation, is there anyone who does not have the elementary knowledge of the halakhot of ritual impurity that he gained from his school?
Abaye said to him: Yes, you find it in the case of a child who was taken captive among gentiles, who never received even the most elementary level of knowledge.
Abaye also concedes that there are people who might not know these basic laws. A Jewish child who’s been kept away from the community and never given a Jewish education could be aware that an item or person is impure but unaware of when and how that impurity is transmitted. As a result, this is an unlikely but not implausible situation.
This hypothetical “child who was taken captive among gentiles” comes up elsewhere in the Talmud. Shabbat 68b limits this person’s responsibility for bringing offerings for sins based on the presumption that they didn’t know about the rules they violated. Later, Moses Maimonides placed anyone who has not received a strong Jewish education in this category. Speaking about the descendants of people who deny the legitimacy of the Oral Law, he states: “Such a child may not be eager to follow the path of mitzvot, for it is as if he were compelled not to. Even if later he hears that he is Jewish and sees Jews and their faith, he is still considered as one who was compelled against observance, for he was raised according to their mistaken path.”
If you don’t receive a basic Jewish education, it’s not your fault, says Maimonides. Instead of punishing such people for accidental infractions, he encourages “words of peace” that promote repentance.
While we have no opportunities to accidentally defile the Temple today, we can apply this in other ways: If someone is Jewish but hasn’t had access to the kind of education that would allow them to participate more actively in Jewish life, it is unproductive to punish them. In our day, that doesn’t mean not compelling them to bring a sin offering, but it might mean not shaming them. Rather, if they are looking to follow more mitzvot, it is incumbent on us to offer them gentle, non-punitive support.
Read all of Shevuot 5 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 6, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
