Vayikra Nesivos Shalom

On Sinning Unintentionally and Subsequently Sacrificing

There are several sources that indicate that a korban chatat, a sacrifice for an unintentional sin - shogeg - is considered by G-d as an affront against Him, and that the bringer of the sacrifice needs to realize that it should be him and not the animal being killed and only via his broken heart is he spared.

If the transgression we bring a korban for was done by accident why is it framed in this dark light?

The fundamental Chassidic/Kabbalistic idea behind this is the following: If a person has a connection to G-d he won’t sin even accidentally because he’s watched over from Above. If one falls into sin it’s because he’s detached himself from Deveykut - connection to G-d and the guarding is automatically lost.

This explains why even an unintentional sin is considered an affront to G-d. If things were right with a person's soul they would be watched over from above and not come to sin. It's only because of hesech hada'at - distraction/lack of focus that a person can be vulnerable to accidental sin.

The following memory comes to mind: When I was a very little kid and my mother caught me doing something I shouldn't have done she'd ask if I did it by accident or on purpose. Sometimes I would answer that I did it accidentally on purpose. I think that is a good definition of the hebrew word and category of shogeg, it's an unintentional wrongdoing, not done on purpose, but also not considered a complete accident.

What's wrong with coming to do something beshogeg is that we lost our hyper-focus on G-d and that has consequences. We are meant to feel remorse and we bring a sin offering due to the on purpose part of accidentally on purpose. And the "sacrifice" we bring is called a korban, from the root word karov, because the idea at this point is to re-purify and reconnect with G-d.

It is for this reason that the first thing that G-d said to Moshe from the Ohel Moed/Mishkan was to offer korbanot for sinning beshogeg-accidentally on purpose. The first thing on the agenda of having the Mishkan was to improve upon our connection with G-d and to start fresh.

On an unrelated/related note is the fact that Pesach is the only holiday (including Shabbos) that has a special korban that introduces it. This is because Pesach is the season in which our being chosen by G-d is in the air and happens again. As we approach this holiday which is all about our connection to G-d we need to do something special in preparation. We bring a special pre-Pesach korban to clear away blockage and prepare ourselves to reconnect and ascend high in our connection with G-d.