Torah Portion: Vayikra
If the entire assembly of Israel shall err, and a matter became obscured from the eyes of the congregation; and they commit one from among all the commandments of Hashem that may not be done, and they become guilty (Vayikra 4:13).
It is a positive commandment for the Great Sanhedrin to bring an offering if they erred and issued a mistaken ruling regarding a serious negative commandment for which the penalty is kareis-excision, and as a result of which the majority of the nation acted upon their ruling. Thus it is written, If the entire assembly of Israel shall err, and a matter became obscured from the eyes of the congregation; and they commit one from among all the commandments of Hashem that may not be done, and they become guilty (Vayikra 4:13).
As clarified earlier, one of the aims of the sacrificial-offerings is the subduing of the desiring-soul and intensifying the mind-soul. Therefore, if it occurred that the greatest sages of Israel erred about the Halacha, it is obvious that this happened to them as a result of the weakening of the mind. They therefore need to strengthen it, and so they are to come to the House that has an abundance of Intellect, where they are to implement to offering process. In this manner they will internalize the deficiency of the erring animal-soul in contrast with the importance of the pure, uplifting mind-soul. Through this pure thought they will be vigilant and accurate in all their rulings forever.
The laws of the mitzvah include: The obligation to bring this offering only begins if the ones who made the erroneous ruling were the seventy-one [members of the Great Sanhedrin], and that the Head of the Assembly (the Rosh Hayeshivah) was with them at the time that they issued their ruling. Each of them must have been fit to rule. Also, [the situation was that] a majority of them erred in that ruling; they erred explicitly — i.e., they told the people that they are allowed to do such-and-such — the entire nation or most of them actually acted upon that ruling; the people who did the act erred only because of that ruling, thinking that what the Sanhedrin ruled was correct (as opposed to when they knew the Sanhedrin was mistaken but they sinned anyway). Another condition is that [the Sanhedrin] ruled only to nullify only part [of a mitzvah] but not that they ruled to completely uproot a certain mitzvah.
When it is said that the Court is obligated to bring this offering, it means that the Tribes of Israel bring an offering on their behalf. Thus, they would bring twelve offerings.
This mitzvah applies when the Holy Temple stands, when we have a Great Sanhedrin.
