Another matter, “when a person [nefesh] will sin” – “Also for the soul to be without knowledge is not good” (Proverbs 19:2). Ravina bar Avina said: This is analogous to a [woman’s] menstrual period that would consistently arrive as the sun was rising, and one forgot and engaged in marital relations before sunrise; without knowledge, it is not good.15The couple should have refrained from marital relations at that time on the day when the woman expected her menstrual period to arrive.
If they engaged in relations and her period began in the middle of the act, they bear responsibility for their sin. Had one known and engaged in marital relations, all the more so. Moreover, “and one who hastens with his feet sins” (Proverbs 19:2). Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Shmuel bar Marta in the name of Rav: This is analogous to one who had two stores before him, one selling ritually slaughtered meat and one selling the meat of animals that were not ritually slaughtered.
He forgot and purchased from the one selling meat of animals that were not ritually slaughtered. “Without knowledge” it is “not good”; had he known and purchased, all the more so. Moreover, “and one who hastens with his feet sins.”16One who hastens into a situation that could lead to sin without the necessary precautions is responsible for the sin. Rabbi Yoḥanan interpreted the verse regarding Shabbat; if one had before him two paths, one smooth and the other full of thorns and pebbles, and he forgot and went on the path that was full of thorns and pebbles,17The premise is that walking and detaching the thorn bushes is a prohibited labor on Shabbat. “without knowledge” it is “not good,” had he known and [still] gone, all the more so.
Moreover, “and one who hastens with his feet sins.” Another matter, “also for the soul to be without knowledge [is not good, and one who hastens with his feet sins].” Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Sin offerings and guilt offerings are prohibited; vow offerings and gift offerings are permitted.18Sin offerings and guilt offerings are brought to atone for unwitting sin.
Rabbi Yoḥanan states that one who comes to the Temple to bring offerings for even unwitting sins is no good, because he should be careful enough to avoid sin entirely. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Even vow offerings and gift offerings are prohibited.19Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish interprets the end of the verse to mean that coming to the Temple too frequently even to bring voluntary offerings is not good.
Another matter, “also [for the soul] to be without knowledge” – these are unwitting sins. “And one who hastens with his feet sins” – these are intentional transgressions. Know that when [one’s act] is unwitting it is [still] considered a sin: “When a person will sin unwittingly.”