Liable for Each False Claim He Swore Away

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 479:15

"And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any one of all the things he may have done" (Leviticus 5:26). From where do we learn that he is liable for each and every one separately? Scripture teaches by saying "[for] one" — to make him liable for each and every one. How so? If five men were claiming against him, saying to him, "Give us the deposit, the loan-pledge, the robbery, and the lost item that we have in your possession," and he said, "It is an oath that you have nothing of a deposit, loan-pledge, robbery, or lost item in my keeping, neither yours nor yours nor yours" — from where do we learn he is liable for each and every one? Scripture teaches by saying "one" — to make him liable for each and every one. One might think it is only because there were five men claiming. From where do we learn even if one man said to him, "Give me the deposit, the loan-pledge, the robbery, and the lost item," and so forth? Scripture teaches "one" — to make him liable for each and every one. One might think it is because they were different kinds of claims. From where do we learn even if he said, "Give me wheat and barley and spelt," and so forth? Scripture teaches "one" — to make him liable for each and every one. One might think it is because they were many kinds. From where do we learn even if he said, "Give me the wheat I deposited with you last night and the night before and the night before that," and the other swore, "It is an oath that I have nothing of yours, no wheat you deposited last night or before or before that"? From where do we learn he is liable for each and every one? Scripture teaches "one" — to make him liable for each and every one. And from where do we learn that he is liable only once for many things? Scripture teaches "for any one of all the things he may have done." How so? If one claimed against him, "Give me the wheat I deposited with you last night and before and before that," and he swore, "It is an oath that I have nothing of yours," from where do we learn he is liable only once? Scripture teaches "for any one of all the things he may have done." And so even if the claims were of one kind, or of many kinds, or different kinds of claims, or made by five men — if he swept them all away in one general oath, he is liable only once, for Scripture says "for any one of all the things he may have done." "To be guilty thereby" — this excludes a claim worth less than the value of a perutah [the smallest coin].

Themes