If you unwittingly fail to observe any one of the commandments that the LORD has declared to Moses—
anything that the LORD has enjoined upon you through Moses—from the day that the LORD gave the commandment and on through the ages:
If this was done unwittingly, through the inadvertence of the community, the whole community shall present one bull of the herd as a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the LORD, with its proper meal offering and libation, and one he-goat as a sin offering.
The priest shall make expiation for the whole Israelite community and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and for their error they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the LORD and their sin offering before the LORD.
The whole Israelite community and the stranger residing among them shall be forgiven, for it happened to the entire people through error.
AND WHEN YE SHALL ERR, AND NOT OBSERVE ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS. This section is obscure in meaning, and the commentators of the plain meaning of Scripture have mistakenly explained it as referring to an offering which must be brought by one who has unwittingly failed to observe what G-d has commanded him to do. But these words are words of wind! For if so, there would be an obligation to bring an offering for any of the positive commandments of the Torah, if a person did not fulfill them all and unwittingly [neglected to do] any one of them, and there would [also] be the punishment of excision for anyone who does not fulfill them all, that is, who neglected knowingly to do [any] one of them, since Scripture states, even all that the Eternal hath commanded him unto you! Moreover, He stated here, And it shall be if it be ‘done’ in error by the congregation, [clearly indicating] that the error consists of a [positive] act which they did, and not of sitting back and failing to act! Similarly, But the soul that ‘doeth’ ought with a high hand [which also indicates that the sin consisted of doing something which the Torah prohibited]. But the meaning [of the verse before us] is: “When ye shall err and not observe what G-d has commanded [you to do], but you do the opposite.” Or it [may be that the verse] is stating that [if] “ye shall err and not observe His commandments, namely those things that He has commanded you not to do,” since matters prohibited by a negative commandment are also called “commandments,” just as He said, If any one shall sin through error against any of ‘the commandments’ of the Eternal concerning things which ought not to be done. Now this offering [mentioned here] which the congregation has to bring when sinning in error is different from the offering mentioned in the section of Vayikra, for there He commanded [the congregation] to bring a bullock for a sin-offering, and here He commanded them to bring a bullock for a burnt-offering and a he-goat for a sin-offering. Therefore our Rabbis had to say that this offering [mentioned here] applies only to worshipping idols in error [and hence has a stricter form of atonement].
The language of the verses [here] without being taken out of its simple meaning and implication is [to be understood as if] He were saying: “And when ye shall err in all the commandments, and transgress all that G-d has commanded you by the hand of Moses, inasmuch as you will not do anything of that which He has commanded you, then you shall bring this offering.” Therefore He does not mention here, as He does with reference to those offerings [brought] for [committing a particular] sin, ‘any of all the commandments’ of the Eternal [since the reference here is to transgressing all the commandments, and not just one of them, as is explained further on]. Thus this section according to its plain meaning refers to [the duty of] one who is unwittingly an “apostate” with regard to the entire Torah, [to bring] an offering, such as one who goes and becomes assimilated amongst one of the nations, and behaves as they do and does not want to be part of Israel at all. This applies if it was all done in error, such as — in the case of an individual — a child who was taken into captivity among the nations [and grew up unaware of his Jewish origin], and in the case of the community, if they [mistakenly] thought that the time of the Torah had already passed, and that it was not given for all generations; or if they say — as is mentioned in the Sifre — “‘Why did G-d give [the Torah]? Was it not so that we should observe it and be rewarded for it? We will not observe it, and will take no reward!’ This is similar to that which the Israelites said and asked of Ezekiel, as it is stated, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Eternal and sat before me. They said to him: ‘Our master Ezekiel: A slave that was sold by his master, does he not go out of his control?’ etc.” Or [the section here may refer to a time] when people forget the Torah. This has already happened to us, because of our sins, for in the days of the wicked kings [of the kingdom] of Israel, such as Jeroboam, most of the people forgot the Torah and the commandments completely, as is mentioned [also] — in the Book of Ezra concerning the people of the Second Temple. This, then, is the purport of our verse, for the “error” mentioned here refers to the totality of the Torah and the commandments. Therefore our Rabbis singled out one commandment, through the unwitting violation of which a person goes out of the community of Israel and all that they have been commanded, namely worshipping idols. The explanation of the verse is thus: “And when ye shall err, to walk after other gods, and not observe one [particular] thing [which is in itself a denial] of all the commandments of the Eternal;” because one who acknowledges any divinity apart from Him, has already rendered meaningless all that the Glorious Name has commanded, whether positive commandments or negative commandments, since if there were to be a deity other than Him, then the [duty of] fearing Him and [keeping] His commandments and all the obligations they entail are of no consequence.
This section thus comes to complete the laws of the priests with the law of one who worships idols in error, for this book [of Numbers] completes the laws of the offerings, as I have explained. It was put in here because the people [after hearing the false report of the spies] rebelled against the word of G-d, and said, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt, which means to remain in Egypt as they were originally, without Torah and without the commandments. The section thus comes to inform them that even in the case of idolatry, He forgives those who are in error, but those who do it in a high hand He will cut them off [from among their people]. I have already explained in Seder Acharei Moth the meaning of this excision.