Kerisos 4:1-2

Krisos 4:1

Let’s say that a person is in doubt as to whether or not he ate forbidden fats (cheilev), or even if he knew that he ate from it but is in doubt as to whether or not it was of sufficient volume to render him liable, or if there were both forbidden and permitted fats and he ate from one of them but he doesn’t know which one, or if his wife and his sister were both in the house with him and he inadvertently had relations with one of them but he doesn’t know which, or if he performed an act of labor but he doesn’t know whether it was on Shabbos or a weekday. In all of these cases, one is liable to bring a conditional guilt offering.

Krisos 4:2

Just as one who ate forbidden fats twice in one state of unawareness need only bring one sin offering, when a violation is in doubt, he need only bring one conditional guilt offering. If he became aware in the interim, then he is liable to a separate conditional guilt offering for each occurrence just as one would be liable to a separate sin offering for each occurrence. Just as one would be liable to separate sin offerings for forbidden fats, blood, piggul and nosar all in the same state of unawareness, so when a violation is in doubt one is liable to a separate conditional guilt offering for each different category. If both forbidden fats and nosar are in front of a person and he ate one of them but he doesn’t know which one, or if his menstruant wife and his sister were in the house with him and he inadvertently had relations with one of them but he doesn’t know which one, or if he performed an act of labor at twilight between Shabbos and Yom Kippur but he doesn’t know on which day it fell – in all of these cases, Rabbi Eliezer obligates him to bring a sin offering (because he certainly violated some prohibition) but Rabbi Yehoshua exempts him. Rabbi Yosi said that they don’t disagree that one who performed an act of labor at twilight is certainly exempt because one might assume that part of the labor was performed on one day and part on the other. What they disagreed about was one who performed an act of labor on the day itself but he doesn’t know whether it was on Shabbos or on Yom Kippur, or if he performed an act of labor but he doesn’t know what kind of labor he performed. In these cases Rabbi Eliezer obligates him to bring a sin offering and Rabbi Yehoshua exempts him. Rabbi Yehuda said that Rabbi Yehoshua exempts such a person even from a conditional guilt offering.