Horayot

Maimonides sums up the conditions necessary for the bringing of such a sacrifice, found in the first and second chapters, as follows:[1] (1) the head of the Sanhedrin and all its members must have been present when the decision was rendered; (2) every one of them must have been fully qualified to serve as a member of that body; (3) the decision must have been passed by a unanimous vote; (4) the error must concern a Biblical law; (5) at least a majority of the people must have followed the decision in practise; (6) those who followed the decision in practise must have been unaware of the mistake, and must have supposed that they were acting in accordance with law; (7) the error must have been due merely to ignorance of a matter of detail, and not to ignorance of the existence of the whole Biblical law in question. Unless these conditions are present, every one of those who has acted in accordance with the erroneous enactment must bring an individual offering.

The anointed priest who had interpreted some Biblical law erroneously, and acted accordingly, was required to bring a special sacrifice. The same conditions that governed the case of an erroneous ruling of the court with regard to the practise of the community governed also the erroneous decision of the anointed priest with regard to his own practise. The laws regarding the special sacrifice of the nasi are also discussed in this chapter.

In the cases of the anointed priest and the nasi, whose tenure of office is temporary, a question might arise as to the kind of sacrifice they must bring for sins committed before entering their offices, or after leaving them. If the sin was committed before they assumed office, they were both regarded as private individuals. If the sin was committed after they left their offices, the nasi was regarded as an individual, while the status of the anointed priest was unchanged.

After the Mishnah has defined the term "anointed priest" and determined his position in the Temple, it enters upon a discussion of matters of priority — as between man and woman in cases of charity, or as regards the return of a lost object. It then enumerates the various castes among the Jews and their order of priority with regard to the calling up to read the Law, etc. — priests, Levites, Israelites, illegitimates, "netinim" (the Gibeonites), proselytes, and freed slaves. However, this priority is overridden by one's level of scholarship or piety: "This is only when all other things are equal, but in the case of an ignorant priest and a scholar who is an illegitimate, the latter must precede the priest in all honors."