Yevamos 91b: The Astonishing Chiddush of the Kli Chemdah — Is There No Aveirah B’Shogeg by a Lav She’ein Bo Ma’aseh?
The Kli Chemdah suggests an astonishing chiddush: when someone violates a lav she’ein bo ma’aseh b’shogeg, it may not be considered a ma’aseh aveirah at all.
A lav can be violated through an action or through a conscious decision not to act. But when someone is shogeg—completely unaware of the prohibition—and there is no physical action, what exactly constitutes the aveirah? There was neither an act of violation nor a conscious decision to refrain from doing what the Torah required.
The Kli Chemdah brings a fascinating proof from Rashi in Berachos 2a regarding nosar. Rashi explains that Chazal prohibited eating korbanos after chatzos out of concern that a person might continue eating until after daybreak, when the meat becomes nosar.
But why does Rashi focus specifically on eating the meat after daybreak? Simply leaving korban meat uneaten until morning itself violates “Lo Sosiru ad boker.”
The Kli Chemdah answers with his remarkable yesod: merely forgetting to finish the korban before morning is a lav she’ein bo ma’aseh committed b’shogeg. There is no action and no conscious decision to violate the prohibition—and therefore, he argues, there is no ma’aseh aveirah at all.
Chazal therefore made their gezeirah to prevent the person from actually eating the nosar, an active violation.
A startling way to understand the very definition of an aveirah b’shogeg—and an extraordinary chiddush of the Kli Chemdah.