daf bit: K'ritot 10

[cellio]

When a person is required to bring a sin-offering sometimes the offering is specified (and the same for everybody), and sometimes it depends on the person's means. The mishna states: the following bring an offering of higher or lesser value (if rich or poor, respectively): one who refuses to give evidence, one who breaks the word of his lips (supported by an oath), one who in error enters the sanctuary while in a state of ritual impurity, a woman after confinement (I think this means after she gives birth), and a leper. (10b)

The g'mara here does not draw out any common themes among these people. What does one who refuses to testify have in common with a leper, for instance?

Comments

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Leprosy commonly seen as an affliction brought on by one's own sins?

(I am quite willing to be corrected, here.)

[cellio]

That's correct. ("Leprosy" doesn't mean what medicine means by it, by the way.) I don't recall off-hand what the torah says about this, but I infer that at the end of the period of isolation while dealing with this affliction, one brings an offering -- presumably as atonement for whatever led to getting the condition.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Maybe they all have to do with things not everyone will experience, and/or are brought on by their own choices, so we fit the offering to the financial state they're in?