("Legal Decisions"). Tenth tractate of Order
Nezikin in the Mishnah. Its three chapters deal with the laws of unintentional sins perpetrated either by the individual or by the community, e.g., neing unwittingly "unclean" and eating sanctified food (Lev. 4:1-35). The Mishnah also discusses erroneous decisions passed by the court, special offerings by the
Nasi (President of the
Sanhedrin), sin-offerings of the
High Priest, and the precedence of certain classes (Priests, Levites) in being called to the
Reading of the Law.
Maimonides states that
Horayot follows tractate
Avot in the Mishnah to teach that even after all the moral and ethical instruction to perfect oneself (as in
Avot), it is in the nature of human beings to make mistakes, and no one, even the High Priest, is immune to them. The subject matter is amplified in both Talmuds and the
Tosefta.
