Question:
BS”D
Kavod HaRav,
If a person commits an action which he thinks is a transgression because he did it b’shogeg (or perhaps, even, b’mezid c”v) perhaps having learned the majority opinion of the poskim or greatest posek, and then maybe forgot, and after the fact, found there are shitas–minority/single–from some other poskim that would otherwise be ignored/disregarded by a rav who would of course l’chatchila, follow the majority/greatest that would not ordinarily permit or say what he did was mutar; does he need teshuva and/or kappara, or can he simply rely on these opinions?
Toda.
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
The person in the situation that you described does need a kapara, and has to do teshuva, because the person did something against halacha, being that we pasken that the action that he did was not allowed. The fact that there is a minority opinion that permits the action does not make it permitted to do. The gemora (Nedarim 83a, Nazir 23a, says that a woman that made a neder and her husband was “mefer” (annulled) it, without her knowledge, and she violated the neder. Even though technically she didn’t do anything wrong because in truth the neder was void, nevertheless she needs an atonement. The reason being is because she wasn’t careful enough with something that she should have been careful with. How much more so when a person actually did something wrong, and actually did transgress the halacha, that he would need an atonement. The fact that the person wasn’t careful still exists.
Having said that, since there are opinions that permit the action, it won’t be as stringent as when the halacha is unanimous that the action is not permitted.
Best wishes
