THE GUILT OFFERING / קרבן אשם
This קרבן, unlike most, is obligatory. A person is obligated to bring this קרבן if they sin and need to make up for it. The קרבן אשם, like the קרבן חטאת, is brought to compensate for human failing. There are six cases of of when a person is obligated to bring a קרבן אשם, divided into two groups. Five cases are brought when an individual is aware that he/she has sinned and and know that he/she has to make up for their sin. The sixth category, is about a person who is unsure that he/she sinned. In this case, they bring an uncertain קרבן of guilt. As the פסוק says: ואם נפש טחטא ועשתה אחת מכל מצות ה׳ אשר לא תעשינה ולא" ידע ואשם ונשא עונו" "And if a person should sin, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord though he knew it not, yet he is guilty, and he shall bear his iniquity." Later on in the Perek, we are told: "נפשׁ כי תמעל מעל וחטאה בשׁגגה מקדשׁי ה׳" "If a soul commits a trespass, and sins through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord:" Rashi says: This means that the person used sacred articles for his own benefit."