A few days ago I asked what seemed to me to be an almost unanswerable question on the Talmud in Sanhedrin 62. That is the fact that the Talmud wants to answer the question in Shabat  of Rava to Rav Nachman by means of a statement about idolatry. The question was: If one forgot both Shabat and work does he bring one sin offering or more? The Talmud in Sanhedrin asked: Why don't we answer this from the fact that if one thinks idolatry is allowed, he brings just one sacrifice.



I noticed today that Rabbainu Isaac [The Ri] answers it.] Now I can't tell what might come up in the future about his answer, but to me it looks fairly good. The Ri asks the question and says like this:the actual question in tractate Shabat was not the same as if he forgot about Shabat totally. It was he forgot shabat is to say and work is forbidden. So it is not parallel to the Mishna in Shabat in chapter 7.This is not new. We assumed it in the first place when we were learning tractate Shabat. But then the Ri says his new idea. It is that when the Gemara quotes the question in Sanhedrin and Kritut, the Talmud is  thinking idolatry can't be forgotten totally because  is the essence of being a Jew is  to despise idolatry. And that is why idolatry is similar to the subject of the question of Rava about Shabat than the Mishna in Shabat. For the question is dealing with a situation where a simple reminder would perk the guy's memory. And the Mishna is Shabat is dealing with a case where a simple reminder would not work.


I saw the Ri in Kritut, not Sanhedrin.