We will now bring two more opinions about korbanot (offerings) when they become invalidated by being offered shelo lishmah, not for the sake of that korban. The Mishnah says: Yose ben Honi says that other korbanot slaughtered with the intention that they be for korban Pesach (Passover offering) or korban chatat (sin offering) become invalidated as well.
We said in the last Mishnah that if a korban Pesach or chatat was slaughtered with the kavanah (intention) that it was another type of korban, it would become invalidated. What we are saying here, according to Yose ben Honi, is that likewise, other korbanot become invalidated if they were slaughtered for the sake of a Pesach or a chatat.
This disagrees with the Tanna (Mishnaic sage) of the previous Mishnah. The Tanna said in the previous Mishnah that only a Pesach or chatat is invalidated if it is offered for the sake of another type of korban, but other korbanot offered for its sake would not become invalidated. So Yose ben Honi reverses it as well. This is another opinion about when shelo lishmah invalidates and when it does not.
Shimon, the brother of Azariah, says that any type of korban could become invalidated by being offered for another type of korban—not simply the Pesach and the chatat—but it depends on the following rule. If that korban was mistakenly slaughtered for the sake of another type of korban with a holier status than it, then the korban is valid. But if it was slaughtered for the sake of a type of korban with a lower level of holiness than it, then it becomes invalidated.
If a person had a korban that was supposed to be the higher-level korban, and he sacrificed it for the sake of a lower-level korban, then the korban becomes invalidated. Since they are less holy, he sacrificed it with a lower intention, so it is invalidated. But if he slaughtered a lower-level korban, which is Kodashim Kalim (offerings of lesser sanctity), for the sake of a higher one, then the korban is valid. The Kodshei Kodashim are more holy than Kodashim Kalim, and therefore the korban is valid.
That is the rule. If it is for the sake of something higher by mistake, it is okay. But if it was for the sake of something lower by mistake, then it is invalid. And even within the lower category of Kodashim Kalim, there are different levels as well.
The best and the worst, which is slaughtered for the sake of a lower level: if a person slaughtered a Bechor (firstborn offering) or a Ma'aser (tithe offering) for the sake of a Shelamim (peace offering), by mistake, the korban of the Bechor and the Ma'aser are still valid because the Shelamim is considered to be more holy than the Bechor or the Ma'aser. So that Ma'aser and Bechor offering, which by mistake were offered with a higher Kavanah, remain okay.
The Shelamim is considered to be a higher level because of all the different requirements that come with it. There has to be Semichah, they have to lean on the animal, the blood is spilled on all the corners of the Mizbeach (altar), and there are other things that we do with the Shelamim. Therefore, that is considered to be higher. But if he slaughtered a Shelamim for the sake of a Bechor or a Ma'aser, which are lower, then it becomes invalid because those are less holy than the Shelamim.