Commentary for Shabbat 144:5

במאי אוקימתא בע"ז אימא סיפא חומר בשאר מצות שבשאר מצות שגג בלא מתכוין חייב מה שאין כן בשבת האי שגג בלא מתכוין דע"ז היכי דמי אילימא כסבור בית הכנסת הוא והשתחוה לה הרי לבו לשמים ואלא דחזי אנדרטא וסגיד לה היכי דמי אי דקבלה עליה באלוה מזיד הוא ואי דלא קבלה עליה באלוה לאו כלום הוא

How have you explained it: as referring to idolatry? Then consider the second clause: Other precepts are more stringent [than the Sabbath], for in their case if an injunction is unwittingly and unintentionally violated, atonement must be made: this is not so with respect to the Sabbath. Now, how is an unwitting and unintentional transgression of idolatry possible? Shall we say that one thought it [sc. an idolatrous shrine] to be a synagogue and bowed down to it — then his heart was to Heaven! But if he saw a royal statue and bowed down to it — what are the circumstances? If he accepted it as a god, he is a wilful sinner; while if he did not accept it as a god, he has not committed idolatry at all!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'it is nothing'. ');">⁸</span> Hence it must mean [that he worshipped it idolatrously] through love or fear:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And this is called unwitting and unintentional, for it was unwitting in so far as he thought this permissible. ');">⁹</span>

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