Shevuot 7: Karet When One Forgets Tumah and Approaches the Temple or a Sanctified Object

The first part of our daf focuses on which punishments should apply when a person forgets that s/he is tamei, ritually impure, and enters the Temple.  Is karet the proper consequence?  The rabbis look at other related transgressions and their punishments.  The conversation is purely theoretical.  The rabbis are examining punishments that cannot be administered because the Temple is gone.  They are exploring a set of imaginary situations within the context of other imaginary situations.  The applicability of these ideas are limited, as well.

A new Mishna teaches that if one knew about his/her own tumah and entered the Temple or ate sanctified offerings but forgot until Yom Kippur, the goat on Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur itself would will atone for that sin.  The Gemara asks why some forms of tumah are liable and others are not.  The transgressions mentioned are those of Temple desecration and desecration of consecrated items.  There are many other transgression that involve ritual impurity.  Why do those note matter to the rabbis?

At the end of our daf, the rabbis wonder whether the korban, sacrifice, would be enough to protect a person from punishment if s/he knew and then forgot about being tamei.