Zwei Haare, deren Wurzeln schwarz und deren Spitzen weiß sind, sind [noch] rein. [Zwei Haare], deren Wurzeln weiß und deren Spitzen schwarz sind, sind unrein. Wie viel Weiß [wird benötigt]? Rabbi Meir sagt: Beliebige Menge. Rabbi Shimon sagt: [Genug], um [sie] mit einer Schere schneiden zu können. Wenn [das Haar] unten eins war, aber oben gespalten ist und wie zwei aussieht, ist es [immer noch] rein. Ein Baheret [Typ eines erkrankten Pflasters, der Verunreinigungen erzeugt], in dem weißes oder schwarzes Haar vorhanden ist, ist unrein, [weil] wir uns keine Sorgen machen, dass die Fläche des schwarzen Haares die [Gesamtfläche des] Baheret [ verringert und hergestellt hat kleiner als die Mindestgröße], weil es keine Bedeutung hat.
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
עיקרן משחיר וראשן מלבין טהור – as Scripture states (Leviticus 13:3): “if hair in the affected patch has turned white”/"ושער בנגע הפך לבן", the root hat is adjacent to/near the plague has turned white. -
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
Introduction
Our mishnah deals with various rules concerning the two white hairs that appear in a nega.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
כדי לקרוץ בזוג (sufficient to cut with scissors) – sufficient that he should take with the mouth of a pair of scissors. And the Halakha the measure of white hair, its length is not less than that he should take with the mouth of a scissors, but the whiteness that is in it is any amount at all.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If the two hairs were black at the root and white at the tip he is clean. If they were white at the root and black at the tip he is unclean. Only white hairs are a sign of impurity; black hairs are not. The color of the hair is determined by the color at the root. Thus if the tips are white, he is clean but if the roots are white he is not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
ונראית כשתים טהור – that thee are hairs that are divided at their top into two but at their root they are not other than one.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
How much whiteness must there be? Rabbi Meir says: any amount. Rabbi Shimon says: enough to be cut with a pair of scissors. How much of the tips must be white for them to be a sign of uncleanness? Rabbi Meir says that even the smallest amount is a sign of uncleanness, whereas Rabbi Shimon says that there must be enough for it to be cut by a pair of scissors.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
בהרת ובה שער לבן ושער שחור טמא – a bright white spot on the skin that is like the size of a pressed [Cilician] bean and it has two white hairs, but the rest is filled with black hairs, it is impure. But we don’t say that the place of the black hairs limits the bright white spot on the skin from being like a split [Cilician] bean.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If it was single at the root but split at the tip, and it looks like two hairs, he is clean. One hair that is split still counts as one, even if it looks like there are two.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If a bright spot had [two] white hairs or black hair he is unclean, for we are not concerned that the place of the black hair lessened the space of the bright spot, since the former is of no consequence. If there is a bright spot (a type of nega, called a baheret) and it is the minimum size of a barleycorn and there are many white hairs there, we do not consider them as reducing the size of the bright spot to less than the barleycorn. Since there are white hairs, he is impure. The same is true for black hairs inside a bright spot. These black hairs mean that he is to be isolated. We do not consider them as reducing the size of the nega such that he need not even be isolated. Another interpretation of this line is that if black hairs are mixed in with the white hairs in the nega (the bright spot), we don't consider the black hairs as reducing the overall size of the nega, for the black hairs are of no consequence.
