Commentary for Negaim 13:8
טָהוֹר שֶׁהִכְנִיס רֹאשׁוֹ וְרֻבּוֹ לְבַיִת טָמֵא, נִטְמָא. וְטָמֵא שֶׁהִכְנִיס רֹאשׁוֹ וְרֻבּוֹ לְבַיִת טָהוֹר, טִמְּאָהוּ. טַלִּית טְהוֹרָה שֶׁהִכְנִיס מִמֶּנָּה שָׁלשׁ עַל שָׁלשׁ לְבַיִת טָמֵא, נִטְמְאָה. וּטְמֵאָה שֶׁהִכְנִיס מִמֶּנָּה אֲפִלּוּ כַזַּיִת לְבַיִת טָהוֹר, טִמְּאַתּוּ:
A pure person who extended his head and most of his body into an impure house becomes impure. An impure person who extends his head and most of his body into a pure house makes it [the house] impure. A pure cloak of which a three-by-three [finger-length] piece entered an impure house becomes impure. [If it was] an impure [cloak], if he extended even the volume of an olive [of it] into a pure house, it makes [the house] impure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
טהור שהכניס ראשו ורובו – for less than one’s head and the majority of one’s body is not considered coming in.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If a person who was clean put his head and the greater part of his body inside an unclean house, he becomes unclean. For the clean person to become unclean by entering a house afflicted with a nega he must enter his head and the greater part of his body.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
שהכניס ממנה שלש אצבעות על שלש אצבעות – it is considered as if all of the cloak had entered. But not less than this, for less than three [fingerbreadths] by three [fingerbreadths] is not susceptible to receive defilement and is not considered.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
And if an unclean man put his head and the greater part of his body inside a clean house he causes it to be unclean. Similarly, for an unclean person to defile the contents of a house through overshadowing, he must enter his head and the greater part of his body.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
וטמאה – as for example, a cloak afflicted with leprosy that an olive’s bulk of it entered into a pure house.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If he put three fingerbreadths square of a clean cloak into an unclean house, the cloak becomes unclean; A piece of cloth smaller than three by three fingerbreadths is not susceptible to impurity. Therefore, if he puts at least this much of a cloak into an impure house, it becomes impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
טמאתו – for an analogy is made between leprosy and a corpse. But a leprous cloak that became defiled through oming in, we derive if from Scripture, as it is written (Leviticus 14:55): “for an eruption on a cloth or a house.”/"ולצרעת הבגד והבית", an analogy is made from a cloth to a house, for just as aa house defiles when one enters it, for it is written (Leviticus 14:46): “Whoever enters the house”/"והבא אל הבית וגו' ", even a cloth defiles through entry. From where do we learn that this includes everything as for example warp and woof and hides, the inference teaches us (Leviticus 13:59): "זאת תורת נגע-צרעת בגד הצמר [או הפשתים או השתי או הערב או כל כלי-עור לטהרו או לטמאו]."/ “Such is the procedure for eruptive affections of cloth, [woolen or linen, in warp or in woof, or of any article of skin, for pronouncing it pure or impure.],” an analogy is made between all of them to a cloth, just as a cloth defiles through entry, so all of them defile through entry.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
And if he put even the size of an olive of an unclean [cloak] into a clean house, the house becomes unclean. However, to convey impurity the piece of cloth need not be three by three fingerbreadths a piece the size of an olive is sufficient. Therefore, all he has to do is put a piece of the impure cloak the size of an olive into the house and it will defile the contents through overhanging.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy