Commentary for Negaim 4:7
בַּהֶרֶת וּבָהּ מִחְיָה וּפִסְיוֹן, הָלְכָה הַמִּחְיָה, טְמֵאָה מִפְּנֵי הַפִּסְיוֹן. הָלַךְ הַפִּסְיוֹן, טְמֵאָה מִפְּנֵי הַמִּחְיָה. וְכֵן בְּשֵׂעָר לָבָן וּבְפִסְיוֹן. הָלְכָה וְחָזְרָה בְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ, הֲרֵי הִיא כְמוֹת שֶׁהָיְתָה. לְאַחַר הַפְּטוּר, תֵּרָאֶה כַתְּחִלָּה. הָיְתָה עַזָּה וְנַעֲשֵׂית כֵּהָה, כֵּהָה וְנַעֲשֵׂית עַזָּה, הֲרֵי הִיא כְמוֹ שֶׁהָיְתָה, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא תִתְמַעֵט מֵאַרְבָּעָה מַרְאוֹת. כָּנְסָה וּפָשְׂתָה, פָּשְׂתָה וְכָנְסָה, רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מְטַמֵּא, וַחֲכָמִים מְטַהֲרִין:
A <i>Baheret</i> in which there is a patch of healthy skin and an expansion, [if] the patch of healthy skin goes away, it is impure because of the expansion. If the expansion goes away, it is impure because of the patch of healthy skin. The same [applies] if it had white hair and an expansion. If [the <i>Nega</i>] goes away and comes back at the end of the week, it is treated as if it was [there the entire time]. [If it returned] after it was exempted, it should be seen as if it was the first [time]. If it was bright and became dull, [or] dull and it became bright, it is treated as if it was [there the entire time] as long as it does not become less than the four appearances [of a <i>Nega</i>]. If it contracted [during the quarantine time] and [then] expanded [before the priest called it impure], or expanded and [then] contracted, Rabbi Akiva calls it impure and the Sages call it pure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
בהרת ובה מחיה ופשיון – a bright white spot on the skin (i.e., eventually one of the symptoms of leprosy) like a split Cilician bean and he has been shut in/put in isolation, and at the end of the week, he found in it the quick flesh and spreading and they declared him to be a certified leper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
A bright spot which had quick flesh and a spreading: if the quick flesh disappeared it is unclean on account of the spreading; if the spreading disappeared it is unclean on account of the quick flesh. The mishnah refers to a person who has a bright spot (a nega) and then was isolated. When examined again it had quick flesh and a spreading and the priest pronounced him impure. If one of these signs disappears, he is still impure because of the presence of the second sign.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
הלכה המחיה (the quick flesh disappeared – after a week of quarantine)– as for example, that the plague came upon, the bright white spot on the skin is impure because of the spreading.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
So also in the case of white hair and a spreading. The same thing is true if one of the signs is a white hair and one is spreading.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
הלך הפשיון – as for example, that the bright white spot on the skin/בהרת came in and it returned to the size of a Cilician bean.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If it [the bright spot] disappeared and appeared again at the end of the week, it is regarded as though it had remained as it was. The person was isolated at the beginning of the week because of the appearance of a nega. During the week of isolation, the nega disappeared and then reappeared. We treat this as if the nega had never disappeared. If he is at the end of the first week, the priest will isolate him for another week. If he is at the end of the second week, then he will be pronounced pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
וכן שער לבן ופשיון – if one of them disappeared, he is impure because of the second.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If it reappeared after it had been pronounced clean, it must be inspected as a new one. If the nega disappeared and he was pronounced pure, and then it reappeared, it is treated as if it was a new nega. He will need two periods of isolation before he can be pronounced pure again.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
הלכה וחזרה בסוף השבוע – as for example, that he was shut up/isolated on account of the bright white spot on the skin like the size of a split Cilician bean, and the bright white spot on the skin went away in the middle of the week, but at the end of the week it returned.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If it had been bright white but was now dull white, or if it had been dull white but was now bright white, it is regarded as though it had remained as it was, provided that it does not become less white than the four principal colors. If the nega changes color it is still treated as the same nega as long as it is still one of the four requisite shades mentioned in 1:1.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
הרי היא כמות שהיתה – and they shut him up/isolated him a second time.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
If it contracted and then spread, or if it spread and then contracted: Rabbi Akiva rules that it is unclean; But the sages rule that it is clean. There are two situations described here. In the first the nega is large enough to be impure and then it becomes smaller than a barleycorn and then it spreads back to its original size. Rabbi Akiva counts this as "spreading" and therefore declares it impure. The sages say that this does not count as spreading, so he is not impure. If he is at the end of the second week of isolation, he is pure. The second situation is opposite. It spread and then contracted back to its original size. Rabbi Akiva says that this is a new nega and he must go back to a new period of isolation. The rabbis say again that this doesn't count as spreading and he is pure (if he has already been isolated for two weeks).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
לאחר הפטור – that the Kohen saw it (i.e., the bright white spot on the skin) at the end of the week and when it disappeared, he released him, if after that it returned, it would appear at the beginning. ( And this return – that is in its first (i.e., original) place, for if it was in in another place, if so this is another bright spot on the skin.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
היתה עזה – like snow when he shut him up/isolated him.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
ונעשית כהה – at the end of the first week, as for example, like lime or with a membrane, or that it was like a membrane at the time of his being shut up/put in isolation, and it became strong like snow at the end of the first week.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
הרי היא כמות שהיתה – and it requires a second isolation, like “it has remained unchanged”/"עמד בעיניו" (Leviticus 13:5).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
ובלבד שלא תתמעט מארבע מראות (on condition that it did not diminish [to a shade less] than the four appearances – if it diminished from the four appearances, he (i.e., the Kohen) releases him immediately and he is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
כנסה ופשתה (if it contracted and spread) – where he was shut up/placed in isolation with the bright white spot on the skin like a split Cilician bean, and at the end of he week, it contracted, but after that it spread the place in the place of the contraction but not more. Or that it spread at the end of the week, and afterwards contracted the place of the spreading and not more.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
ר' עקיבא מטמא – for it certainly spread.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
וחכמים מטהרים – that this is not spreading, but it is as it was. But if it refers to the end of the first week, they shut him up/isolate him a second time. But if it refers to the end of the second week, they release him and he is ritually pure.
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