Mishnah for Negaim 1:4

רַבִּי חֲנִינָא סְגַן הַכֹּהֲנִים אוֹמֵר, מַרְאוֹת נְגָעִים שִׁשָּׁה עָשָׂר. רַבִּי דוֹסָא בֶּן הַרְכִּינַס אוֹמֵר, מַרְאוֹת נְגָעִים שְׁלשִׁים וְשִׁשָּׁה. עֲקַבְיָא בֶן מַהֲלַלְאֵל אוֹמֵר, שִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנָיִם. רַבִּי חֲנִינָא סְגַן הַכֹּהֲנִים אוֹמֵר, אֵין רוֹאִים אֶת הַנְּגָעִים בַּתְּחִלָּה לְאַחַר הַשַּׁבָּת, שֶׁשָּׁבוּעַ שֶׁלּוֹ חָל לִהְיוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת. וְלֹא בַשֵּׁנִי, שֶׁשָּׁבוּעַ שֵׁנִי שֶׁלּוֹ חָל לִהְיוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת. וְלֹא בַשְּׁלִישִׁי לַבָּתִּים, שֶׁשָּׁבוּעַ שְׁלִישִׁי שֶׁלּוֹ חָל לִהְיוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, לְעוֹלָם רוֹאִים. חָל לִהְיוֹת בְּתוֹךְ הַשַּׁבָּת, מַעֲבִירִין לְאַחַר הַשַּׁבָּת. וְיֵשׁ בַּדָּבָר לְהָקֵל וּלְהַחְמִיר:

Rabbi Chanania the vice of the priests says: The appearances of Negaim are sixteen. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas says: The appearances of Negaim are thirty-six. Akavia ben Mahalalel says: seventy-two. Rabbi Chanania the vice of the priests says: One may not examine the Negaim initially after Shabbat [in order to diagnose them] because then [the end of] his week [of impurity] will fall on Shabbat. And not on the second day [of the week] because then [the end of] his second week will fall on Shabbat. And not on the third day [of the week] for the case of [the Nega afflicting] houses, because then [the end of] its third week will fall on Shabbat. Rabbi Akiva says: One always examines. If [the end of the week] fell out on Shabbat, they would push off [the examination] until after Shabbat. And this matter has both leniency and stringency.

Mishnah Negaim

The bright spot in a German appears as dull white, and the dull white spot in an Ethiopian appears as bright white. Rabbi Ishmael says: the children of Israel (may I be atonement for them!) are like boxwood, neither black nor white but of an intermediate shade. Rabbi Akiva says: painters have materials with which they portray figures in black, in white, and in an intermediate shade; let, therefore a paint of an intermediate shade be brought and applied around the outside of the nega, and it will then appear as on skin of intermediate shade. Rabbi Judah says: in determining the colors of negaim the law is to be lenient and not stringent; let,therefore, the negaim of the German be inspected on the color of his own body so that the law is lenient, and let that of the Ethiopian be inspected as if it were on the intermediate shade so that the law is also lenient. The sages say: both are to be treated as if the nega was on the intermediate shade.

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