Comentario sobre Negaim 1:1

מראות נגעים (the appearance of plagues – i.e., leprosy) – are written explicitly in Scripture (Leviticus 13:2: “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling/שאת, a rash/ספחת, or a discoloration/בהרת, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body,”), a swelling/שאת and a discoloration/בהרת (referred to by Jastrow dictionary as a bright white spot on the skin

Introduction Our mishnah begins to discuss the signs of "negaim" that appear on the skin, meaning what counts as a "nega" and what does not. These are all various shades of white. The two mains signs are called "baheret" and "se'et," both terms found in Leviticus 13:2.

שהן ארבעה – you must include two others that are not written in Scripture, and they are subcategories/תולדה (i.e., a secondary category derived from a primary category. It is not a primary category but is derived from that source, either as a legal inference or as a factual derivative) and they are a subcategory of שאת/swelling and a subcategory of בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin. And we include them from ספחת/a rash, for ספחת/rash is not the name of a plague but a secondary expression. And similarly, it (i.e., Scripture) states (I Samuel 2:36): [And all the survivors of your house shall come and bow low to him for the sake of a money fee and a loaf of bread and say,] ‘Please assign me to one of the priestly duties, [that I may have a morsel of bread to eat’].” And Scripture placed ספחת/a rash between שאת/swelling and בהרת/bright white spot on the skin to inform you that there is a subcategory to שאת/swelling and a subcategory to בהרת/bright white spot on the skin.

The signs of negaim are two which, in fact, are four. One might be familiar with this literary style for it is the same style used to open tractates Shabbat and Bava Kamma. Here it means that there are two types of negaim mentioned in the Torah baheret and se'et. Both of these have arch-categories and derived categories. The rabbis say that the "derived categories" are the "sapachat" referred to in Leviticus 13:2. "Sapach" can mean "appended to" these signs are "appended to the main signs.

בהרת עזה כשלג (an intensely bright spot – sparkling – like snow) – the most white. As it is written (Leviticus 13:4): “But if it is a white discoloration [on the skin of his body which does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it has not turned white],” it is white and there is nothing of a higher level of white than it. (For the derivative to this, כסיד ההיכל/like the limestone in the Temple – see Tractate Middot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 4 – which were whitened every year before Passover.)

The bright spot ( is bright white like snow; secondary to it is the sign as white as the lime of the Temple. Baheret is bright white, like snow. The notion that these plagues were white like snow comes from Exodus 4:6, where Moses is afflicted with leprosy that is white as snow. Similarly, Miriam (Numbers 12:10) and Gehazi (II Kings 5:27) are afflicted with leprosy that is white as snow. Secondary to it is an affliction that is as white as the lime plaster found on the foundations of the Temple (see Middot 3:4).

שאת כקרום ביצה (the swelling is like the color of the membrane surrounding the egg) – for this Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] holds that שאת/swelling is not other than the language of something of height. And similarly, it (i.e., Scripture) states (Isaiah 2:14): “And all the lofty hills.” For you don’t have something as dim/faint in its whiteness (as opposed to the strong, intensely bright spot of the בהרת/discoloration which is sparkling like now) in all four appearances of plagues like the membrane surrounding an egg, therefore, it is loftier than all of them, like the appearance of a shadow above from the sun.

The rising (se' is as white of the skin of an egg; secondary to it is the like white wool, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: the rising (se' is white wool and secondary to it is like the white of the skin of an egg. According to Rabbi Meir, se'et is like the white of the peel of an egg, and secondary to it is bleached wool. The Talmud explains that this is the white of the wool of a newborn lamb. The other sages reverse which is the main type of nega and which is secondary.

שניה לה כצמר לבן – The Rabbis hold, there are two strong appearances which are snow and white wool, these are for the two principal/direct [forms of plagues], בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin and שאת/rash, and two appearances [of plagues] that are fainter from them are the limestone in the Temple and the color of the membrane of the egg, and they are derivatives/subcategories . Give the large derivative (or subcategory) to the large one, that is, the limestone of the Temple to the בהרת/discoloration which is a large primary [appearance of a plague], and the small derivative/subcategory to the small one, that is the membrane of the egg to the שאת/swelling which is smaller than the בהרת/discoloration.

And the practical difference in the dispute of the Rabbis and the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah, Rabbi Meir] is in regard to fusion (i.e., the state of being considered as one coherent mass or as one act), for half of a Cilician bean (seen as the standard for eruptions) from a primary category and half of a Cilician bean from its derivative/subcategory fuse together/combine. And similarly, the two primary categories שאת/a swelling and בהרת/discoloration combine, for we expound upon (Leviticus 13:2): “And it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body”/והיה בעור-בשרו לנגע teaching that they combine with one another, as it is written (Leviticus 13:2): "והיה"/and it – and it is not written: "והיו"/and they - make all of the plagues one. But the two derivatives/subcategories do not combine/fuse, for the derivative/subcategory of בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin does not combine with the derivative/subcategory of שאת/a swelling, and [the word] "והיה"/and [the word] "והיה"/and it – does not refer other than to שאת/a swelling and בהרת/a discoloration/bright white spot on the skinthat are written explicitly, but not to the derivatives [or subcategories] that come from the extension of scope/widening amplification [of Rabbinic exegesis]. And now, according to the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah], snow and the membrane of an egg combine/fuse, snow and white wool do not fuse/combine. But to the Rabbis, snow and white wool combine/fuse, snow and the membrane [of an egg] do not combine/fuse. And he Halakha is according to the Sages.

צמר לבן – pure wool of sheep one day old after it was washed and cleansed.