Commento su Bega'im 1:3
אַרְבָּעָה מַרְאוֹת הָאֵלּוּ מִצְטָרְפִין זֶה עִם זֶה לִפְטֹר, וּלְהַחְלִיט, וּלְהַסְגִּיר. לְהַסְגִּיר אֶת הָעוֹמֵד בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ רִאשׁוֹן. לִפְטֹר אֶת הָעוֹמֵד בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ שֵׁנִי. לְהַחְלִיט אֶת שֶׁנּוֹלַד לוֹ מִחְיָה אוֹ שֵׂעָר לָבָן, בַּתְּחִלָּה, בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ רִאשׁוֹן, בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ שֵׁנִי, לְאַחַר הַפְּטוּר. לְהַחְלִיט אֶת שֶׁנּוֹלַד לוֹ פִשְׂיוֹן, בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ רִאשׁוֹן, בְּסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ שֵׁנִי, לְאַחַר הַפְּטוּר. לְהַחְלִיט אֶת הַהוֹפֵךְ כֻּלּוֹ לָבָן מִתּוֹךְ הַפְּטוּר. לִפְטֹר אֶת הַהוֹפֵךְ כֻּלּוֹ לָבָן מִתּוֹךְ הֶחְלֵט אוֹ מִתּוֹךְ הֶסְגֵּר. אֵלּוּ מַרְאוֹת נְגָעִים שֶׁכָּל נְגָעִים תְּלוּיִם בָּהֶן:
Queste quattro apparizioni [di Negaim ] si combinano, l'una con l'altra, per esentare [l'una dall'impurità], per decidere [che si è impuri] o per mettere in quarantena [uno di stato incerto]. [Si combinano] per mettere in quarantena ciò che rimane [invariato] alla fine della prima settimana [dalla segnalazione del Nega ]. [Si combinano] per esentare ciò che rimane [invariato] alla fine della seconda settimana. [Si combinano] per decidere ciò che sviluppa la pelle sana [nell'area della Nega ] o i capelli bianchi, [indipendentemente dal fatto] inizialmente, alla fine della prima settimana, alla fine della seconda settimana, [o] dopo l'esenzione . [Si combinano] per decidere ciò che sviluppa la diffusione, [se] alla fine della prima settimana, alla fine della seconda settimana, [o] dopo l'esenzione. [Si combinano] per decidere ciò che diventa completamente bianco, [proveniente] dallo [stato di] esenzione. [Si combinano] per esonerare chi diventa completamente bianco, [proveniente] dallo [stato di] decisione [che era impuro] o dalla quarantena. Queste sono le apparenze di Negaim su cui si basano tutti i Negaim .
Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
מארבעה מראות הללו מצטרפין – we have the reading [of מארבעה/from among four] and we don’t have the reading of ארבעה מראות/four appearances, for all the four appearances do not combine/join together, that a derivative/subcategory does not join together with its primary category, and two derivatives/subcategories do not combine/join together with each other. But the two primary categories do combine. From what is written (Leviticus 13:2): "והיה בעור בשרו"/“and it develops [into a scaly affection] on the skin of his body,” but it is not written: "והיו" /”and they will,” which implies that one can make סאת/a swelling and בהרת/a discoloration/bright white spot on the skin like one thing, that if there is one-half of a [Cilicean] bean of this one and one-half of a [Cilicean] bean of that one, they combine to becoming a complete bean. But Maimonides wrote, that all four of the appearances (i.e., including the subcategories or derivatives] combine. And the Tosefta [Tractate Negaim, Chapter 1, Halakha 4] supports him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
Introduction
For a nega to be impure it must be the size of a barleycorn. Our mishnah teaches that negaim of different colors, for instance, part is white like snow and part is like the skin of an egg, can join together to achieve the requisite barleycorn.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
לפטור ולהחליט ולהסגיר (to absolve or to declare a person a leper or to lock up the leper pending the observation of the Kohen) – all of these things combine. And all of them are being explained.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
These four colors combine with each other to declare free [from uncleanness], to certify or to shut up. These are the four colors mentioned in yesterday's mishnah, two shades of white and two shades of red. They can combine in three different ways, as the mishnah will now proceed to explain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
להסגיר העומד בשבוע ראשון – as it is written (Leviticus 13:5): “On the seventh day the priest shall examine him, and if the affection has remained unchanged in color [and the disease has not spread on the skin,] the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven [additional] days.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To shut up" one who is at the end of the first week; "To shut up" refers to putting a person who has shown some signs of having a nega into a sort of limbo status. If the nega doesn't get worse, then he is not impure, and if it gets worse then he is declared as having a nega. Here are the relevant verses: 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, the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven days. 5 On the seventh day the priest shall examine him, and if the affection has remained unchanged in color and the disease has not spread on the skin, the priest shall isolate him for another seven days. Our mishnah teaches that if a person has nega of one color at the beginning of this process and is then "isolated" for a week and then is re-examined and the nega is one of the other colors then he is isolated for a second week. We don’t consider it to be a new nega which would make the process start all over again.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
ולפטור את העומד בסוף שבוע שני – that which stands in its measure and did not spread and stood in its appearance, even though it did not go downward from the four appearances, he frees him at he end of the second week. But surely as it is written (Leviticus 13:6): “On the seventh day the priest shall examine him again: if the affection has faded [and not spread on the skin], the priest shall pronounce him pure,” that is not to say that he did not pronounce him pure unless [the affection] faded, but rather the Biblical verse teaches us that even if it changed from snow to lime, or from lime to snow, we don’t say that it is another plague and he returns and [the priest] isolates him as at the outset, but rather that he is as it stands, and he purifies him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To declare free [from uncleanness]", one who is at the end of the second week. If at the end of the first week of isolation there was a nega the size of a barleycorn that was the color of snow (or any other color), and at the end of the second week it has not spread but it is a different color, we treat it as if it is the same nega. Since the nega did not spread, the priest can declare him pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
להחליט את שנולד לו מחיה ושער לבן בתחלה – that when he is brought to the Kohen at the beginning [of his being diagnosed with an affection] and he has upon him a discoloration like the Cilician bean or quick flesh like a squared lentil within the place of the discoloration, he declares him to be a leper immediately. And similarly, also for [the appearance of] white hair, for if it was black and he didn’t have sufficient time to shut him in until it had turned white, he declares him to be a leper immediately. But the spreading of a leprous spot (see Leviticus 13:7-8): “But if the rash should spread on the skin after he has presented himself to the priest and been pronounced pure, he shall present himself again to the priest. And if the priest sees that the rash has spread on the skin, the priest shall pronounce him impure; it is leprosy.”), even if it gradually spreads until he doesn’t shut him up [in isolation].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To certify", one in which a discoloration or white hair arose, by the end of the first week, by the end of the second week or after it had been declared free [from uncleanness]. If half of the nega is one color and half is another color and there is discoloration or a white hair (see Leviticus 13:10) then the person is certified as impure. This is true whether the discoloration or white hair is present at the outset, when the first examination takes place, or at the end of the first week, after one week of isolation, or at the end of the second week, at the end of the second week of isolation.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
בסוף שבוע ראשון – that is to say, to declare him to be a leper like this at the end of the first week, for from the outset he didn’t have these signs [of affliction] and they locked him up/isolated him, but at the end of the first week, he (i.e., the Kohen) found in him a patch of un-discolored flesh [in the swelling] (see Leviticus 13:10) or white hair, and he definitely declares him to be a leper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To certify", when a spreading arose in it by the end of the first week, by the end of the second week or after it had been declared free [from uncleanness]. If the nega spread, the person is declared impure even if the color of the spreading is different from the original color. This is true no matter when the spreading occurred; at the end of the first week, at the end of the second week, or even later on, after the person has been declared pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
או בסוף שבוע השני – as for example, that at the end of the first week, it (i.e., the affection) remained unchanged and he did not have in either white hair or a patch of un-discolored flesh [in the swelling], [and the Kohen shut him in isolation a second time], and at the end of the second week, these signs appear, he (i.e., the Kohen) declares him to be a leper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To certify", when all one's skin turned white after it had been declared free from uncleanness; If after the person has been declared clean, the scaly affection erupts in the entire nega, the person is impure, even if it is a different color.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
לאחר הפטור – meaning to say, that even after the clearance that was at the end of the second week, no signs of defilement appeared in him and they released/cleared him, but after a few days, they appeared, he (i.e., the Kohen) declares him to be a leper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
"To declare free from uncleanness’, when all one's skin turned white after the sign had been certified unclean or after it had been shut up. But if the same thing happens after the person has been either isolated or certified unclean, then he is declared pure (see 13:13).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
את שנולד לו פשיון בסוף שבוע ראשון או בסוף שבוע שני – as for example, a discoloration like the size of Cilician bean which does not have in it a patch of un-discolored flesh or white hair and he (i.e., the Kohen) shut him in isolation, if it spread at the end of the first week or it didn’t spread other than at the end of the second week, he (i.e., the Kohen) declares him to be a leper. But if it did not spread neither in the first week or in the second week, and he released/cleared him, but after a couple of days it spread, he (i.e., the Kohen) declares him to be a leper.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Negaim
These are the colors of signs of negaim upon which depend all decisions concerning negaim. This concludes the first three mishnayot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
להחליט את ההופך כולו לבן מתוך הפטור – if after he was released/cleared and the Kohen purified him, the leprosy spread throughout his body, he is impure and irrevocably confirmed as a leper.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
לפטור את ההופך כולו לבן מתוך החלט או מתוך הסגר – if after the Kohen declared him impure, or after it was necessary to be shut him in isolation prior to his being made impure, and the leprosy spread throughout his body, he releases him and he is pure, for the white eruption which causes the leper to be declared clean changes someone from pure to impure and from the impure to the pure. And it is called an impure leper under trial [pending the priest’s observation – see Leviticus 13:4).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Negaim
אלו מראות נגעים – these four appearances that we mentioned, smooth or variegated.
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