Tazria, Aliyah 2 תזריע, שני

כהה. הָכְהָה מִמַּרְאִיתוֹ, הָא אִם עָמַד בְּמַרְאִיתוֹ אוֹ פָשָׂה טָמֵא:

כֵּהֶה means it has become paler than its former color — consequently if it remains in its color or if it has spread he is unclean.

מספחת. שֵׁם נֶגַע טָהוֹר:

מספחת — This is the name of a clean leprous disease.

וכבס בגדיו וטהר. הוֹאִיל וְנִזְקַק לְהִסָּגֵר נִקְרָא טָמֵא וְצָרִיךְ טְבִילָה:

וכבס את בגדיו וטהר AND HE SHALL WASH HIS GARMENTS AND BE CLEAN — Since he required shutting up he was termed (was regarded as coming under the term) “unclean” (although it now transpires that he was clean), and he must undergo immersion in a ritual bath.

וטמאו הכהן. וּמִשֶּׁטִּמְּאוֹ הֲרֵי הוּא מֻחְלָט, וְזָקוּק לְצִפֳּרִים וּלְתִגְלַחַת וּלְקָרְבָּן הָאָמוּר בְּפָרָשַׁת זֹאת תִּהְיֶה:

וטמאו הכהן AND THE PRIEST SHALL PRONOUNCE HIM UNCLEAN — and as soon as he has pronounced him unclean he is a decided leper and he is obliged when he recovers from his leprosy to bring two birds (as a means of his purification) and to shave his flesh and to bring the offering which is mentioned in the section beginning זאת תהיה — Leviticus ch. 14 (cf. Megillah 8b).

צרעת הוא. הַמִּסְפַּחַת הַזֹּאת:

צרעת הוא IT IS A LEPROSY — this מספחת is a leprosy (while the מספחת mentioned in v. 6 is a clean scab)

צרעת. לְשׁוֹן נְקֵבָה. נגע. לְשׁוֹן זָכָר:

The word צרעת is feminine; נגע is masculine.

ומחית. שינמי"נט בְּלַעַז, שֶׁנֶּהְפַּךְ מִקְצַת הַלֹּבֶן שֶׁבְּתוֹךְ הַשְּׂאֵת לְמַרְאֵה בָשָׂר, אַף הִיא סִימָן טֻמְאָה — שֵׂעָר לָבָן בְּלֹא מִחְיָה וּמִחְיָה בְּלֹא שֵׂעָר לָבָן — וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁלֹּא נֶאֶמְרָה מִחְיָה אֶלָּא בַּשְּׂאֵת, אַף בְּכָל הַמַּרְאוֹת וְתוֹלְדוֹתֵיהֶן הוּא סִימָן טֻמְאָה:

ומחית A QUICK [RAW FLESH] — sainement in old French English healing; — it means that the part of the white within the “higher-lying white spot” (השאת) has turned to a flesh-colour; this, too, is a symptom of uncleanness; — white hair without healthy flesh, and healthy flesh without white hair . Although healthy flesh is mentioned only in connection with a spot of higher-lying colour, in the case of all pure white colours (snow-white and wool-white) and their shades (lit., derivations) it is also a symptom of uncleanness(cf. Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Section 3 1; Mishnah Negaim 4:6).

צרעת נושנת הוא. מַכָּה יְשָׁנָה הִיא תַּחַת הַמִּחְיָה, וְחַבּוּרָה זוֹ נִרְאֵית בְּרִיאָה לְמַעְלָה וְתַחְתֶּיהָ מְלֵאָה לֵחָה — שֶׁלֹּא תֹאמַר הוֹאִיל וְעָלְתָה מִחְיָה אֲטַהֲרֶנָּה:

צרעת נשנת הוא IT IS AN OLD LEPROSY — i. e. it is an old leprous malady beneath the sound flesh, and this wound appears healthy above, but underneath it is full of moisture (pus), therefore the priest shall pronounce it unclean. Scripture states this in order that you should not say: since healthy flesh has come over it I shall pronounce it clean.

מראשו. שֶׁל אָדָם ועד רגליו:

מראשו FROM THE HEAD of the man ועד רגליו AND UNTO HIS FEET,

לכל מראה עיני הכהן. פְּרָט לְכֹהֵן שֶׁחָשַׁךְ מְאוֹרוֹ (ספרא):

לכל מראה עיני הכהן WHERESOEVER THE PRIEST LOOKETH (lit., to the whole sight of the priest’s eyes) — This excludes a priest the sight of whose eyes is darkened (whose sight is imperfect) (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 4 4).

וביום הראות בו בשר חי. אִם צָמְחָה בוֹ מִחְיָה הֲרֵי כְבָר פֵּרֵשׁ שֶׁהַמִּחְיָה סִימָן טֻמְאָה? אֶלָּא הֲרֵי שֶׁהָיָה הַנֶּגַע בְּאֶחָד מֵעֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי אֵבָרִים שֶׁאֵין מִטַּמְּאִין מִשּׁוּם מִחְיָה — לְפִי שֶׁאֵין נִרְאֶה הַנֶּגַע כֻּלּוֹ כְאֶחָד, שֶׁשּׁוֹפְעִין אֵילָךְ וָאֵילָךְ (נגעים פ"ו; קידושין כ"ה) — וְחָזַר רֹאשׁ הָאֵבֶר וְנִתְגַּלָּה שִׁפּוּעוֹ עַל יְדֵי שֻׁמָּן, כְּגוֹן שֶׁהִבְרִיא וְנַעֲשָֹה רָחָב וְנִרְאֵית בּוֹ הַמִּחְיָה, לִמְּדָנוּ הַכָּתוּב שֶׁתְּטַמֵּא (ספרא):

בו בשר חי‎‎‎‏‎‎ וביום הראות ‎‎ BUT ON THE DAY WHEN RAW FLESH APPEARETH IN HIM [HE SHALL BE UNCLEAN] — If this means that a healthy spot sprang up in it and that on this account it is unclean, surely, however, it has already been stated that the healthy spot is a symptom of uncleanness! Why repeat it here? But it is the following case: that the plague was on one of the “twenty-four tips of the limbs” that project from the body (cf. Rashi on Exodus 21:26), — which cannot become unclean (i. e. be declared unclean) because it has healthy flesh since the leprous plague as a whole cannot be seen at one time, (as is required by Scripture stating: לכל מראה עיני הכהן cf. Kiddushin 25a),because they (the two sides of the affected limb) slope in different directions (Mishnah Negaim 6:7; Kiddushin 25a) — and the tip of the limb altered, so that its sloping side became visible through fat, as e. g., if it (the tip of the limb) became thick and broadened (so that the sloping sides flattened out to form one surface with the limb) and the healthy flesh thus becomes visible in it, Scripture informs us that it (such healthy flesh) makes it unclean on the day when it is seen in it (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 5 1). ‎

וביום. מַה תַּ"ל? לְלַמֵּד יֵשׁ יוֹם שֶׁאַתָּה רוֹאֶה בוֹ וְיֵשׁ יוֹם שֶׁאֵין אַתָּה רוֹאֶה בוֹ, מִכָּאן אָמְרוּ: חָתָן נוֹתְנִין לוֹ כָּל שִׁבְעַת יְמֵי הַמִּשְׁתֶּה, לוֹ וְלִכְסוּתוֹ וּלְבֵיתוֹ, וְכֵן בָּרֶגֶל נוֹתְנִין לוֹ כָּל יְמֵי הָרֶגֶל (נגעים פ"ג, מועד קטן ז'):

וביום — Why is this word used (it might have said ובהראות)? To inform us that there are days when you may see (examine) the plague and there are days when you may not examine. On this account they (the Rabbis) said: A bridegroom is given a respite of all the seven days of the marriage festivities — to him, and to his clothing and his house (i.e. whether he himself or his clothing, cf. v. 17, or his house, cf. Leviticus 14:33 ff., has been affected by a leprous disease), and similarly on a festival he (everyone) is given a respite all the days of that festival — and during these periods the priest may not come to examine him or his clothing or his house (Mishnah Negaim 3:2; Moed Katan 7b; Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 5 2; cf. Bekhorot 43b).

צרעת הוא. הַבָּשָׂר הַהוּא: בָּשָׂר לְשׁוֹן זָכָר:

צרעת הוא IT IS A LEPROSY — that flesh is a leprosy; בשר is masc., and therefore the pronoun הוּא is used as its copula.