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

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.

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.)

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.

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.

הפתוך שבשלג (the variegation of the snow-white leprosy) – that is mixed in the white color and red substance that is in the בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin that it appears as an intensely bright spot sparkling like snow. כיין המזוג בשלג (like the red wine mixed with the snow – before the latter is dissolved) – for its whiteness is greater and its redness is less.

הפתוך שבסיד ההיכל – that which is combined in the plague which is like the lime of the Temple, appears. כדם המזוג בחלב – for the redness that is in it is greater. And even though it (i.e., the Mishnah) doesn’t teach פתוך/the variegation other than with the בהרת /discoloration and its derivatives or subcategories, the same law applies for there is also variegation in the שאת/swelling and its derivatives or subcategories, as it is taught in Torat Kohanim (i.e., the Sifra) (Leviticus 13:10): “a white swelling [on the /skin]/שאת לבנה [which has turned some hair white],” (see also Leviticus 13:19), it teaches that it defiles part of it. [The phrase] "בהרת לבנה אדמדמת"/a white discoloration/bright spot on the skin streaked with red (Leviticus 13:19), teaches that it defiles with variegation. From where [do we learn] to give that which is stated of this one and with that one (i.e., wine mixed with in snow and blood mixed in milk – describing the variegation of the lime in the Temple)? The inference teaches us (Leviticus 13:9): "נגע צרעת"/When a person has a scaly affection.

שבזה ושבזה – that is in the snow and in the lime [of the Temple].

דיהה (is fainter) – it is missing from the whiteness, which is not bright/resplendent in its whiteness like it. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiba.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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].

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

אלו מראות נגעים – these four appearances that we mentioned, smooth or variegated.

מראות נגעים שלשים וששה – and we don’t have the reading: "מראות נגעים ששה עשר" /”The appearances of plagues are sixteen. But there were thirty six, four appearances that are smooth and four appearances that are variegated of the skin of his body, and corresponding to them, with שחין/inflammation (or boil, skin-disease) and מכוה/a burnt spot on the skin, for the inflammation and the burnt spot are one, and Scripture did not divide them other than to tell you that they do not combine, and corresponding to them with the נתקים/bald (blanched) spot on the head or in the beard, and corresponding to them with קרחת/a leprous affection on the back of the head (making it bald) and גבחת/a leprous affection on the front of the head (making it bald), and ירקרק/pale-colored/greenish andאדמדם /reddish leprosy (see Leviticus 13:42), that are the plagues of houses, these are thirty-six.

עקביא בן מחללאל אומר שבעים ושתים – these thirty-six at the outset when he (i.e., the potential leper) is brought to the Kohen, and thirty-six others corresponding to the end of the first week or the end of the second week of isolation or the end of the third week for plagues upon houses to distinguish between appearances [of plagues] ab initio to an appearance at the end, these are seventy-two. Maimonides explained them thusly, and he is sound/upright. But what is difficult to me about this is that he counts eight appearances of bald (blanched) spots on the head or in the beard, but we hold that bald (blanched spots on the head or in the beard defile in all appearances [of plagues] and they lack special appearances like the rest of the plagues.

ששבוע שני שלו חל בשבת – for two isolations, are thirteen days. For the seventh day of the first week counts for this week and the other [week], as it is written (Leviticus 13:5): "והסגירו [הכהן] שבעת ימים שנית"/ “the priest shall isolate him for another seven days.”, which teaches that the seventh day counts for him from the number from before it and from after it. And similarly, the three weeks of plagues on houses are not other than nineteen days, for the first and seventh [days] of the middle week count before them and after them.

חל להיות בתוך השבת – that on the Sabbath days falls the seventh day, we don’t see him (i.e., examine him) on the Sabbath, because it appears like adjudication is taking place on the Sabbath day, but we delay it until after the Sabbath. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Akiba.

היה בו שער לבן – on the Sabbath day. And if he (i.e., the Kohen) had seen him, he would have declared him to be a leper, but after the Sabbath, the white hair disappeared, and this is ruling leniently. But even though that he (i.e., the Kohen) declared him to be a leper on the Sabbath day, when it (i.e., the white hair) left him after the Sabbath, he would have declared him pure, nevertheless, he would have to bring a sacrifice, according to the law of a מצורע מוחלט/confirmed leper – who has been declared conclusively ritually impure by a Kohen (A confirmed leper must grow his hair long and rend his garments) who became healed, but now is exempt.

היו לבנות – alternatively, if his hair was white on the Sabbath day that he would have been designated to have been declared a confirmed leper, and on the morrow (i.e., Sunday), [his hair] blackened, this is ruling leniently.

אחת לבנה ואחת שחורה והשחירו שניהן – he just refers to it by the way/without specific reason, for here one cannot be lenient, and whether it was white [and turned black] or had been black all along, he is ritually pure. But subsidiary to this/on account of, [as] the concluding clause [of the Mishnah] is stringent (see Mishnah 6), it (i.e., the Mishnah) took this term as it teaches, "ולהבינו"/and they became white – in both [clauses].

ארוכות – his hair was [long] on the Sabbath day in order to cut it with scissors, that is the measure of defilement. On the morrow, they will be shortened, which is to be lenient.

אחת ארוכה ואחת קצרה – he just refers to it by the way/without specific reason, for either way (i.e., whether is hair is short or long) is a pure. But on account of the concluding clause [of the Mishnah] that is to be stringent (see Mishnah 6), it (i.e., the Mishnah) took the phrase and taught: "והאריכו"/and they became longer, in both [clauses].

נסמך השחין (if the inflammation/boil was attached) – to two hairs, after the Sabbath, but on the Sabbath he did not have a boil/inflammation on it, for had he (i.e., the Kohen) seen it on the Sabbath, he would declare him to be a leper on account of the white hairs that are within the bright white spot on the skin/בהרת, and now after the Sabbath when the boil comes and is attached to the two of them (i.e., hairs) or to one of them, is not a sign of defilement.

הקיף השחין וכו' – or that the boil surrounded the two white hairs.

או לאחת מהן או חלקן השחין – that the boil comes of the raw flesh of the boil or the burnt spot on the skin or the raw flesh of the burnt spot on the skin or the white scurf/בוהק between each hair. All of these on Shabbat are not there but after Shabbat came (i.e., appeared), this is a leniency.

היתה בו מחיה (if there was in it raw flesh) – on the Sabbath, which is a sign of defilement, and it went away after the Sabbath. Alternatively, it was quadrilateral on the Sabbath, and he was worthy of being declared a leper, but after Shabbat it became round or long, that now it is not a sign of defilement. Alternatively, an eruption was surrounded with raw flesh in the middle of the bright white spot on the skin/בהרת, like a kind of a fortress of a city that sits in the middle of the city, and through this, he was worthy of being declared a leper, but after Shabbat, it was made from the side. Alternatively, it was gathered/collected like a lentil in one place, but after Shabbat, it scattered.

ובא השחין ונכנס לתוכו – meaning to say, that on Shabbat there was no boil there, but the raw flesh was a sign of defilement, and the boil came and entered into it.

הקיפה או חלקה או מיעטה – meaning to say, or that the boil didn’t come on the entire plague but only on a part of the raw flesh, and became diminished from being like a lentil.

השחין ומחית השחין המכוה ומחית המכוה והבהק (the boil, the raw flesh of the boil, the burning and the raw flesh of the burning and the white scurf/tetter) – all of these exist for being diminished, for the boil was lessened or the raw flesh of the boil, that is, that a membrane was made like the shell of the garlic. Or the burnt spot on the skin or the raw flesh of the burnt spot on the skin. All of these that on the Sabbath were not there, but after the Sabbath came. And similarly, the white scurf/בוהק, that on the Sabbath were from the four appearances [of plagues] and on the morrow (i.e., Sunday), it became white scurf and the raw flesh lessened, for boils and white scurf lessen the raw flesh, as is taught in Torat Kohanim (i.e., Sifra, the Midrash Halakha on Leviticus): “living flesh,” (see Leviticus 13:14: “But as soon as un-discolored flesh appears in it, he shall be impure”/"וביום הראות בו בשר חי יטמא"), but not boils; “living flesh,” but not white scurf.

היה לו פסיון (if he had the spreading of a leprous spot) – on Shabbat.

והלך לו הפסיון – after Shabbat, for what spread on Shabbat was gathered in on the morrow (i.e., Sunday).

או שהלכה האום (or that the original leprosy- substance had disappeared) – the essence of the plague is called the אום/original leprosy, the original leprosy had disappeared and there remained the leprous spot, or that the original leprosy substance had become reduced , and there isn’t between them like the size of a Cilician bean.

השחין ומחית השחין – meaning to say, alternatively, on Shabbat it spread but did not stop on Shabbat between the original leprosy substance and the leprous spot neither the boils nor the raw flesh of the boils nor the burnt spot on the skin nor the raw flesh of the skin nor the white scurf, but after the Sabbath, one of these stopped, this is its leniency.

נסמך השחין – on Shabbat [the boil joined]

לשתיהן – to the wo hairs, for now it Is not a sign of defilement, for the white hair is no a sign of defilement other than when it touches itself not within the boil or within the burnt spot on the skin.

אף הקיף השחין וכו' (even if the boil surrounded) – for if he (i.e., the Kohen) saw it on the Sabbath, he would not declare him to be a leper.

והלכו להן – and after the Sabbath [they went away], for the place of the boil and the burnt spot on the skin became a rough, scabby surface/scar, and it is like the skin of the body. And when he (i.e., the Kohen) declares him to be a confirmed leper, this is to be ruling strictly.

חולקין בין האום לפסיון ([the tetters/white scurf] divides between the starting point of leprosy and the spreading of the leprous spot) – that they would sop on Shabbat between the essence of the plague and the spreading.

והלכו להן – after the Sabbath, and here is nothing that stops/interrupts it, these are for ruling strictly.