הנתקים (bald, blanched spot) – plagues that are in the head or in the beard are called נתקים, as a result that the hair is torn loose and falls and drops off on account of the plague. But the bald, blanched spots do not become defiled in the four appearances like a plague in the place of flesh, bur become defiled through all of the appearances.

בשער צהוב – similar to the golden shape.

דק לקוי קצר (thin - so diseased -sparse that it is short hair) – what the Torah stated (Leviticus 13:30): “[The priest shall examine the affection. If it appears to go deeper than the skin] and here is thin yellow hair in it, [the priest shall pronounce him impure; it is a scall, a scaly eruption in the hair or beard],” the implication of לקוי/diseased – sparse – is that it is short.

אפילו ארוך – that its implication is not thin, but rather beaten/flattened.

מה הלשון אומרים – you learn from the language usage of people. When they say, “this reed is thin,” what is its implication? Whether it is diseased that it is short or whether it is diseased that it is long. But there are books that have the reading: "ולא לקוי ארוך"/but it is not diseased that it is long, in astonishment, meaning to say, that perhaps it is so diseased that it is short, but not so diseased that it is long.

נלמוד מן השער – it is the manner of people when they speak about the hair that it is thin, they say that when it is diseased, it is short, but not on the diseased [hair] that it is long. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiba.

מכונס (close together) – two hairs in one place.

מפוזר – one in the eastern part of the plague and one its western part [of the plague].

מבוצר (surrounded -of the hair in the flesh affected by the eruption) – that the hair in the middle of the bald, blanched spot on the head, like a fortress that is in the middle of the city.

הפוך – that the hair was turned to yellow because of the bald, blanched spot in the head, as for example, that the bald, blanched spot in the head preceded the hair.

ושאינו הפוך – that the yellow/golden hair preceded the bald, blanched spot in the head.

שאין שער אחד מציל מידו – that if there is in the plague two white hairs, even filled with black hairs, they don’t protect (on the two) white hairs that they should not be defiled. But the yellow/golden hair, if there is with it [two] black hairs, it does not defile. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

הצומח – black hair that grew in the bald, blanched spot on the head.

מציל מיד שער צהוב ומיד פשיון – that if he had been declared a certified leper through golden hair or with spreading, and two black hairs grew, he is pure.

בין מכונס – that both of them are in one place.

בין מפוזר – one to the east of the plague and one to the west [of the plague].

והמשואר – that the two black hairs preceded those for the bald, blanched spot on the head, as for example, if the hair of his head or his beard had been torn loose like a split [Cilician] bean, there remained within the bald, blanched spot two black hairs.

מבוצר (of the hair in the flesh affected by the eruption – are cut off) – if they are cut off in the middle of the bald, blanched spot on the head, they protect. But if they stand from the side, they do not protect.

עד שיהא רחוק מן הקמה – until there would be these two hairs [of the same color] far from the hairs that surround the bald, blanched spot on the head (or beard) like the measure of two hairs. But the hairs that are around the bald, blanched spot [on the head] are called קמה/standing, and when these hairs are two hairs distant from the standing hairs, they are considered like they are an eruption surrounded with sound flesh within the plague.

אחת צהובה ואחת שחורה – with the golden [hair] that preceded the bald, blanched spot, there wasn’t a token/sign of defilement, it is necessary for him (i.e., the Tanna/teacher of the Mishnah) to state that they don’t combine with the black hair to protect from the golden hair and from the spreading. But our anonymous Mishnah is according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov who stated nearby ahead (see the next Mishnah), that the golden hair that preceded the bald, blanched spot on the head does not defile and it does not protect.

רבי יהודה מטמא – as it is taught in the Mishnah above (i.e., Mishnah 2 of this chapter) that Rabbi Yehuda defiles already turned (i.e., its color) or not turned.

ר' אליעזר בן יעקב אומר לא מטמא ולא מציל – Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov and Rabbi Shimon explain the matter of the first Tanna/teacher (in the second Mishnah) that they brought it pure, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov holds that it is pure, for the first Tanna/teacher to state that it doesn’t defile, but it doesn’t protect. But Rabbi Shimon holds that it is pure and protects as he states, but above, we made the legal decision that the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

כיצד מגלחין את הנתק – at the end of the first week (to his isolation/being shut up/quarantined) that it did not spread and did not give rise to golden hair (as it is written – Leviticus 13:33 – “the person with the scall shall shave himself [but without shaving the scall; the priest shall isolate him for another seven days]).”

היה מגלח חוצה לו – he shaves around the bald, blanched spot [on the head or in the beard].

ומניח שתי שערות – as it is written (Leviticus 13:33): "והתגלח ואת-הנתק לא יגלח"/ “the person with he scall shall shave himself, but without shaving the scall,” for what does he have in it? For hasn’t the hair already been torn loose and fallen out? But rather, near the bald, blanched spot (i.e., the “scall”) he doesn’t shave, that he leaves around the bald, blanched spot two hairs from every side, it is found that the bald, blanched spot (i.e., the scall) is surround by hair like a crown.

החליטו בשער צהוב – and after he was declared a certified leper through it, the golden hair went away and after that came back.

וכן בפשיון – that the golden hair did not return but rather that it spread, whether this (i.e., golden hair) or that (i.e., spreading), he is a certified leper like he was.

בתחלה בסוף שבוע ראשון – meaning to say, this law that we stated is in effect whether he was declared a certified leper with the golden hair when he was brought to the Kohen, whether he was declared to be a certified leper with golden hair at the end of the first week, or at the end of he second week, or after the release, as for example, it remained unchanged for two weeks and he was released, but after the release, two yellow hairs appeared and he was declared a certified leper. But in all of them, [if] the golden hair went away and then returned, or that it didn’t return but the scall/bald, blanched spot, he is as he was.

החליטו בפשיון – as it was explained that he was declared a certified leper with the golden hair, such one explains his being declared a certified leper through spreading. But here, with spreading, we don’t have this reading at the beginning, for the spreading does not defile other than after isolation/being shut up.

שני נתקים זה בצד זה – and there is in each of them a like a Cilician split bean. For with bald, blanched spots (i.e., scalls), we require like the size of a split [Cilician] bean, as it is written (Leviticus 13:31): “But if the priest finds the scall affection”/נגע הנתק – and an analogy is made between נגע/plague and נתק/bald, blanched spot on the head (or on the beard), just as the plague is like the size of a split [Cilician] bean, so even the bald, blanched spot on the head (or on the beard) is like the size of a split [Cilician] bean. But if two bald, blanched spots/scalls are placed one next to the other and there is a line of hair that separating the two bald, blanched spots/scalls, and divides it into two like a partition that separates.

נפרץ – the hair of that line/row [that separates them].

במקום אחד – at the end of the first week of isolation/being shut up/quarantine or at the end of the second week or after the release.

טמא – for the bald, blanched spot/scall had spread.

בשני מקומות – that line/row that separated below and above and remained from that line/row two hairs in the middle.

טהור – for they (i.e., of the hair affected by the eruption) are surrounded and protected.

כמה תהא הפרצה – if in the two places they were separated, the measurement of the gap in the place of the two hairs, and thusly the hairs are considered be surrounded.

ואם במקום אחד נפרצו טמא – even if it was severed/broken off like the size of a split [Cilician] bean, it is impure, for the black hair is not surrounded and gathered in within the plague, since it is not severed in -two places.

זה לפנים מזה – as for example, if a bald, blanched spot/scall in the head [or in the beard] is like a split Cilician bean squared, and a row/line of hair completely surrounds it, except for that row/line that surrounds the bald, blanched spot/scall like [the size of] a split [Cilician] bean all around it, that, a strip of scall the width of a lentil surrounds the row of hair, and this is the measurement of the scall that surrounds the hair in the flesh affected by the eruption.

נפרץ ממקום אחד טמא – the inner part, for the black hair at its side and which is not surrounded inside it. But the outer part is pure, for there are black hairs that are surrounded inside it.

משתי מקומות טהור – the inside and all the more so, the outside, that both of them were made into one scall, and within them are two black hairs which are surrounded.

כמה תהא הפרצה – from the two places and it will be pure, the place of the two hairs.

נפרץ ממקום אחד כגריס טהור – for we have said (in the previous Mishnah), that if it was separated in one place, it is impure, that is, with less than a split [Cilician] bean. But after it was severed/broken off like a split [Cilician] bean, even in one place, the two scalls became one, and the hair that remains are surrounded.

ובו שער צהוב טמא – golden/yellow hair defiles, whether at the beginning [or] whether at the end of the first week, whether at the end of the second week,[or] whether after the release.

נולד בו שער שחור טהור – if it (i.e., the two black hairs) grew after the bald, blanched spot in the head [or the beard] even though they are not an eruption surrounded with sound flesh. But if it is a remainder, especially an eruption surrounded with sound flesh, that is distant by two hairs from the standing flesh of the head as we have stated.

אע"פ שהלך לו שער שחור טהור – for since the golden/yellow [hair] has been purified, it further does not defile, even though the black [hair] fell out, but, if he was declared a certified leper through spreading and the black [hair] came and purified the spreading and afterwards, the black [hair] went away, the spreading returns and defiles, or that it spread and contracted and then once again spread, we don’t say since the bald, blanched spot [in the head] became pure it does not defile.

כל נתק שטהר שעה אחת – whether that he was declared a certified leper through spreading and it contracted, or that black hair came and purified him, whether he was declared a certified leper with golden/yellow hair and black hair came and purified him and afterwards the black [hair] went away, or what that had contracted returned and became a bald, blanched spot, again this bald, blanched spot is not defilement forever, even though that we hold that the tokens/signs of his uncleanness, such as golden/yellow hair and spreading, and we don’t have need with these that already is purified with black hair, but even if it spread after the black went away or that other yellow/golden hair grew in it, since the bald, blanched spot was purified already, it further has no uncleanness.

ר' שמעון אומר כל שער צהוב שטהר שעה אחת – as for example, this that refers to at the time when the black [hair] comes, it has no uncleanness forever. But if after the black [hair] came, yellow/golden hair appeared in the bald, blanched spot or it spread afterwards, it is impure, for we don’t say that every bald, blanched spot that is purified. And the Halakha is according to the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah].

וניתק כל ראשו – that the bald, blanched spot spread throughout the head, whether that he was certified as a leper with golden hair, whether he was certified as a leper through spreading.

טהור – that in all of it, spreading all over purifies (see Tractate Negaim, Chapter 7, Mishnah 5 and Chapter 8, Mishnayot 1 and 2). And from where do we learn that spreading throughout purifies in the head, as it is written (Leviticus 13:40): "ואיש כי ימרט ראשו קרח הוא טהור הוא"/ “If a man loses the hair of his head and becomes bald, he is pure.” Regarding the beard, from where do we learn [that the same is the case]? The inference teaches us: "ואיש"/if a man – to include the beard. But if the bald, blanched spot comes throughout at the outset, he is not pure, that just as if it turns all white at the beginning, he is not pure with regard to the bright white spot on the skin.

אין מעכבין זה את זה – if there was a bald, blanched spot on his head like the size of a split [Cilician] bean and afterwards all of his head became torn loose, even though the beard was not torn loose, he is pure. And similarly, when there is white spreading all over in the beard, but it doesn’t spread all white in the head, he is pure, for they do not hinder one another.

ודין הוא – that they do hinder.

שיש דבר אחד מפסיק ביניהן – that the hair of the head and of the beard that they do not become defiled with the bright white spot on the skin that intervenes between the skin of the face to the rest of the body. But the skin of the face and the rest of the body do hinder each other, for all that is appropriate to be defiled through the plague of the bright white spot on the skin hinders the eruption of the bright white spot on the skin which causes the leper to be declared clean.

אין מצטרפין זה עם זה – in the place that the head and the beard join together. If a half of a split [Cilician] bean was to originate in this one (i.e., the head) and a half of a split [Cilician] bean was to originate in that one, they do not combine.

ואין פושין מזה לזה – if there is a bald, blanched spot the size of a split [Cilician] bean on the head near/adjacent to the beard, and at the end of the first week or at the end of the second week or after the release, it spread on the beard, it is not considered spreading.

מן הפרק של לחי – [from the joint of the] upper [jawbone]. He pulls/stretches a thread from ear to ear, all that is from the thread and above is the head, and all that is from the thread and below is the beard.

פיקה של גרגרת (thyroid cartilage/Adam’s apple) – the top of the thyroid cartilage begins to protrude and go downward, and the flesh that surrounds the thyroid cartridge from outside is called פיקה /protruding cartilage.

הקרחת והגבחת ( a leprous affection on the back of the head – making it bald -from the crown sliding backwards; leprous affection on the front of the head making it bald- from the crown sliding down forward to where the hair begins) – both of them are in the head, but from where the slanting of the skull and backward is called קדקוד/the skull, opposite his face is called גבחת/the front of the head, as it is taught in the Mishnah nearby (i.e., in this Mishnah. And they are not like bald, blanched spots in the head, for the bald, blanched spots return and grow hair, but the leprous affection on the back of the head and the leprous affection on the front of the head do not return/come back and grow hair.

מיטמאות בשני שבועות – as it is written (Leviticus 13:43): "כמראה צרעת עור בשר"/ “like the leprosy of body skin in appearance, just as the body skin is in two weeks, so too here (i.e., with baldness of the back or front of the head) in two weeks.

ובמחיה ובסיון – as it is written (Leviticus 13:42): “[But if a white affection streaked with red appears on the bald part in the front or at the back of the head,] it is a scaly eruption that is spreading over the bald part in the front [or at the back of the head].”/"צרעת פורחת היא בקרחתו" . [The word] צרעת/affection – teaches that it defiles through quick flesh; [the word]פורחת /spreading, teaches that it defiles through spreading; [the word] "היא"/that it, teaches that it does not defile with white hair.

נשם (a medicine which produces depilation) – it is a drug that the person who consumes it does not grow hair, and the person who smeared it does not grow hair.

מכה שאינה ראויה לגדל שער – as for example a large would where the flesh becomes a rough, scabby surface/a scar.

פיקה של צואר (protruding cartilage of the neck) – this is the first vertebrae of the neck.

ואין פושות מזו לזו – from the leprous affection on the back of the head to the leprous affection on the front of the head or from the leprous affection on the front of the head to the leprous affection on the back of the head.

אם יש שער – that interrupts between them between the leprous affection on the back of the head and the leprous affection on the front of the head. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.