והסגיר הכהן, “the priest shall lock up (the afflicted person).” This will enable him subsequently to determine if the affliction has spread. If one looks at the same section of skin every day, it is difficult to notice any changes. But if one has not seen it for a period of time, any changes can be noticed immediately. It is assumed that these changes, if any, occur very gradually. When Noach was in the ark and he wished to check if the water level around him had dropped, he also allowed seven days to elapse between dispatching a raven or a dove to examine this state of affairs. (Genesis 8,10). Actually, this comparison is not valid, as in our situation the priest had already marked the outer limits on the skin of the symptoms of the afflicted person clearly. He took the additional precaution of locking that person up in order to prevent him from tampering with what he had marked. He suspected such a person of trying to mislead him at the next inspection of the nega, skin-eczema.

ועמוק, “and if deeper;” we find that the Torat Kohanim explains that the reason why the Torah wrote the unusually long “and the nega had not assumed a deeper appearance than the skin in the interval between the inspection then the afflicted person is pronounced ritually contaminated,” is that if it had not done so, we would have thought that only a spreading of the symptoms would lead the priest to declare the afflicted person as ritually contaminated. The fact that the area afflicted had not diminished, is proof that the symptoms had been that which the afflicted person himself had suspected to begin with. The Torah uses similar language when discussing symptoms of boils in verse 20 of our chapter. The wording of the entire chapter has to be understood in this vein. However, according to the explanation of Rashi, the word עמוק has to be understood as relative, i.e. like shade compared to an area lit up by the sun. This does not sound like a good comparison for the word הסגר, “locking up.” Our author admits that when speaking of north Europeans who have a very light skin the comparison is more apt. With people like that the appearance of the nega described in the Torah is not usually so much different from his normal skin colour. This sounds far fetched as we are told that the skin eczema known as baheret, is as white as snow, and what can be whiter than snow?

עמד בעיניו, “and the plague had retained the same appearance, looking the same in the eyes of the priest,” (who had examined it the last time). According to Rashi who considers the subject as being the nega, affliction, the Torah should have written עומד בעיניו, in the present tense.

ביום השביעי שנית, “again on the seventh day;” we learn from here that the nega will not become ritually clean unless it had shrunk. This is also how Rashi explains it with the word כהה, i.e. its appearance had become dimmer. If it had become more pronounced or remained static the afflicted person is ritually unclean. The accepted ruling, halachah, however, is that if it did not spread out, the afflicted person is declared ritually clean. This has also been spelled out in the Mishnah in tractate Nega’im chapter 1, Mishnah 3. We quote: ארבעה מראות האלו מצטרפין זה עם זה לפטור ולהחליט ולהסגיר., “Any of these four shades (that have been mentioned before) may combine together to declare clean, or to certify as definite affliction by a nega, or to cause the suspected victim to be shut up.” The first example listed is that the suspected area has remained static at the end of the second week. The expression in the Mishnah להסגר, for shutting up, refers to the first examination after the priest’s visit. The expression לפטור, to declare ritually clean, refers to the visit of the priest after the second week. Similar rules apply if the symptoms had been white like snow after the first week, and by the end of the second week the affected area looked like the whitewashed area of Sanctuary. This is not considered as “having dimmed,” but as having remained static, until the area afflicted has shrunk. Some scholars state that the reason these details have been written in the Torah in this context is to tell us that if the appearance had not dimmed at all, then the afflicted person is declared ritually clean. We are to learn that a change from snow white to whitewashed, or vice versa from snow-white to whitewashed or vice versa, is not to be interpreted as a new type of nega having surfaced. Our author quotes one or two alternate interpretations of the words ביום השביעי שנית, but seeing that the legislation does not apply in our time and we need the prophet Elijah to rule on whose interpretation is correct, this editor sees no point in pursuing this subject at this time.

ונראה שנית, “and he is to be seen by the priest a second time.” The Torah should have written: “a third time,” as the priest had already seen that person twice.

צרעת היא, “it is the dreaded skin disease known as tzoraat.” What had first been diagnosed as נגע and had therefore been described in the masculine mode, is now described in the feminine mode, i.e. צרעת. (Compare verse 3)

צרעת נושנת, “an old tzoraat;” Rashi here is not precise enough in his commentary. In Torat Kohanim a white hair is considered as proof of ritual contamination of the skin from which it grows. Similarly what is described by the Torah as michyeh, i.e. מכות מחיה, in verse 24, is a sure sign of ritual impurity, regardless of any changes from one week to another. The fact that it too is treated by the Torah as feminine, is clear proof of this.

וביום הראות בו בשר חי, “and from the day when raw flesh appears on that area;” this is clear proof that the afflicted person must be declared as ritually unclean. Rashi writes that although this verse has been understood by the Talmud in tractate Kidushin folio 25, differently. i.e. 24 limbs of the human body are not subject to this kind of ritual contamination as they require the visual inspection of a priest, the Torah here specifically spells out that if symptoms of eczema break out before the afflicted person has shaved himself, this rule does not apply to the symptoms described here, as מחיה. [Compare Maimonides hilchot tumat tzoraat chapter three halachah eight Ed.] Our author repeats that Rashi here was not accurate and disagrees with the version of Torat Kohanim. (5,1)

ונרפא, “and it is healed.” At first glance this word is enigmatic. How does this word get into this verse? However, we find that in the Torat Kohanim this word plus the fact that instead of the afflicted person being the subject in this verse, the subject is the state of his skin, teaches that in spite of the nega not being able to develop in the normal manner, the person so afflicted is already declared as ritually impure. The boil, שחין, must first heal completely, before a healing process for the nega can even begin.

או בהרת לבנה אדמדמת, “or a white rising or a bright spot, reddish white;” according to Torat Kohanim, the reddish looking spot is a phenomenon that occurs with all the four different types of the skin diseases described in this chapter. It is a clear sign that the afflicted person will be declared ritually impure.

'והנה פשה הנתק בעור וגו, “and behold if the scall be spread in the skin, etc. טמא הוא, “he is ritually contaminated.” This entire verse appears superfluous; we had already read that “if the scall did not spread out on the afflicted person the priest will declare him ritually clean, (verse 35)” is ritually contaminated clean (remains that way). If you were to argue that if not for this verse, I would give a different interpretation to our verse here namely” “if the scab spread and there is no single black hair he remains ritually contaminated, but if there is only one such symptom, namely the spreading out of the scall, this would not result in the person under discussion becoming declared ritually contaminated, or as the case maybe, to become ritually contaminated.

ואם בעיניו עמד הנתק, “but if the appearance of the scall has remained static, etc.;” we need to examine what new dimension of the subject has been added by this verse. We already know that if no change had occurred in the symptoms’ appearance that the afflicted person is ritually clean. Perhaps the Torah wished to spell out the law that when a black hair had begun to sprout on the surface under discussion this does not hurt his status. [According to Rashi, it teaches that if the priest had mistakenly declared this person to be ritually unclean he remains so until the priest reverses his decree. Ed.]

בקרחתו או בגבחתו, “on his bald head or bald forehead.” It is irrelevant if the area concerned normally produces a growth of hair or if it does not.

בדד ישב, “he is to dwell in solitude.” The reason is that this is a disease which is catching, and by remaining where he used to live he would infect his neighbours. He is also not permitted to carry on marital relations with his wife. He would find it difficult to perform his duty.

צרעת ממארת היא, “it is a malignant skin disease;” the afflicted person, when he feels burning of the skin will feel tempted to peel off the affected part of the skin, and as a result it would come back on an even bigger area of his skin.

פחתת היא, “it has penetrated the fabric of his garment thoroughly.” As a result it will keep on spreading. Merely tearing up the garment is not sufficient.