Rambam - 3 Chapters a Day

Houses with tzara'at blemishes are deemed impure when the blemishes are the length of two grisim. Thus the width of the blemish is approximately the size of a place where six hairs grow on the body and its length is a place for 12 hairs. It must be rectangular. Any blemish on a house smaller than this measure is pure. All of the measures are halachot transmitted to Moses at Sinai.

There are three distinguishing marks of impurity for tzara'at in houses: an intense green or intense red appearance and the spreading of the affliction. These are all explicitly mentioned in the Torah.

The two abnormal appearances can be combined with each other. If a blemish spreads to the place immediately adjacent to it, even the slightest spread is considered a sign of impurity. If it spreads to a distant place, the new blemish must be a gris. When a blemish returns after the house is plastered, it must be two grisim.

Blemishes on buildings do not impart impurity until the abnormal appearance is seen below the surface of the wall, as implied by the term shika'rurot, interpreted as meaning "sunk in the walls," used by Leviticus 14:37. A blemish with either of these two appearances causes the building to be isolated or definitively deemed impure. If it increases in size, it should be torn down and if it spread after it was replastered, the entire house must be torn down, as will be explained.

When a blemish appears in a house, even a sage who knows that it is definitely a blemish should not definitively say: "A blemish appeared in my house." Instead, he should tell the priest, "It appears that a blemish appeared in my house. The priest will then issue an order to remove everything from the house, even bundles of wood and bundles of reeds. Afterwards, the priest will come and inspect the blemish.

We do not open windows in a closed house to inspect its blemishes. Instead, if a blemish is not visible in its present state, it is pure.

After a priest will inspect a blemish, he should depart and stand at the entrance to the house, near the lintel and either isolate, deem definitively impure, or release the house from the inspection process, as ibid.:38 states: "And the priest shall leave the house, going to its entrance... and he shall isolate the house." He should not isolate a house while he is in his own house, in the blemished house, or under its lintel. Instead, he should stand at the side of its entrance. If he stood under the lintel or went to his own house and isolated a house, it is isolated.

A house is not deemed impure because of a blemish unless it is four cubits by four cubits or more, it has four walls, and it is built on the earth with stones, earth, and wood, for Leviticus 14:45 mentions: "its stones, its wood, and its earth." If, however, it is less than four cubits by four cubits, it is round, triangular, or pentagonal, it was built on a ship or suspended on four beams, it is not susceptible to the impurity stemming from a blemish. If it was built on four pillars, it is susceptible to the impurity stemming from a blemish.

How many stones must be in a house? No less than eight, two stones on each wall so that every wall would be fit to have a blemish. For a house is not susceptible to the impurity stemming from a blemish unless a blemish the size of two grisim appears on two stones, as indicated by Leviticus 14:40 which mentions: "the stones in which the blemish is located."

How many boards must it contain? Enough to place under the lintel. How much earth? Enough to place between one broken stone and another. If a house contained less than these measures, it is not susceptible to the impurity stemming from a blemish.

Neither bricks nor marble are considered as stones in this context. When there is a house that one of its walls is coated with marble, another is made from a boulder, the third, of stones, and the fourth, from earth, it is not susceptible to the impurity stemming from a blemish.

When a house did not have the required measure of stone, wood, and earth and a tzara'at blemish was discovered in it and then additional stones, wood, and earth was brought for it, it is pure.

When plants were used as the covering for a house, they are considered as a permanent part of it. Since they are serving the purpose of wood, they are considered as wood. If the house becomes impure, they contract the severe impurity associated with it, as will be explained.

Houses located in Jerusalem and the Diaspora are not susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes, as implied by Leviticus 14:34: "in a house in the land of your ancestral heritage." Jerusalem is thus excluded, because it was not divided among the tribes. The houses of gentiles in Eretz Yisrael are not susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes.

When one purchases houses from gentiles, they should be given an initial inspection.

When a gentile lives on one side of a house and a Jew on the other side or one side of a house was in Eretz Yisrael and the other in the Diaspora, it is not susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes. All other buildings in Eretz Yisrael are susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes. This applies regardless of whether they were colored naturally or colored because of human activity.

The house of a woman, a house belonging to partners, a synagogue or a house of study that has a dwelling for attendants or students is susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes.

The walls of a feeding stall and the walls of a partition in a house are not susceptible to the impurity stemming from blemishes.

There is an isolation period of three weeks, i.e., nineteen days, for blemishes on houses. For the seventh day counts for the first and the second week and the thirteenth day counts for the second and the third week. Thus if three weeks are necessary, an inspection is made on the seventh day, the thirteenth day, and the nineteenth day. The isolation of a house for three weeks is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. Similarly, most of the laws applying to blemishes on houses were conveyed by the Oral Tradition.

The explicit laws pertaining to them that are stated in the Torah and the Received Tradition are as follows: When a priest comes to see a intense green or intense red blemish that is sunk beneath the surface on the wall of a dwelling, as we explained, he should isolate the house for seven days. Even if at the outset, it was entirely intense green or intense red, he should isolate it. On the seventh day, he should inspect it. If the blemish faded or, needless to say, if it disappeared, he should scrape away the place of the blemish and the house is deemed pure.

If its color remained, but it did not spread, it should be isolated for another week and inspected on the thirteenth day. If it faded or, needless to say, if it disappeared, he should scrape away the place of the blemish and purify the house with fowl.

If, at the end of the second week, he discovered that the blemish had spread or retained its color, he should remove the stones on which the blemish had been manifest, scrape off the mortar that had supported them and deposit it outside the city. He should plaster the entire house and isolate it for a third week.

On the nineteenth day, he should inspect it. If the blemish returned and comprised two grisim, this is considered to be spreading after plastering and the entire house should be destroyed. If the blemish did not return, he should purify the house with fowl. If, however, at any time before it is purified with fowl, the blemish returns, the house should be destroyed. If another blemish appears in the house after it was purified, it should be inspected as if for the first time.

Similarly, if the blemish spread at the end of the first week, he should remove the stones on which the blemish had been manifest, scrape off the mortar that had supported them and deposit it outside the city. He should plaster the entire house and isolate it for a second week. Afterwards, he should inspect it. If the blemish returned and comprised two grisim, this is considered to be spreading after plastering and the entire house should be destroyed. If the blemish did not return, he should purify the house with fowl. If, however, at any time before it is purified with fowl, the blemish returns, the house should be destroyed. If another blemish appears in the house after it was purified, it should be inspected as if for the first time.

When the priest removes the stones on which the blemish was found, he should not remove less than two stones. He may not take stones from one side of the house and bring them to the other, for Leviticus 14:42 states: "And they shall take other stones." Similarly, he may not take mortar from one side of the house and bring it to the other, for that verse states: "And he shall take other mortar and plaster the house."

He may not plaster the house with lime, only with mortar, for the verse states: "And he shall take other mortar." He should not bring one larger stone in place of two that he removed or two smaller stones in place of one that he removed. Instead, he should bring two in place of two. He may, however, bring two in place of three.

If there was a blemish on a wall between one person's house and another's, they both must remove the stones; they both must scrape away the mortar, and they both must bring other stones. The owner of the blemished house alone brings the new mortar, as implied by Leviticus 14:42 which states: "And he shall take other mortar and plaster the house." From the use of a singular form, we learn that his neighbor does not join with him in the plastering.

The following laws apply when there is a blemish on a stone in the corner of a house. When the owner removes the stone, he removes it entirely. If he must destroy the house, he must destroy only his own and leave his neighbor's. There is an unresolved question if the part of the stone that projects into his neighbor's house is considered as a handle to his stone and brings impurity to it.

When a blemish was discovered in a house and there was a loft built over it, the beams of the ceiling should be left for the loft. If it was discovered in the loft, the beams should be left for the house. If there was no loft on top of it, all of its stones, wood, and mortar are destroyed with it. The partitions on the roof and the lattice of the windows may be saved.

When a person takes stones from a house that had been isolated and builds them into a house that is pure, if the blemish returns to the house that had been isolated, he should remove those stones from the pure house. If the blemish appears on the stones that he added, the isolated house should be destroyed and the second house isolated, as is the law with regard to a house on which a blemish is first discovered.

How is a house on which there was a blemish purified after the stones were removed and it was plastered? One should bring "living water" in an earthenware container, two fowl, a cedar branch, a hyssop, a crimson strand, like the purification of a man in every respect. The difference is in the purification process of a man, one sprinkles the blood seven times on the back of the hand of the afflicted person. And in the purification process of a house, one sprinkles the blood seven times on the lintel of the house from the outside. The remainder of the practices are the same.

A blemished house is a primary source of impurity. Anyone who touches it contracts impurity. Similarly, the stones that are removed from it after it was isolated or the stones, the wood, and the mortar of the house when it is destroyed are all considered as primary sources of impurity. An olive-sized portion of them imparts impurity to a person and to implements when touched or carried or when such a substance is brought into a house.

What is implied? If an olive-sized portion of such a substance is brought into a house, everything in the house - people and implements - contract impurity. For all these substances impart impurity when brought into a house like a person afflicted with tzara'at and it is forbidden to benefit from all of them. If one burns them and makes lime, it is forbidden to benefit from it, as implied by Leviticus 14:44: "accursed tzara'at," which can be interpreted as a command: "Consider it a curse and do not benefit from it." All these materials should be discarded outside the city even if it is not surrounded by a wall.

A house that is isolated imparts impurity only from the inside, as Leviticus 14:46 states: "One who enters the house throughout the days of its isolation shall become impure until the evening." A house that has been deemed definitively impure, by contrast, imparts impurity from its inside and from its outside, i.e., one who touches its back contracts impurity, as implied by ibid.:44: "It is accursed tzara'at in the house; it is impure." Now was it pure beforehand? Rather, the intent is to increase its impurity over and above that which existed previously and have it deemed impure in its entirety. Hence, it imparts impurity even from the outside. Similarly, the stones on which the blemish is found in an isolated house impart impurity from their outside as well.

Both a house that is isolated and one that is deemed definitively impure impart impurity when they exist inside another structure.

What is implied? When there was a house built over a blemished house - whether one that was isolated or one that was deemed definitively impure - or there was a tree that stood over such a house, a person who stands under the tree or who enters the outer house is impure. The rationale is that he and the impure house are under one covering. Similarly, if a blemished stone was brought inside a structure and placed down there, everything in the house becomes impure. If such a stone was placed under a tree and a pure person passed there, he becomes impure. If the pure person was standing under a tree and a person carrying a blemished stone passed by there, he does not contract impurity. If he placed it down there, he does contract impurity. The rationale is that the place of a blemished entity has the same status as he does. This applies to blemished persons, implements, stones, wood, and mortar.

When a person holds his hand over a blemished stone or a blemished stone is held over him, he is pure unless he touches it.

When a ritually pure person enters an impure house backwards, even if his entire body enters aside from his nose, he remains pure. This is derived from Leviticus 14:46 which mentions: "The one who comes into the house." Implied is that the Torah prescribed impurity only when one enters in an ordinary manner.

When a ritually pure person inserted his head and the majority of his body into an impure house, he contracts impurity. Similarly, when a portion of a ritually pure garment three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths is brought into an impure house, it becomes impure. And when any portion of the inner space of an earthenware container enters an impure house, it becomes impure. Other keilim, by contrast, do not contract impurity unless the majority of the k'li is brought in. Once the majority is brought in, it contracts impurity immediately.

When does the above apply? To garments that were taken into a house when no one was wearing them. If, however, a Jewish person entered a blemished house wearing his clothes, his shoes on his feet, and his rings on his hands, the person becomes impure immediately and his garments are pure until he remains there for the amount of time a person could sit there and eat three egg-sized portions of bread from wheat together with accompanying food, as implied by Leviticus 14:47: "One who lies in the house will launder his garments and one who eats in the house will launder his garments." Now would one think that a person's garments do not contract impurity until he eats in the blemished house? Instead, the intent of the verse mentioning eating is to establish an equation between eating and lying, to clarify that the measure of time necessary for one who lies there to contract impurity is the measure of time associated with eating. And the same laws apply to one who lies, one who sits, or one who stands. If he remains there for long enough to eat the above-mentioned measure of food, his garments contract impurity.

When a person entered an afflicted house carrying his garments on his shoulder, his shoe and his rings in his hands, he and they are impure immediately, for the only garments that are saved from becoming impure immediately are the garments that he is wearing. Similarly, when a gentile or an animal entered an afflicted house while wearing garments, the garments contract impurity immediately. The gentile, like the animal, does not contract impurity.

When a person who was standing in a blemished house extended his hands outside the house while wearing his rings on his hands, the rings contract impurity even though they are outside the house if he remains there for the amount of time necessary to eat the measure of food mentioned.

Similarly, if a person is standing outside and he inserted his hands inside an afflicted house, his hands alone contract impurity. If he kept them there for the amount of time necessary to eat the measure of food mentioned, his rings contract impurity. If not, they are pure.

Whenever the contents of a container are saved from contracting impurity because of a sealed covering under a shelter where a corpse is found, they are saved from contracting impurity in an afflicted house, when the container is covered. Whenever the contents of a container are saved from contracting impurity because they are covered in a shelter where a corpse is found, they remain pure even if they are uncovered in an afflicted house.

What is implied? When there are earthenware, stone, or earthen containers or the like containing food, beverages, and implements and they were covered in an afflicted house, the containers and everything they contain remain pure even though they are not sealed closed. When there is either a storage pit or a cistern in an afflicted house, the implements in them are pure, even though they are open.

Tzara'at is a collective term including many afflictions that do not resemble each other. For the whitening of a person's skin is called tzara'at, as is the falling out of some of the hair of his head or beard, and the change of the color of clothes or houses.

This change that affects clothes and houses which the Torah described with the general term of tzara'at is not a natural occurrence. Instead it is a sign and a wonder prevalent among the Jewish people to warn them against lashon hora, "undesirable speech." When a person speaks lashon hora, the walls of his house change color. If he repents, the house will be purified. If, however, he persists in his wickedness until the house is destroyed, the leather implements in his house upon which he sits and lies change color. If he repents, they will be purified. If he persists in his wickedness until they are burnt, the clothes he wears change color. If he repents, they will be purified. If he persists in his wickedness until they are burnt, his skin undergoes changes and he develops tzara'at. This causes him to be isolated and for it to be made known that he must remain alone so that he will not be involved in the talk of the wicked which is folly and lashon hora.

The Torah warns about this, stating Deuteronomy 24:8-9: "Take care with regard to a tzara'at blemish.... Remember what God your Lord did to Miriam." Now, this is what the Torah is implying: Contemplate what happened to the prophetess Miriam. She spoke against her brother. She was older than he was; she had raised him; and she had endangered herself to save him from the sea. She did not speak pejoratively of him; she merely erred in equating him with the other prophets. Moses did not object to any of this, as Numbers 12:3 relates: "And the man Moses was exceedingly humble." Nevertheless, she was immediately punished with tzara'at. Certainly, an inference can be made with regard to the wicked and foolish men who speak extensively about great and wondrous matters. Therefore a person who seeks to structure his course of conduct should distance himself from their gatherings and from speaking to them so that he will not become caught up in the web of their wickedness and foolishness.

This is the path followed by the gathering of wicked fools: In the beginning, they speak excessively about empty matters, as Ecclesiastes 5:2 states: "The talk of a fool is characterized by a multitude of words." As a result of this, they come to speak negatively of the righteous, as reflected by the verse Psalms 31:19: "May the lying lips be silenced; those which speak falsehood about a righteous man." As a consequence, they will become accustomed to speaking against the prophets and casting aspersions on their words, as reflected by the verse II Chronicles 36:16: "They would abuse the messengers of God, scorn His words, and mock His prophets." And this would lead them to deny God's existence entirely, as reflected in the verse II Kings 17:9: "And the children of Israel spoke in secret things that were not true against God, their Lord."

In this vein, Psalms 73:9 states: "They set their mouths against Heaven and their tongues strut on earth." What caused them to "set their mouths against Heaven"? Their tongues which previously were given free reign on earth. This is the speech of the wicked that is caused by loitering on the streetcorners, frequenting the assemblies of commoners, and spending time at the parties of drunkards.

In contrast, the speech of proper Jewish people only concerns words of Torah and wisdom. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, assists them and grants them merit because of it, as Malachi 3:16 states: "Then those who fear God conversed, each person with his fellow and God listened and paid heed. And a book of remembrance was composed before Him for those who fear God and contemplate His name."

Blessed be God who grants assistance.