Rambam - 3 Chapters a Day

The purification of a person afflicted with tzara'at is a positive commandment and his shaving is also a positive commandment.

How is a person who had been afflicted by tzara'at purified? He should bring a new earthenware container - the Received Tradition teaches that it must be new. A fourth of a log of "living water" that is fit to be sanctified as water for the sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer is placed in it. This measure is a Rabbinic institution.

Two sparrows that are kosher must be brought for the sake of purifying a tzara'at affliction, as Leviticus 14:4 states: "For the one who is to be purified will be taken...." He should slaughter the healthier of the two over the water in the earthenware vessel and squeeze out the blood until it is apparent over the water. He then digs a hole and buries the slaughtered bird in the presence of the afflicted person. This is one of the points received through the Oral Tradition.

He takes a cedar branch - the mitzvah is that it be a cubit long and a fourth the thickness of a bedpost. And he takes a hyssop whose name is not described by an additional term, as we explained, that is not less than a handbreadth long, and a crimson strand weighing a shekel. If one used the dye for another purpose, it is disqualified, as is the rule regarding dyeing wool with blue dye to use for tzitzit. All of these measures are laws transmitted to Moses at Sinai.

A priest takes the three items mentioned above together with the living fowl. All these four items are fundamental requirements. When the cedar branch and the hyssop have been peeled, they are invalid. The hyssop should be bound together with the cedar branch with the crimson thread. The tips of the wings and the tips of the tail of the living bird should be held close to them and the four should be dipped in the water in the container and the blood floating on top of it. He then sprinkles with them seven times on the back of the hand of the afflicted person and sends away the fowl.

How does he send the fowl away? He stands in the town and casts it outside the wall. He does not turn its head to the sea, to the town, or to the desert, as ibid.:53 states: "Outside the city, towards the field." If he sends it away and it returns, he should send it away again, even 100 times.

Afterwards, the priest shaves the afflicted person. How does he shave him? He passes a razor over all his skin that is visible including his underarms and pubic region until his entire flesh is smooth like a squash, as ibid.:9 states: "He shall shave all of his hair." If so, why does the verse mention his beard and his eye-brows? To include everything like them and to exclude the hair in the nose, because it is not visible.

Afterwards, he "launders" his garments, immerses himself, and becomes pure with regard to conveying impurity when he enters a building or to the article on which he lies or sits. He may enter within the town's wall. He counts seven days. During them, he is forbidden to engage in physical intimacy, as alluded to by ibid.:8: "outside his tent." This teaches that he is forbidden physical intimacy. A woman afflicted by tzara'at, by contrast, is permitted physical intimacy.

For the duration of these seven days, he is still considered as a primary source of impurity and imparts impurity to people and to utensils when touching them, but not when being carried by them. This is indicated by Leviticus 14:9 which states: "And it shall be on the seventh day,... he shall launder his garments...." This teaches that before then, he imparted impurity to his garments. Just as he would impart impurity to his garments by touching them, so too, he would impart impurity to a person when touching him, for any source of impurity that imparts impurity to garments, imparts impurity to humans.

On the seventh day, the priest shaves him a second time like the first. He "launders" and immerses himself, thus becoming pure with regard to imparting impurity to others. He is like all those who immersed and will become pure in the evening. He may partake of the second tithe. After nightfall, he may partake of terumah. Once he brings his atonement offerings, he may partake of sacrificial foods, as we explained.

When he shaves these two times, he must shave only with a razor. If he shaves with something other than a razor or left two hairs, his actions are of no consequence. The shavings should be performed only by a priest. If he left two hairs in the first shaving and shaved them off in the second shaving, he is considered to have performed only one shaving.

The entire day is acceptable for the shaving of a person afflicted by tzara'at.

The shaving of a person afflicted by tzara'at, his immersion, and sprinkling the blood of the slaughtered bird upon him are not dependent on each other. Each of the other actions involved in his purification are dependent on each other.

The slaughter of the fowl, the shaving, and the sprinkling of the blood must be performed during the day. The remainder of the actions may be performed either during the day or at night. The above three must be performed by males. The remainder may be performed by men or by women. The above three must be performed by priests. The remainder may be performed by priests or Israelites.

The purification of a person afflicted by tzara'at is carried out in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora, while the Temple is standing and in the era when the Temple is not standing.

It is a mitzvah for the priest who deemed the person impure to perform his purification as indicated by Leviticus 13:59 which states: "to purify him or deem him impure."

Every one is acceptable to perform the purification of a person afflicted by tzara'at, even a zav or one who is impure due to contact with a corpse may perform this purification. One person afflicted with tzara'at may not perform the purification for another. Two people afflicted with tzara'at should not be purified at the same time, for mitzvot should not be performed in bundles.

The cedar branch, the hyssop, and the scarlet cord that were used to purify one person afflicted with tzara'at may be used to purify others. Similarly, it is permitted to use a fowl that was sent away to purify other people afflicted with tzara'at and it is permitted to be eaten. It is, however, forbidden to benefit from the fowl that was slaughtered. From when is it forbidden? From the time that it was slaughtered.

When it was slaughtered, but there was no hyssop, cedar branch, or scarlet cord, it is nevertheless, forbidden to benefit from the slaughtered fowl. The rationale is that slaughter which is not befitting is still considered as slaughter. A person who partakes of an olive-sized portion of the slaughtered fowl violates a positive commandment and a negative commandment. For Deuteronomy 14:12 states: "These are what you may not eat from them." According to the Oral Tradition, it was taught that the wording also includes the fowl that was slaughtered in this purification process. And it is written ibid.:11: "You shall eat all pure fowl." This is a positive commandment. From it, however, one can infer a prohibition: that other species may not be eaten. When a prohibition is derived from a positive commandment, it is considered as a positive commandment.

The two fowl may not be taken from the fowl of a condemned city, nor from fowl exchanged for idols, nor from fowl that killed a person. The optimum way of performing the mitzvah is for the two fowl to be alike in appearance, size, and value, and to be purchased at the same time. Nevertheless, even if they are not alike, or one purchased one on one day and the other on the next, it is acceptable.

If one purchased two fowl for the sake of the purification of a man, it is acceptable to use them for the purification of a woman. Conversely, two purchased for the purification of a woman are acceptable to be used for the purification of a man. If they were taken to purify an afflicted house, they are acceptable to be used for purifying a person. If they were taken to purify a person, they are acceptable to be used for purifying an afflicted house. These concepts may be inferred from Leviticus 14:4 which states: "For the one who is to be purified will be taken...."

If one of them was slaughtered and discovered not to be a sparrow, another one should be taken for the second. It is permitted to partake of the one that was slaughtered. If one of them was slaughtered and discovered to be tereifah, another one should be taken for the second. It is permitted to benefit from the one that was slaughtered.

If the blood was spilled, the fowl that would have been sent away is left until it dies. If the fowl to be sent away dies before the sprinkling, the blood is poured out and two other fowl are taken.

The minimum measure for a tzara'at affliction for garments is a gris like an affliction for humans. An affliction smaller than a gris is pure. There are three distinguishing marks for the afflictions of garments: intense green, intense red, and the spreading of the affliction. All three are explicitly mentioned in the Torah.

"Intense green" refers to a dark green hue, like the wings of a peacock or the leaves of a date palm. "Intense red" refers to a dark red hue, a deep red, like fine scarlet thread. These two signs can be combined with each other.

When an affliction is intense green or red, the garment is placed in isolation. If this sign remains for two consecutive weeks, the garment is deemed impure and burnt. Similarly, if the size of the affliction increases, the garment is deemed impure and burnt.

What is implied? When an intense green or an intense red affliction is visible on a garment, it should be isolated for seven days. On the seventh day, it should be inspected. If it expanded, it is deemed definitively impure and burnt. If its appearance remained unchanged, but it did not increase in size, or it increased, but its color faded from the two colors because of which it was isolated, or its color became more intensely red or green, but it did not increase in size, the place of the blemish should be washed, and the garment isolated for a second seven day period. At the end of the second week, i.e., the thirteenth day, it should be assessed. If it turned to a third color, the garment should be washed and it is pure. If the color of the blemish changed from its original hue, i.e., initially, it was intense green, and it became intense red, or initially, it was intense red and then it became intense green, the place of the blemish should be ripped out and a patch sewn in the place that was ripped out. The remainder of the garment is released from the inspection process. It should be laundered a second time, immersed in the mikveh and then it is pure.

If, at the time of the second inspection, the blemish retained the appearance for which it was initially isolated, it should be deemed definitively impure and should be burnt in its entirety.

When a blemish that was intense green increased in size, but the new portion was intense red, or it was intense red and increased, but the increase was green, it is considered as an increase.

When in the midst of a blemish, there was a portion of the garment that was unsoiled and unblemished and then the blemish spread into it, the blemish is not considered to have increased in size. It must increase outward. An increase within the blemish itself is not considered as an increase, not for a blemish on a person's body, nor for one on garments or on buildings.

If a blemish spreads to the place immediately adjacent to it, even the slightest spread is considered a sign of impurity. If a blemish appears on a distant place on the garment or one returns after the initial blemish disappeared or was removed, it must be a gris in size.

What is implied? If a garment was isolated and then another blemish the size of a gris emerged some distance from the blemish for which it was isolated, it is considered to have spread and it is burned. If the second blemish is less than a gris, no attention is paid to it. Similarly, when a blemished portion was removed from a garment as explained and then a blemish the size of a gris returned, it should be burnt. Similarly, if a blemish increased in size after the garment was released from the inspection process, the garment should be burnt.

When a person washes a blemish at the end of the first week as we explained, one should also wash part of the garment that is adjacent to it, as implied by Leviticus 13:54: "that on which the blemish is found." Whenever blemishes on a garment must be washed, we use the seven detergents that are used when checking a bloodstain, as explained with regard to nidah impurity.

The following laws apply when the blemished portion of a garment was torn out and a patch sewn in its place, as we explained. If a blemish the size of a gris returned to a different place on the garment, the patch may be removed and saved, while the remainder of the garment must be burnt. If the blemish returned and appeared on the patch, the entire garment must be burnt.

The following rules apply when a person takes a patch of cloth from a garment that was isolated and sews it on a pure garment. If a blemish became manifest on the initial garment again, the patch should be burnt together with it. If the blemish appears again on the patch, the first garment must be burnt and the patch obligates the garment on which it is sewn to be assessed for signs of impurity. If the blemish remains unchanged for two weeks or increases in size, the entire second garment is burnt.

When a garment comes initially entirely intense green or intense red, it should be isolated for one week after another. If the blemish remains unchanged for two weeks, the garment should be burnt. If, however, a garment was isolated because of a blemish and the blemish spread over the entire garment, causing it to become entirely intense green or intense red or the garment was released from the inspection process and after it was released, the blemish returned entirely intense green or intense red, it is pure.

If a blemish was washed and it spread, the garment should be burnt.

When the loose strands of the fabric of a garment extend beyond the fabric of the weave, e.g., a coarse woolen blanket, and a blemish appears in those strands, the blanket is not impure unless the blemish appears in the fabric and the weave itself.

The terms used by Leviticus 13:55 with regard to garment bikarachto and bigabachto mean the following: Karachto refers to worn out garments; gabachto, to new ones.

Colored garments do not contract impurity due to blemishes of tzara'at. This applies whether they were dyed by human activity or naturally colored. To contract such impurity, they must be white. If the warp of a garment was colored and its woof, white, or if its woof was colored and its warp, white, everything follows its appearance.

When there is a knit that is less than three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths, it does not contract impurity due to blemishes of tzara'at.

When a cloth was woven less than three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths and a blemish was discovered on it and afterwards, one increased its size and made it more than three by three, it is pure.

When a person sews patches together, each one being less than three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths, and makes a garment from them, it can contract impurity due to blemishes. The rationale is that sewing is like weaving and it is considered as one garment.

If a garment was made from many patches, some colored and some, white, and a tzara'at blemish was discovered on a white patch, it should be isolated. If the blemish remains unchanged for two weeks, the entire garment is deemed impure and burnt. Similarly, if the blemish spreads to another white patch, the blemish is considered to have increased in size even though a colored patch intervenes between them.

If the garment was entirely colored except for one line, even if only a gris, it should be isolated if a blemish appears on it. For if it remains with the original color, without increasing its intensity or fading for two weeks, the garment should be burnt.

The only garments that contract impurity due to tzara'at blemishes are wool and linen garments, cloths where the warp or woof is made of wool or linen, and any leather utensil, whether hard or soft. Even leather that is colored naturally is susceptible to impurity because of blemishes. Felt is considered like garments and is susceptible to impurity because of blemishes. Tents are susceptible to impurity because of blemishes whether they are made from wool or linen or they are leather.

All garments of wool and linen are susceptible to impurity except those belonging to gentiles. When a person purchases a garment from gentiles, if tzara'at appears on it, it should be viewed as if for the first time. When a garment is made from mixed species - wool and linen - it can incur impurity because of tzara'at blemishes.

The following rules apply when camels' wool and sheep's wool were spun together: If the majority is camels' wool, it does not contract impurity because of blemishes. If the majority is sheep's wool, it does. If equal amounts are used, it can incur impurity. The same laws apply when flax and hemp are mixed together.

The wool of a sheep born from a goat does not contract impurity because of blemishes. When the warp of a garment was linen and its woof, hemp, or its warp hemp and its woof, linen, it does not contract impurity because of blemishes. Similarly, if its warp or woof was linen or wool and the remainder goat's hair or the like, it does not contract impurity because of blemishes.

A hide that was not processed does not contract impurity because of blemishes. Similarly, a hide that is an unformed mass before implements were made from it, does not contract impurity because of blemishes. This can be inferred from Leviticus 13:52 which speaks of "leather articles." Nevertheless, all leather articles - whether flat or receptacles - are susceptible to impurity because of blemishes.

The hides of sea-animals do not contract impurity because of blemishes. If anything that grows on the earth was connected to such a hide, even a strand or string of wool or flax or the hide of an animal or a beast that was processed to any degree, and an implement was made, tzara'at blemishes can cause it to contract impurity, provided it was connected to it in a manner that garments are connected with regard to impurity.

All utensils that are fit to contract other types of impurity - even though they are not fit to contract the impurity that results when a zav treads on them, because they are not meant to be lied upon or sat upon - are susceptible to impurity because of blemishes. To cite examples: a ship's sail, a curtain, a barber's sheet, a mantle for scrolls, a belt and laces for shoes and sandals that are a gris wide. These all contract impurity because of blemishes. Needless to say, other articles do, e.g., pillows and cushions.

A leather drinking pouch and a carrying case should be inspected in their ordinary fashion. A blemish is considered to have increased in size when it spreads from their inner side to their outer side or from their outer side to their inner side. Similar laws apply in all analogous situations with regard to all two-sided leather utensils.

When a sheet is creased, its creases are straightened out and then its blemishes are inspected.

The thread for the warp and the woof - whether of wool or of linen - are susceptible to impurity because of blemishes immediately after it has been spun even though the linen has not been whitened, nor the wool soaked in hot water.

How much thread must be on a ball of thread for it to contract impurity because of blemishes? Enough to weave a cloth three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths from it, both the warp and the woof. This applies whether it was all warp threads or all woof threads. If the ball of thread was collected from separate threads, it is not susceptible to impurity because of blemishes.

The following law applies when a) they are two balls of thread connected to each other with a thread, b) part of the warp thread is wound over the top frame of the loom and part over the bottom frame of the loom, or c) one side of a cloak is connected to the other with one strand. If a blemish is discovered on one of these entities, the other is pure even though the strand connects them.

If a blemish is discovered in the weaving thread and in the warp that has not yet been woven, even though a portion of the blemish exists on the cloth and a portion on the warp, it is impure. If, however, the blemish appears on the unwoven warp alone, the woven cloth is pure. If the blemish appears on the woven portion alone, the unwoven warp is pure.

If a blemish appears on a wrapping blanket, the strands protruding from it should be burnt with it. If the blemish appears on the strands, the wrapping blanket is pure. If the blemish spreads from the strands to the wrapping blanket, the wrapping blanket is impure.

When a blemish is discovered in a cloak, its borders may be saved. Even if the border is made of wool or linen, it can be saved and should not be burnt.

When a garment that was isolated because of a blemish was dyed or sold to a gentile, it is pure. Similarly, if it became mixed with others, they are all deemed pure. If the owner cut it up and made it into small strands, each one less than three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths, it is pure and it is permitted to benefit from it. If one of the strands was three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths and the blemish was discovered on it, it alone is impure.

When a garment that had been definitively deemed impure became mixed with others, they are all considered impure and must be burned. This applies even if one is mixed with several thousands. Similarly, even if it was cut up into strands, they are all impure and it is forbidden to benefit from them.

With regard to ritual impurity, a garment or a leather utensil or threads for the warp or the woof that were isolated or deemed impure is considered a primary category of ritual impurity and is analogous to a person who contracted tzara'at in all respects. It imparts impurity when touched, when carried, when brought into a building, and imparts impurity to couches and seats on which it is placed even if they are under a stone.

What is implied? When one brings even an olive-sized portion of a garment or a leather utensil or threads for the warp or the woof that were blemished into a building that is ritually pure, everything in the building - humans and utensils - become primary derivatives of impurity. Similarly, if there is a couch or a seat located under a stone and one places an olive-sized portion on the stone, the couch or the seat becomes impure.

When a cloth is three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths even though it does not possess the mass of an olive-sized portion, it renders a house that was pure impure when brought inside. If it was the size of several olive-sized portions, once an olive-size portion is brought into a building that is pure, it renders it impure.

Although all the measures are halachot transmitted to Moses at Sinai there is an allusion in the Torah to the concept that an olive-sized portion of a blemished garment conveys impurity. For Leviticus 14:54-55 states: "For all blemishes of tzara'at, for a netek, for the tzara'at of garments and of houses." An association is made between blemishes affecting humans and those affecting garments and houses. Now a person afflicted by tzara'at is equated with a human corpse, as Numbers 12:12 states: "Let her not be as a corpse." Hence, just as the minimum measure for a portion of a human corpse that imparts impurity is an olive-sized portion, the minimum measure for these is an olive-sized portion.

Blemished garments are sent outside a city, whether it is surrounded by a wall or not. This reflects a stringency relevant to garments over humans.