Rambam - 1 Chapter a Day

(Based on Diagram which Accompanies Rav Kapach's Edition of the Rambam’s Commentary to the Mishnah)

a) one who has the center of his forehead depressed below as if it was pushed down with one's hand;

b) one who has the center of his forehead raised up above, like an egg;1

c) one who has the sides of his head emerge toward his face like a hammer;

d) one whose head projects outward abnormally from his neck;

e) one whose head is abnormally large to the extent that it sits on his neck like a turnip on top of its leaves;2

f) one who is bald and has no hair whatsoever on his head. If, however, he has a row of hair extending across the back of his head from ear to ear, it is acceptable.

g) a person's whose hair extends from ear to ear on the front of his head, but he is bald on the remainder of his head, he is unacceptable;

h) a person whose hair extends around his entire head from the front and the back, but he has no hair on the top of his head. He also is deemed bald and is unacceptable.

There are two involving the neck. They are:

a) one whose neck is sunk [into his trunk] so much that it appears to be placed on his shoulders;

b) one whose neck is so long that it appears unconnected with his shoulders.

There are four involving the ears. They are:

a) one whose two ears are very small;

b) one whose two ears are very swollen like sponges;

c) one whose ears hang down low;

d) one who has one ear differ from another in appearance.3

There are five involving the eyebrows. They are:

a) one who does not have any hair at all on his eyebrows. This is the meaning of the term gibein mentioned in the Torah; 4

b) one whose eyebrows hang low;5

c) one who has only one eyebrow;6

d) one who has more than two eyebrows;

e) one who has one eyebrow that is different in appearance than the other, whether the hair on one is long and on the other, short, or the hair on one is black and, on the other, white or red, since there is a difference in appearance, he is unacceptable.

There are four involving the eyelids. They are:

a) one who does not have any hair at all on his eyelids;

b) one who has very thick hair on his eyelids;

c) one who has an eyelid whose hair is different from that of the other eyelid, e.g., one is black and the other white, one is thin and the other is thick;

d) one whose eyelids are closed slightly and do not open wide like those of other people.

There are eleven involving the eyes. They are:

a) one whose two eyes are positioned above their appropriate place, close to his forehead;

b) one whose two eyes are positioned below their appropriate place;

c) one whose two eyes are round and are not extended slightly as other eyes are;

d) one whose eyes pop out like the eyes of a tiger and like the eyes of a person who looks at someone when he is very angry;

e) one whose eyes are very large, like those of a calf;

f) one whose eyes are small, like those of a duck;

g) one who is continuously tearing;

h) one who has fluid [continuously]7 dripping from the tip of his eyes near his nose or the ends of his eyes near his temples;

i) one who contracts his eyelids and squints slightly when he sees light or when he wishes to look at something carefully;

j) a person who is cross-eyed to the extent that he sees two storeys of the same building as one.8 This defect can be noticed when such a person is speaking with one person and it appears that he is speaking with another;

k) one who has one eye that is different than the other, whether in place, in appearance, e.g., one is black and the other is of mixed color, or one is small and one is large. Since there is a difference between them, he is unacceptable.

There are six involving the nose. They are:

a) one whose bridge of the nose is sunken, even [if it is not sunken] to the extent that he can apply ointment to both of his eyes at once.9 This is the meaning of the term charum mentioned in the Torah;10

b) one whose middle of the nose projects upward;

c) one whose tip of the nose points downward;

d) one whose tip of the nose is crooked;

e) one whose nose is disproportionately large;

f) one whose nose is disproportionately small. How is this measured? With one's pinky. If one's nose is larger or smaller than his pinky, it is considered a blemish.

There are three involving the lips. They are:

a) one whose upper lip extends beyond his lower lip;

b) one whose lower lip extends beyond his upper lip;

c) one whose mouth [hangs] loosely and [hence,] spittle is continually descending from his mouth.

There are three involving the belly. They are:

a) one whose belly is swollen;

b) one whose navel projects outward, rather that being concave like that of other people;

c) one whose breasts are extended and lie on his stomach like the breasts of a woman.

There are three involving the back. They are:

a) one whose spine is crooked;

b) one who has a vertebra that slipped out of the spinal column, regardless of whether it projected outward, penetrated inward, or slipped to the side. This is included in the term baal chatoteret11;

c) a person with a hunchback. Even though a vertebra has not slipped from its place, this is still considered a blemish.

There are six involving the hands. They are:

a) one who has an extra finger on his hands, even if he has six on each hand.12 If he cuts the extra finger off, he is acceptable. If, however, it had a bone, he is unacceptable, even if he cuts it off;

b) one who is lacking one of the fingers of his hand;

c) one who has two fingers webbed and connected until below the joint.13 If he cut and separated them to the joint, he is acceptable. Which joint is implied? The first joint that is next to the palm of one's hand;

d) one whose fingers are bent over each other;

e) one who has a projection emerging from his thumb;

f) a left-handed person. If he is ambidextrous, he is acceptable.

There are four involving the reproductive organs. They are:

a) one who has a very large and long scrotum that reaches his knees;

b) one whose organ is so long it reaches his knees;

c) one whose membranes surrounding his testicles were crushed;

d) one whose membranes surrounding his testicles are inflated. This is the meaning of the term miruach ashech mentioned in the Torah;14

There are fifteen involving the thighs and the legs. They are:

a) one who is bow-legged to the extent that even when he stands with his feet together, his knees will not touch each other;

b) one whose ankle-bone projects outward. The ankle bone is the round bone that is above the heel, toward the inside of the body. It resembles the weaving needle with which women weave;

c) one whose heel juts outward to the extent that his shin appears to be in the center of his foot;

d) some whose feet are wide like a duck's even though they are not webbed like a duck's;

e) one who has a projection emerging from his large toe;15

f) one who has an extra toe on his feet, even if he has six on each foot. If he cuts the extra toe off, he is acceptable, provided it does not have a bone;

g) one who is lacking one of the toes of his foot;

h) one whose toes are bent over each other;

j) one whose toes are webbed until below the joint. If they were connected and he cut and separated them, he is acceptable;

k) one whose foot is entirely straight; i.e., the width of his forefoot and his toes is the same as the width of his heels, and they appear as one straight unit;

l) one whose foot is curved so that his forefoot and toes and his heel appears as the two ends of a bow;

m) one whose foot is hollow; i.e., his mid-foot is upraised above the earth and it is as if he is standing on his heel and his toes;

n) one whose ankles click with each other when he walks;

o) one whose knees click with each other when he walks;

p) one who is left-footed.

There are four that involve the entire body:

a) one whose trunk is disproportionately larger than his limbs;

b) one whose trunk is disproportionately smaller than his limbs;

c) one who is extremely tall;16

d) a dwarf, i.e., one who is extremely short, so that they are distinguished from people at large.

There are eight involving the skin. They are:

a) a Kushite;

b) an albino whose skin is white like cheese;

c) one who is red-skinned like scarlet;

d) one who has pure blotches on his skin,17 i.e., [the appearance of] the skin changed because of an internal factor, like a bohak;18

e) [the appearance of] the skin changed because of an external factor, like the scarring of a burn; this is also one of the distinguishing marks that are pure [with regard to tzara'at];19

f) one who has a facial mole that has hair, even if it is not the size of an isar,20 but rather of the smallest size;21

g) one who has a facial mole the size of an isar or more;22 h) one afflicted with warts, [when] a person's flesh or skin should distend or the fluids in the skin should distend to any part throughout the body, this is a blemish.

There are four other blemishes possible for a human:

a) one who is deaf;

b) one who is intellectually or emotionally unstable;

c) an epileptic, even if his seizures come at far intervals;

d) one who suffers from severe depression,23 whether on a consistent basis or from time to time.

Thus there are a total of 140 blemishes that may disqualify a priest.24 They are: eight involving the head, two involving the neck, nine involving the ears, five involving the eyebrows, seven involving the eyelids, nineteen involving the eyes, nine involving the nose, nine involving the mouth, three involving the belly, three involving the back, seven involving the hands, sixteen involving the reproductive organs, twenty involving the legs, eight involving the entire body, eight involving the skin, seven involving the body's strength and odor. They have all been outlined one by one.

The following disqualify [a priest] because of the impression they may create:25

a) one who has lost the hair of his eyelids even though the roots remain;

b) one whose teeth have been removed.