Positive Commandment 110 (Digest)
Purification from Tzaraat
We are commanded that the purification process for tzaraat, whether the sort that afflicts humans or the sort that afflicts houses, should be through the procedure detailed in the Torah. This procedure includes the taking of [a piece of wood from a] cedar tree, hyssop, crimson thread, two birds, and well water. Then we do with these items all that the Torah prescribes, after which the individual or the house is purified.
[For the human metzora,] this is the first step of the purification process. [See Positive Commandment 111 for the second and final step.]
The 110th mitzvah is that we are commanded that the purification of a metzora must follow the procedure given in Scripture, i.e., using cedar wood, hyssop, crimson wool, two birds, and well water in the manner described there. The same procedure is used to purify both people and houses, as explained in Scripture.
We have therefore explained that there are three procedures in the Torah to purify one who is tameh, one general and two which apply to specific types of tumah. The general one is purification [by immersion] in water [which is valid for a mikvah]. Any person who is tameh becomes tahor only after immersing in water. The second category is mei niddah [water mixed with ashes of the red heifer], which is specifically for those who have become tameh through contact with a dead body. The third category is that of cedar wood, hyssop, crimson wool, two birds, and well water, which is specifically for tzora'as.
The details of this mitzvah — i.e., the first purification of a metzora — are explained in tractate Negaim.
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