Mishnayos Negaim Perek 1 Mishnah 1

מראות נגעים (the appearance of plagues – i.e., leprosy) – are written explicitly in Scripture (Leviticus 13:2: “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling/שאת, a rash/ספחת, or a discoloration/בהרת, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body,”), a swelling/שאת and a discoloration/בהרת (referred to by Jastrow dictionary as a bright white spot on the skin

שהן ארבעה – you must include two others that are not written in Scripture, and they are subcategories/תולדה (i.e., a secondary category derived from a primary category. It is not a primary category but is derived from that source, either as a legal inference or as a factual derivative) and they are a subcategory of שאת/swelling and a subcategory of בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin. And we include them from ספחת/a rash, for ספחת/rash is not the name of a plague but a secondary expression. And similarly, it (i.e., Scripture) states (I Samuel 2:36): [And all the survivors of your house shall come and bow low to him for the sake of a money fee and a loaf of bread and say,] ‘Please assign me to one of the priestly duties, [that I may have a morsel of bread to eat’].” And Scripture placed ספחת/a rash between שאת/swelling and בהרת/bright white spot on the skin to inform you that there is a subcategory to שאת/swelling and a subcategory to בהרת/bright white spot on the skin.

בהרת עזה כשלג (an intensely bright spot – sparkling – like snow) – the most white. As it is written (Leviticus 13:4): “But if it is a white discoloration [on the skin of his body which does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it has not turned white],” it is white and there is nothing of a higher level of white than it. (For the derivative to this, כסיד ההיכל/like the limestone in the Temple – see Tractate Middot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 4 – which were whitened every year before Passover.)

שאת כקרום ביצה (the swelling is like the color of the membrane surrounding the egg) – for this Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] holds that שאת/swelling is not other than the language of something of height. And similarly, it (i.e., Scripture) states (Isaiah 2:14): “And all the lofty hills.” For you don’t have something as dim/faint in its whiteness (as opposed to the strong, intensely bright spot of the בהרת/discoloration which is sparkling like now) in all four appearances of plagues like the membrane surrounding an egg, therefore, it is loftier than all of them, like the appearance of a shadow above from the sun.

שניה לה כצמר לבן – The Rabbis hold, there are two strong appearances which are snow and white wool, these are for the two principal/direct [forms of plagues], בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin and שאת/rash, and two appearances [of plagues] that are fainter from them are the limestone in the Temple and the color of the membrane of the egg, and they are derivatives/subcategories . Give the large derivative (or subcategory) to the large one, that is, the limestone of the Temple to the בהרת/discoloration which is a large primary [appearance of a plague], and the small derivative/subcategory to the small one, that is the membrane of the egg to the שאת/swelling which is smaller than the בהרת/discoloration.

And the practical difference in the dispute of the Rabbis and the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah, Rabbi Meir] is in regard to fusion (i.e., the state of being considered as one coherent mass or as one act), for half of a Cilician bean (seen as the standard for eruptions) from a primary category and half of a Cilician bean from its derivative/subcategory fuse together/combine. And similarly, the two primary categories שאת/a swelling and בהרת/discoloration combine, for we expound upon (Leviticus 13:2): “And it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body”/והיה בעור-בשרו לנגע teaching that they combine with one another, as it is written (Leviticus 13:2): "והיה"/and it – and it is not written: "והיו"/and they - make all of the plagues one. But the two derivatives/subcategories do not combine/fuse, for the derivative/subcategory of בהרת/discoloration/bright white spot on the skin does not combine with the derivative/subcategory of שאת/a swelling, and [the word] "והיה"/and [the word] "והיה"/and it – does not refer other than to שאת/a swelling and בהרת/a discoloration/bright white spot on the skinthat are written explicitly, but not to the derivatives [or subcategories] that come from the extension of scope/widening amplification [of Rabbinic exegesis]. And now, according to the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah], snow and the membrane of an egg combine/fuse, snow and white wool do not fuse/combine. But to the Rabbis, snow and white wool combine/fuse, snow and the membrane [of an egg] do not combine/fuse. And he Halakha is according to the Sages.

צמר לבן – pure wool of sheep one day old after it was washed and cleansed.