Makkos 3:4 - 3:5

לוקה ואינו משלם – for Rabbi Yehuda holds that (Deuteronomy 22:7) "שלח תשלח" /”Let [the mother] go” is implied from the outset, and even though, it is written,” let [the mother] go” after (verse 6) “do not take [the mother together with the young],” it is not to say that if you took it, you should let it go, but rather, do not take [the mother] but send her prior to the taking. And this is not a prohibitive law the transgression of which must be repaired by a succeeding [positive] act.

וחכמים אומרים משלח ואינו לוקה – for they hold, “let [the mother] go” after taking, is implied, and it is a prohibitive law the transgression of which must be repaired by a succeeding act. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

כל מצוה לא תעשה ישי בה קום עשה – for the Torah stated, if you transgressed on the negative commandment, fulfill the positive commandment, such as (Deuteronomy 22:6): “Do not take the mother together with her young.” But if you took it, “let [the mother] go” (verse 7); [and another example] (Deuteronomy 24:10): “[When you make a loan of any sort to your countryman], you must not enter his house to seize his pledge.” But if you seized his pledge, “you must restore the pledge to him” (verse 13). All of these, if he fulfilled the positive commandment, he is not flogged. But if he did not fulfill the positive commandment, such as the case where he took the mother [animal] with her young and slaughtered it or it died, or he took the pledge from his house (i.e. the home of the person who had borrowed something) and it was burned and he cannot fulfill the positive commandment, behold, that person is flogged.

הקורח קרחה – because he is liable for each act of making a bald spot (Tractate Makkot 20a) and for each act of making an incision for a dead person and for every corner of his head that he mars, which is not the case when one eats forbidden fat repeatedly, and because of this, it is taught in our Mishnah, but the rest of the mere negative commandments which lack a novel [lesson], it did not teach.

קרחה – of the dead, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:1): “or shave the front of your heads because of the dead.” And even though that concerning the Kohanim, it is not written, “on the dead,” we have already learned through an analogy from [the repetition of the word]: "קרחה" "קרחה" (see Leviticus 21:5 –“They shall not shave smooth any part of their heads, or cut the side-growth of their beards, or make gashes in their flesh” together with Deuteronomy 14:1); just as Israelites are commanded because of the dead, so too are Kohanim, and the measure of the “shaving smooth” is the size of a bean.

המקיף את ראשו – He who makes his temples as hairless as the spot back of his ears (Makkot 20b), and his forehead, and even on shaving with scissors where there is no destruction [of the head], he is liable regarding the corner of his head, and specifically on his beard (i.e., “or cut the side-growth of their beards” – Leviticus 21:5 and Leviticus 19:27: “You shall not round off the side-growth on your head”), it is written “destroy” only with a razor, but regarding the corner of the head, [the word] "הקפה"/”rounding” is written (Leviticus 21:5 – “they shall not shave smooth any part of their heads”), in every matter in which he “rounds” – he is liable.

שריטה אחת על חמשה מתים או חמש שריטות על מת אחד – as it is written (Leviticus 19:28): “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead” to be liable for each and every gash and for each and every dead person, and even though there wasn’t anything other than one warning, all five gashes at one time, one is liable [for each and every one].

על הראש שתים – one on the right and one on the left

ועל הזקן שתים מכאן ושתים מכאן – the place of the attachment of the jaw to the bone, one on the right of the chin and the other on its left, and the pointed ends of the chin (i.e., the lower jawbones and the chin proper) in the middle, that makes “three.” And the attachment of the temples from one side and the other makes “five.” The upper cheekbone which is attached to the temples and the lower cheekbone on the right, and the upper cheekbone and the lower cheekbone on the left – these are two from here and two from there, and finally the beard and the hair coming out from it like a spike/ear of corn; therefore, it is called "שיבולת"/like an ear of corn/a spike, that makes “five.”

אינו חייב אלא אחת – for since it is one negative commandment, it is like someone who eats two olives of forbidden fat with [only] one warning.

עד שיטלנו בתער – it refers to the corner of the beard, as it is written [in the Torah] concerning shaving and destroying (Leviticus 19:27 – “nor destroy the side-growth of your beard” and Leviticus 21:5 – “or cut the side-growths of their beards”).

מלקט – an instrument that is made like tongs, to remove the hair.

רהיטני – in the language of the Bible, it is an adze. It is an instrument that a carpenter uses to separate the face of the board.