Negaim 7:3 - 7:4

בהרת – from here we are dealing with bright white spots on the skin which are impure/unclean.

ואין בה כלום – neither quick flesh nor white hair.

בתחלה – when he was brought to the Kohen. And then at the end of the first week, if nothing resulted/was forthcoming, he would be shut up/placed in isolation.

בסוף שבוע שני – if nothing resulted/was forthcoming, he is released. And similarly, after the release, if nothing resulted/was forthcoming, he remains in this release all his days and furthermore is not shut up/placed in isolation.

עודנו מסגירו – that he (i.e., the Kohen) wanted to shut him up/isolate him, whether at the outset when he was brought to the Kohen or whether at the end of the first week, but he did not manage of isolate him until tokens/signs of defilement were forthcoming/resulted, as for example, at the outset with the white hair and the quick flesh, , and at the end of the first week with white hair and quick flesh and spreading, he would be declared a certified leper. But, from when he was shut up/put in isolation, it is taught above in the third chapter (see Mishnah 1 of the third chapter of Tractate Negaim): "אין מחליטין את המוסגר"/They do not declare one who is shut up/isolated a certified leper.

ופוטר – meaning to say, or they release him. S for example, at the end of the second week. But even after the release, if tokens/signs of defilement were forthcoming/resulted, he is to be declared a certified leper.

עודהו מחליטו (he is still in the process of certifying him – as a leper) – that he had [come] to certify him as a leper, but he had not been able to do it until the signs/tokens of defilement had gone away.

בתחלה – when he was brought to the Kohen. או בסוף שבוע ראשון, יסגיר – by t if from when he declared him to be a certified leper, they went away, as for example, that he declared him to be a certified leper with the white hair, and it went away but the bright white spot on the skin exists, they don’t shut him up/isolate him for it, but release him and he is pure.

התולש סימני טומאה – as for example, the white hair in the skin of the flesh, or the yellow hair that are bald, blanched spots on the head or in the beard.

והכווה את המחיה (if one cauterized/scalded the cicatrizing spot – i.e., quick flesh) – that from when it was cauterized/burnt, it is not a sign/token of defilement.

עובר בלא תעשה – of (Deuteronomy 24:8): “In cases of skin affection be most careful [to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. Take care to do as I have commanded them.]”/"השמר בנגע-הצרעת [לשמר מאד ולעשות ככל אשר-יורו אתכם הכהנים הלוים כאשר צויתם תשמרו לעשות]". And in every place where it states [in the Torah]: "השמר"/Be most careful, "פן"/lest; and "אל"/do not, it is not other than a negative commandment.

ולטהרה – meaning to say, that in regard to cleanness/purity, what is the law?

עד שלא בא אצל כהן – if he tears them out/plucks them, he is pure. But if he tears them out after he has been declared a certified leper, he is impure.

הולכים לגדווד – we have this reading. And it is the name of a place.

בתוך הסגירו מהו (if he does it during his quarantine – what is the law) – if he tore out/plucks the tokens/signs of defilement within the week of the first isolation/quarantine or of the second isolation, what is the law?

התחלתי מביא להם ראיות – in the Tosefta (Tractate Negaim, Chapter 3, Halakha 4) . Here we do not have the reading of the words of the Sages or until the bright white spot on the skin is reduced from being like a split [Cilician] bean, that especially concerning one who tears out/plucks out the tokens/signs of defilement during his being shut up/in isolation/quarantine is also the law that he would be pure/clean, for the Kohen that did not see the signs/tokens of defilement that are in him. Therefore, one who stands before a Kohen, meaning to say, one, that person who stands before a Kohen and hurries to pluck out/tear out the signs/tokens of defilement before the Kohen would say to him: “You are impure,” and one who tears them out within the days of his isolation, whether this or that, they are pure. And such is the Halakha.

מאימתי הוא טהרתו – of the person who tore out/plucked the signs/tokens of defilement after he was declared to be a certified leper.

כשיוולד לו נגע אחר ויטהר ממנו – for since he was cured from the second, the matter became revealed that the All-Merciful has forbearance upon him, or alternatively, that the first [plague] endures and he will be healed from that one as well.

עד שתפרח בכולו (until it spreads over his entire body) – the last plague, that one doesn’t have to be concerned for anything, because if he had in him also the first, now, however/at least, he would be pure.

או עד שתתמעט בהרתו מכגריס – for even if the hair had not been torn out nor the quick flesh cauterized, he would be made pure, for since that the bright white spot on the skin had been reduced from [the size] of a split [Cilician] bean . But however, until it spread through is entire body, is not referring other than to someone who tears out the signs/tokens of impurity, but cauterizing the quick flesh is not made pure through an eruption (i.e., the white eruption which causes the leper to be declared clean – see Leviticus 13:12), for if the quick flesh exists, it was not pure through an eruption. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.