13 (45) And the diseased man in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall grow long, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

(46) All the days during which the plague shall be in him he shall be unclean; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be.

(47) The garment also in which is the plague of żara῾at, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;

(48) whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin;

(49) and if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a plague of żara῾at, and shall be shown to the priest:

(50) and the priest shall look at the plague, and shut up that which has the plague seven days:

(51) and he shall look at the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a malignant żara῾at; it is unclean.

(52) He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or anything of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a malignant żara῾at; it shall be burnt in the fire.

(53) And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin;

(54) then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:

13 (55) And the priest shall look after the plague is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed its colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is a decay on the inner or outer surface.

(56) And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dimmer after the washing of it; then he shall tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:

(57) and if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that in which the plague is with fire.

(58) And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean.

(59) This is the Tora of the plague of żara῾at in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or anything of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

4 (42) And there came a man from Ba῾al-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in his sack. And he said, Give to the people, that they may eat. (43) And his attendant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus says the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave over. (44) So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left some of it over, according to the word of the Lord. 5 (1) Now Na῾aman, captain of the host of the king of Aram, was a man of great note with his master and highly esteemed, because by him the Lord had given deliverance to Aram; he was also a mighty warrior, but stricken with żara῾at. (2) And Aram had gone out in raiding parties, and had brought away captive out of the land of Yisra᾽el a little girl, and she attended the wife of Na῾aman. (3) And she said to her mistress, Would my lord were with the prophet that is in Shomeron! for he would heal him of his disease. (4) And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the girl who is of the land of Yisra᾽el. (5) And the king of Aram said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Yisra᾽el. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. (6) And he brought the letter to the king of Yisra᾽el, saying, Now when this letter is come to thee, behold, I have sent Na῾aman my servant to thee, that thou mayst heal him of his infection. (7) And it came to pass, when the king of Yisra᾽el had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to cure a man of his infection? only consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me. (8) And when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Yisra᾽el had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Yisra᾽el. (9) So Na῾aman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. (10) And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Yarden seven times, and thy flesh shall be restored to thee, and thou shalt be clean. (11) But Na῾aman was angry, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and so heal the infected person. (12) Are not Amana and Parpar, rivers of Dammeseq, better than all the waters of Yisra᾽el? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. (13) And his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash, and be clean? (14) Then he went down, and dipped himself seven times in the Yarden, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (15) And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Yisra᾽el: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. (16) But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. (17) And Na῾aman said, If not, let then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth; for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord. (18) In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow myself down in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. (19) And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

1. Two are defiled through a corpse, one being defiled with seven days' defilement and one being defiled with a defilement lasting until the evening. Three are defiled through a corpse, two being defiled with seven days’ defilement and one with a defilement lasting until the evening. Four are defiled through a corpse, three being defiled with seven days’ defilement and one with a defilement lasting until the evening. What [is the case of] two? A person who touches a corpse is defiled with seven days’ defilement and a person who touches him is defiled with a defilement lasting until the evening.

2. What [is the case of] three? Vessels touching a corpse and [other] vessels [touching these] vessels are defiled with seven days’ defilement. The third: whether a person or vessels, is defiled with a defilement lasting until the evening.

3. What is the case of four? Vessels touching a corpse, a person [touching these] vessels, and [other] vessels [touching this] person, are defiled with seven days' defilement. The fourth, whether a person or vessels, is defiled with a defilement [lasting until the] evening. Rabbi Akiva said: I have a fifth, [if] a peg was fixed in a tent, the tent, the peg, a person touching the peg and vessels [touching] the person are defiled with seven days' defilement. The fifth, whether a person or vessels, is defiled with a defilement [lasting until the] evening. They said to him: the tent does not count.

4. [Both] persons and vessels can be defiled through a corpse. A greater stringency applies to persons than to vessels and to vessels than to persons. For with vessels [there can be] three [series of defilements], whereas with persons [there can be only] two. A greater stringency applies to persons, for whenever they are in the middle of a [series] there can be four [in the series], whereas when they are not in the middle of a [series] there can be [only] three.

5. Persons and garments can be defiled by a zav. A greater stringency applies to persons than to garments and a greater stringency applies to garments than to persons. For a person who touches a zav can defile garments, whereas garments that touch a zav cannot defile [other] garments. A greater stringency applies to garments, for garments which form the support of a zav can defile persons, whereas a person who forms the support of a zav cannot defile [other] persons.

6. A person does not defile [as a corpse] until he dies. Even he is cut up or even if he is about to die, he [still] makes levirate marriage obligatory and exempts from levirate marriage, he feeds [his mother] terumah and disqualifies [his mother] from eating terumah. Similarly in the case of cattle or wild animals, they do not defile until they die. If their heads have been cut off, even though they are moving convulsively, they are unclean, like a lizard's tail, which moves convulsively.

7. Whole limbs [of the body] have no [restriction as to] size: even less than an olive-sized portion of a corpse or less than an olive-sized portion of nevelah (carrion), or less than a lentil-sized portion of a sheretz can defile, [each in the manner of] their respective defilements.

8. There are two hundred and forty-eight limbs in a human body: Thirty in the foot, six for every toe, Ten in the ankle, Two in the shin, Five in the knee, One in the thigh, Three in the hip, Eleven ribs, Thirty in the hand, [that is] six to every finger, Two in the fore-arm, Two in the elbow, One in the upper arm and Four in the shoulder, [For a total of] one hundred and one on the one side [of the body] and one hundred and one on the other. Eighteen vertebrae in the spine, Nine in the head, Eight in the neck, Six in the key of the heart, And five around the genitals. Each one [of these] can defile by contact, carriage or overshadowing. When is this so? When they have upon them the appropriate amount of flesh, But if they do not have the appropriate amount flesh upon them, they can defile by contact and carriage but cannot defile by overshadowing.

§ The mishna states: And what is the color that is like water that inundates red earth that is impure? In this regard the Sages taught in a baraita: In order to examine blood that is like water that inundates red earth, one brings fertile earth from the Beit Kerem Valley and one inundates the earth with enough water until it pools on the surface; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Akiva says: One brings earth from the Yodfat Valley. Rabbi Yosei says: From the Sikhnei Valley. Rabbi Shimon says: One can even bring earth from the Genosar Valley or from similar places.

It is taught in another baraita: And to test whether blood is like water that inundates red earth, one brings fertile earth from the Beit Kerem Valley and one inundates the earth with an amount of water that rises above the earth by the thickness of the husk of garlic. And there is no required measure for the water, because there is no required measure for the earth with which the examination must be performed; it is sufficient to use a small amount of earth with a small amount of water. And one does not examine it when the water is clear, as it does not have the color of the earth, but rather when it is muddy from the earth. And if the water became clear because the earth settled, one must muddy it again. And when one muddies it he does not muddy it by hand but rather with a vessel.

The subcategory is a type of forbidden work that is similar to one of these primary categories. How is this? A person who cuts a vegetable into small [pieces] to cook it is liable, since this work is a sub-category of grinding. For when a person grinds, he takes one [large] entity and divides it into many parts. [So] anyone who does something similar to this is surely [engaged in] a subcategory of grinding. Likewise, one who takes a strip of metal and rubs it to get its powder in the manner that goldsmiths do – this is surely a subcategory of grinding.

Likewise one who takes milk and puts in [a piece of] stomach (rennet) to churn it – this one is surely liable on account of a subcategory of sorting. For he separated the curds from the milk. And if he [processes] it and makes it into cheese, he is liable on account of building. For anyone who gathers one piece to another and adheres it all until it becomes one entity – this is surely similar to building. And likewise with each and every type of forbidden work from the primary categories, they have subcategories in the way that we have said. And from the makeup of the forbidden work done on Shabbat, you will know from which primary category it is a derivative or from which primary category it is a subcategory.

The third principle is grief: His conscience should darken as he thinks about the great evil of one who rebels against his Maker. He should magnify the grief in his heart, experience a storm in his thoughts and sigh with a bitter heart. For it is possible for him to regret all the sins that he did and find them to be bad in his eyes, yet not fill his measure in this. For even the loss of a dinar or an isar (a small coin) is difficult in the eyes of a man. However, if he lost [all of] his wealth in a bad way and was cleaned out of possessions, his soul would [actually] mourn and his sighing would be heavy. And likewise is his pain infinite and his grief daily for many and frequent troubles. And more than [about] these is it fitting to be distressed and constantly sigh for one who rebelled against God, may He be blessed, was destructive, performed disgusting acts in front of Him; and who did not remember his Maker who created him ex nihilo, did kindness with him, placed His hand upon him at every instant and guards his spirit at all times - how could he have the temerity to bring anger in front of Him? And how were the eyes of the sinner shut from seeing; from having his heart understand? And one who understands and has eyes opened will inscribe these words onto his heart, so that they will enter the chambers of his spirit.

And the levels of repentance and their stature is based on the greatness of the bitterness and the power of the grief. And that is repentance that comes by way of the purification of the soul and the purity of its intellect. For according to his intellect and according to that which he opens his eyes will be the grief of his thoughts about his great poverty. As it is stated (Isaiah 57:16), "For I will not always contend, I will not be angry forever; nay, when spirits in front of Me cover themselves, I who create the souls." Its explanation is that according to that which the spirit - which is in front of me - covers itself and is distressed, and the souls which I have made cover themselves; I will not contend and I will not be angry. For how can I not have grace and mercy upon the precious soul that is in front of Me? Therefore the sin will be light according to the weightiness of the service of the sighing about it. For grief comes from the purification of the highest soul. And it is accepted through this more than it would be accepted by many afflictions and aches of the body. And the parable for this is that a king has mercy on his attendants that were born in his household that are close to him and from the respected nobles of the land - and he gives them grace - more than on the distant and smaller ones. And it states, "I who create the souls," due to their closeness to the higher ones, even though the body and everything [else] are the work of His hands. And like this is (Exodus 32:16), "The tablets were God’s work." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, also said (Kiddushin 30a), "There are three partners in a man: His father, his mother and the Holy One, blessed be He." But because the father and mother have no partnership in the soul - therefore, it stated, "I who create the souls," That the matter is as I have explained it, is shown from its stating, "when spirits in front of Me."