Negaim 6:5-6

Negaim 6:5

If a white spot was the size of a split bean and healthy flesh the size of a lentil surrounded it, and outside the healthy flesh there was another white spot, the inner one must be quarantined and the outer one must be confirmed unclean. Rabbi Yosi says that healthy flesh is not a sign of impurity for the outer spot since the inner spot is within it. Let’s say that the healthy flesh decreased in size or disappeared. Rabban Gamaliel says that if it disappeared from the inside, it’s a sign of the inner white spot spreading while the outer one is clean; if it disappeared from the outside, the outer spot is clean while the inner spot must be quarantined. Rabbi Akiva says that in either case it is ritually clean.

Negaim 6:6

Rabbi Shimon said that Rabbi Akiva’s statement (that in either case it is ritually clean) is only the case when the healthy flesh is exactly the size of a lentil. If it was larger than a lentil, the excess is a sign of the inner spot spreading and the outer spot is ritually unclean. If there was a dull white patch smaller than the size of a lentil, it is a sign of the inner spot spreading but it is not a sign of the outer spot spreading.