Negaim 10:5-6

Negaim 10:5

One shaves a nega of the hair or beard as follows: he shaves outside it and leaves two hairs next to it in order to determine whether or not it spreads. If he was confirmed as unclean because of yellow hair, then the yellow hair disappeared and other yellow hair appeared, or if there was spreading, then regardless of whether the confirmation occurred at the outset, at the end of the first week, at the end of the second week or after his release, in all of these cases he remains as he was. If he was confirmed as unclean because of spreading, then the spreading disappeared and reappeared, and similarly if there was yellow hair, then regardless of whether the confirmation occurred at the end of the first week, at the end of the second week or after his release, he remains as he was.

Negaim 10:6

Let’s say that there are two negas of the hair or beard next to one another with a line of hair separating between them. If a gap opens in one place, he is ritually unclean but if it opens in two places, he is ritually clean. The gap must be the space of two hairs. If there’s a gap in one place, even if it’s as large as a split bean, he is unclean.