Resources for Moed Katan 7
Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
- The גמרא says that a כהן can be רואה נגעים on חול המועד by הסגר ראשון. Theרש"י on the רי"ף (also quoted here by תוספות) says that the reason is because if he’s טהור, good, and if the נגע was עומד בעיניו then he will only need to stay a second week in הסגר which isn’t so bad since he was already in the “בית הכלא”. It sounds from רש"י’s “בית הכלא” description that he holds a מצורע מוסגר is actually locked up, like the term מוסגר See the ריטב"א who uses this to answer a question on רש"י. In תוספות ד"ה אמר רבי, תוספות asks how רש"י can say that a מצורע מוסגר isn’t משולח when the גמרא in מגילה דף ח says a מוחלט and מוסגר have the same דין in regards to שילוח? The ריטב"א answers for רש"י that רש"י understands that he is “משולח” in the sense that he is sent to be locked up at home. See the תוספות הרא"ש here who says that we do not quarantine the מצורע at all. Rather, we mark the area of the נגע to know if the disease spread (in which case סגור means “we surround”). Another פשטּoffered by the תוספות הרא"ש is that we cover the נגע with a cloth so that the מצורע does not try to scratch it off (in which case we are “locking up” the wound). See also the דעת זקינים מבעלי התוספות in ויקרא פּרק ד פּסוק י"ג who says we avoid having the כהן check the נגע until the end of the week because the progression might be too subtle to notice. According to this, the נגע is מוסגר from the כהן.
- ר"מ and ר"י argue about whether you can see נגעים only להקל. See the חזון איש in נגעים סימן ד ס"ק י"ח who says that everyone would agree that you can’t see נגעים on יו"ט itself since it is a איסור דרבנן of דן את הדין. Interestingly, he adds that on Shabbos, if not for that איסור דרבנן, one could see נגעים even להחמיר since there is only a חיוב of עונג on שבת and not שמחה. The concept of עונג is not a contradiction to מצורע (presumably similar to the distinction of דיני אבילות between שבת and יו"ט.)
- The גמרא says that everyone agrees that after הסגר ראשון the כהן can see the נגע. According to רש"י the reason is that there is nothing to lose since at worst he will just stay the way he is which is בהסגר. See תוספות here who asks the seemingly obvious question: what if the כהן sees it spread and makes him a מוחלט!? He answers in the name of the ר"י that the גמרא that says “everyone agrees the נגע can be seen by הסגר ראשון” is really referring to תחילת הסגר ראשון where the פּסוק of לטהרו או לטמאו doesn’t apply. In other words, when you come to the כהן for the first time, then everyone agrees there is no requirement to pasken since the פּסוק of לטהרו או לטמאו only applies when someone was already somewhat טמא and needed resolution as to his final status. תוספות must not have had our גירסא which says that by a טהור everyone agrees that it can’t be seen on חול המועד (the ריטב"א did not have this גירסא either). However, see the חזון איש in סימן קל"ה who suggests an alternate approach where you don’t have to erase our גירסא —he says that תוספות is referring to a case where the כהן saw the נגע and then for whatever reason the person was not put into הסגר until days later. In that case, the כהן must re-see him when he actually goes into הסגר as the כהן needs to see the נגע before הסגר and afterwards. It is in that case where תוספות is saying that you don’t need to pasken since there is nothing to be מטמא or מטהר. See the תוספות הרא"ש here who says in the name of the ראב"ד that הסגר ראשון refers to end of the first week (like רש"י), but that you can still see it במועד, since even if it is טמא, you have the right to say nothing. The reason is, that the חיוב of לטמאו או לטהרו is fulfilled by saying nothing since that keeps the person in הסגר for another week which is a small amount of לטמאו.
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