111 - המצווה הקי"א הציווי שנצטווה המצורע להתגלח

The 111th Mitzvah

1. The commandment that the metzora is commanded to shave.

2. This is his second purification, as explained at the end of Negaim.

3. This is as He, may He be exalted, said: "And it shall be on the seventh day, he shall shave" (Vayikra 14:9).

4. We have already mentioned earlier their statement: "Three shave, and their shaving is a mitzvah: the nazir, the metzora, and the Leviim."

5. The laws of this mitzvah have already been explained at the end of Negaim.

6. Here I will explain to you for what reason we count the shaving of the metzora as a mitzvah in its own right, and the bringing of his offerings as a separate mitzvah, and we did not do so with the nazir, but rather established his shaving and the bringing of his offerings as one mitzvah.

7. For the metzora, there is no connection between his shaving and the bringing of his offerings, and the purpose achieved by his shaving is not the same as the purpose achieved by the bringing of his offerings.

8. For the metzora, his purification depends on his shaving.

9. And in chapter 6 of Nazir they said: "What is the difference between a nazir and a metzora? This one, his purification depends on his days"—meaning the nazir. "And the metzora, his purification depends on his shaving."

10. If the metzora shaved, and completed his second shaving, he is pure from imparting impurity like a sheretz, as explained at the end of Negaim.

11. He remains a mechusar kaparah until he brings his offerings, like other mechusrei kaparah, as explained there.

12. Therefore, the purpose of his shaving is his purification from imparting impurity like a sheretz, whether he has brought his offerings or not.

13. But the purpose of bringing his offerings is to complete his atonement, like other mechusrei kaparah, that is: a zav, a zavah, and a woman after childbirth.

14. We have already mentioned earlier their statement: "Four are mechusrei kaparah."

15. And it is explained there that the nazir is not mechusar kaparah.

16. Rather, all those actions together—that is, the shaving and the bringing of the offering—permit him to drink wine.

17. Neither of them is sufficient without the other; rather, the shaving is dependent on the offering and the offering is dependent on the shaving, and through all of them together, the single purpose is achieved: that he is permitted things that were forbidden to him during his nazir period.

18. And in chapter 6 of Nazir they said: "If he shaved for the offering and it was found invalid, his shaving is invalid and his offerings do not count for him."

19. Thus it is explained to you that the shaving is a condition of the offering, and the offering is a condition of the shaving.

20. It is further explained in the Tosefta that a nazir whose days are completed is forbidden to shave, to drink wine, and to become impure to the dead until he performs all of that act, which is the shaving of purity, as explained in chapter 6 of Nazir.

21. That is, he must shave at the entrance of the Ohel Moed, and throw his hair under the pot, and bring the offerings, as explained in the verse.

22. And you will find that Chazal in most places call the bringing of the offerings "shaving."

23. And explicitly they said in places in the Mishnah: "I am a nazir, and upon me to shave a nazir"—the intent is that he will bring the offerings of a nazir and offer them for him.

24. Thus it is explained to you that "shaving" is an expression for the bringing of the offerings.

25. The reason for this is that they are part of it, as we have explained, and through all of them together the status of nazir is removed and the nazir may drink wine.

26. But the shaving of impurity is among the laws of the mitzvah, as we have explained above.