Study Moed Katan folio 7B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בהסגר שני. מר סבר: בכהן תליא מילתא. אי טהור — אמר ליה ״טהור״, ואי טמא — שתיק. ומר סבר: ״לטהרו או לטמאו״ כתיב.
it is with regard to a suspected metzora who is already in his second week of quarantine. One Sage, R' Meir, holds that the matter depends upon the discretion of the priest; if he is found ritually pure, the priest declares him pure, and if he is found ritually impure, the priest can remain silent. As long as the priest does not declare the affected individual ritually impure, he does not become impure. And one Sage, R' Yosei, holds that since it is written: “This is the law of the plague of tzara'at…to pronounce it pure or to pronounce it impure” (Leviticus 13:59), the priest is not permitted to be silent; just as he is obligated to declare him pure when that is the case, so too, he is bound to declare him impure when his symptoms indicate impurity.
אמר מר, אמר רבי: נראין דברי רבי יוסי במוחלט, ודברי רבי מאיר במוסגר. והתניא איפכא!
The Talmud proceeds to analyze the baraita. The Master said that R' Yehuda HaNasi said: The statement of R' Yosei appears correct with regard to a confirmed metzora, and the statement of R' Meir appears correct with regard to a quarantined metzora. The Talmud raises an objection: But isn’t the opposite taught in a different baraita, namely, that R' Yosei’s statement appears correct with regard to the case of a quarantined metzora, while R' Meir’s statement appears correct with regard to the case of a confirmed metzora?
תנאי היא אליבא דרבי. מר סבר: צוותא דעלמא עדיף ליה.
The Talmud answers: This is a dispute between tanna’im in accordance with the opinion of R' Yehuda HaNasi. One Sage, the author of the latter baraita, holds that the company of the world at large is preferable to the metzora. Consequently, the priest may examine a confirmed metzora during the Festival because the priest will either decide that the metzora’s symptoms are still present, in which case the metzora’s situation will be no worse than before, or the priest will declare that his symptoms have subsided, in which case the metzora may reenter the community, which will bring him joy.