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Text Excerpt
אלא יש לך שעה שזבין ומצורעין משתלחין ואין טמאי מתים משתלחין, ואיזה זה — פסח הבא בטומאה.
Rather, it teaches you that you have a time when zavin and lepers are sent out from the camp, but those who are ritually impure due to contact with a corpse are not sent out. And what is this time? When a Paschal lamb is brought in impurity, when those impure due to contact with a corpse are permitted to participate, but a zav and a metzora may not. From here we learn that when most of the nation is ritually impure due to contact with a corpse, the Paschal lamb is brought anyway in a state of ritual impurity.
אמר אביי: אי הכי, לימא נמי: יאמר זב וטמאי מתים, ואל יאמר מצורע, ואני אומר: זב משתלח, מצורע — לא כל שכן. אלא: יש לך שעה שמצורעין משתלחין, ואין זבין וטמאי מתים משתלחין, ואיזה זה — פסח הבא בטומאה.
Abaye said: If so, that this is how the verse is to be interpreted, let us also say that the verse should only say zav and those ritually impure due to a corpse and not say metzora, and I would say this law on my own through an a fortiori inference: If a zav is sent out, then with regard to a metzora, whose ritual impurity is more severe than that of a zav, all the more so is it not clear that he should be sent out? Rather, the seemingly unnecessary mention of a metzora teaches that you have a time when only lepers are sent out, but zavin and those ritually impure due to contact with a corpse are not sent out. And what is this time? When a Paschal offering is brought in impurity, when zavin and those impure due to contact with a corpse are permitted to participate, but a metzora may not.