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Text Excerpt
תינח לתנא דבי רבי ישמעאל. לרבנן, מנא להו?
§ The Talmud comments: This works out well with regard to that which the school of R' Yishmael taught, that all garments mentioned in the Torah are composed of linen or wool. However, according to the opinion of the Rabbis, who do not accept this opinion, from where do they derive the principle that a positive mitzva overrides a prohibition? As stated previously, the conclusion that the positive mitzva to place fringes on a garment overrides the prohibition against mixing linen and wool is derived from a free expression in a biblical verse; however, the expression is free for interpretation only in the opinion of the tanna from the school of R' Yishmael.
נפקא להו מ״ראשו״. דתניא: ״ראשו״ מה תלמוד לומר? לפי שנאמר: ״לא תקיפו (את) פאת ראשכם״, שומע אני אף מצורע כן,
The Talmud responds: They derive it from the verse mentioned with regard to the halakhot of the purification of a metzora from his tzara'at [tzara’at]: “And it should be on the 7th day, that he should shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he should shave off” (Leviticus 14:9). As it is taught in a baraita: Since it states “all his hair,” what is the meaning when the verse states “his head”? The baraita explains that as it is stated: “You should not round the corners of your heads” (Leviticus 19:27), i.e., it is prohibited to shave the corners of the head, I would derive that even a metzora is included in this prohibition.
תלמוד לומר: ״ראשו״. וקא סבר האי תנא הקפת כל הראש שמה הקפה.
Therefore, the verse states explicitly: “His head,” to teach that the mitzva that a metzora must shave overrides the prohibition against rounding the corners of one’s head by shaving. The Talmud adds: And this tanna holds that the shaving of the entire head is considered rounding. Some rabbis maintain that one violates the prohibition against rounding the corners of his head only when he leaves some hair intact and removes the corners alone. Conversely, this tanna holds that even when one removes all of the hair on the head, as a metzora does when he performs his ritual shaving, as this act includes the corners, he thereby transgresses the prohibition against rounding the corners. This demonstrates that a positive mitzva overrides a prohibition.