Negaim, Chapter 12, Mishnah 7. Our chapter deals with nigei batim, the tzora'as that appears on the walls of a house, and the previous mishnah began describing how the viewing of the house is carried out: the owner calls the kohen, the house is emptied of its contents, and the kohen comes to look. Our mishnah continues that same theme and follows the kohen through the stages of hesger and, when necessary, the removal of the afflicted stones.
Where the Kohen Stands When He Declares the Hesger
The mishnah spells out where the kohen may and may not be standing when he pronounces the house closed up for seven days. "Eino holeich lesoch beiso umasgir": he does not walk back into his own house and issue the ruling from there. "Velo besoch habayis shehanega besocho umasgir": nor does he remain standing inside the afflicted house itself and rule from within it. "Ela omeid al pesach habayis shehanega besocho umasgir": he stands at the entrance of the house that contains the nega, and from there he declares the hesger.
All of this is learned from the Torah's own wording (Vayikra 14:38). Scripture says "veyatza hakohen," the kohen goes out; it says he departs "min habayis," from the house; and it fixes exactly how far, "el pesach habayis," as far as the doorway. Standing there, "vehisgir es habayis shivas yamim," he shuts it up for a seven day period.
The End of the First Week
"Uva besof hashavua vero'eh im pasah." At the end of the seven days the kohen returns and examines whether the nega has spread. (The nega of houses, like that of garments, is a deep green or a deep red, yerakrak or adamdam, appearing in the wall.)
Should the nega have expanded, the Torah prescribes what comes next (Vayikra 14:40): "Vetzivah hakohen vechiltzu es ha'avanim asher bahen hanaga." On the kohen's instruction, the stones carrying the affliction are pried out of the wall. Chalitzah here means extraction in the fullest sense, exactly as the term is used for pulling a shoe off the foot: these stones come out whole, and it is not enough to shave their surface. The verse then continues, "vehishlichu osan," they are discarded, "el michutz la'ir," beyond the city limits, "el makom tamei," at a site set aside for what is tamei. The commentators observe that this rule is not restricted to a walled city possessing a level of kedushah; a small settlement with no wall around it follows the identical procedure, and its stones too are carried out and dumped in a makom tamei.
Replacing the Stones and the Plaster
The Torah continues: "Velakchu avanim acheiros veheivi'u el tachas ha'avanim, ve'afar acher yikach vetach es habayis." Other stones are brought and set in place of those removed, and since the mortar surrounding them was removed along with them, fresh dirt is taken as well and the house is replastered.
Several limitations are then attached by the mishnah. "Eino notel avanim mitzad zeh umeivi letzad zeh": stones may not be pulled out of one section of the building in order to fill the hole left in another section. "Velo afar mitzad zeh umeivi letzad zeh": in the same way, mortar taken off one wall may not be used to coat a different wall. Whatever is brought in as a substitute has to be obtained elsewhere. "Velo sid mikol makom": lime, the burnt limestone regularly used as a whitewash, is disqualified for this purpose entirely.
The Tosfos Yom Tov calls attention to the two words "mikol makom." Their sense here is not "from anywhere and everywhere" but rather "mishum makom": from nowhere whatsoever, meaning that it is simply not permitted. He brings the Maharam, who observes that Scripture itself employs kol with this negative force, and the point opens up a beautiful reading of a phrase in the evening prayer that we say nightly: "velo ya'ir kol chamaso." The ear usually takes it to mean that Hashem does not stir up the whole of His anger; on this understanding, the meaning is that He stirs up none of His anger whatsoever. The words come from Tehillim, chapter 78.
Proportions are addressed next. "Eino meivi lo achas tachas shtayim": where a pair of stones was extracted, a single large stone will not do as their substitute. "Velo shtayim tachas achas": where only one came out, a pair may not be inserted in its place. "Ela meivi shtayim tachas shtayim, tachas shalosh, tachas arba": the replacement is two stones, whether the number taken out was two, three, or four.
"Oi Lerasha, Oi Lishcheino"
Having just learned that the Torah has compassion on a person's property, the mishnah now shows the other side of the coin, the cost that one man's sin imposes on the man next door. "Mikan amru: oi lerasha, oi lishcheino." Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbor.
The case is a shared wall, two houses built up against one another the way townhouses are, with one wall serving both. Even though the nega has appeared only on the side belonging to the afflicted owner, the wall belongs to both of them, and so both are drawn into the loss. "Shneihem choltzim": the two of them together extract the stones. "Shneihem kotzim": both of them scrape away and peel off the surrounding surface of the wall. "Shneihem mevi'in es ha'avanim": both of them bear the cost of the replacement stones.
"Aval hu levado meivi es he'afar." Here the neighbor is spared. The owner of the afflicted house alone supplies the fresh mortar, as the verse says, "ve'afar acher yikach vetach es habayis," in the singular: he takes and he plasters. "Ve'ein chaveiro mitapeil imo batichah": his neighbor does not join him in the plastering. The wall is then resealed with clean plaster, and they wait to see what will emerge in the days that follow.
The image the mishnah leaves us with is a sobering one. The man's speech brought a nega upon his own wall, but the wall was never his alone, and his neighbor pays with him. Oi lerasha, oi lishcheino.