פרשת תזריע תשי"ז - נגעי בגדים

And the garment if there be in it a pock of tsaraat: This is not natural at all and it does not happen in the world; and so [too] pocks of houses. But since Israel are complete for God, the spirit of God is always upon them, to keep their bodies and clothing and houses in good appearance. And when sin and iniquity happen to one of them, his skin or his clothing or his home becomes ugly, to show that God has departed from him. And hence the verse states (Leviticus 14:34), "and I shall put a pock of tsaraat in the house in the land of your possession" - as it is a plague of God in that house. And behold, it is only practiced in the land that is the inheritance of the Lord, as it states (Leviticus 14:34), "When you come to the land of Canaan, that I give to you as a possession." And the reason for this is not because it is an obligation on the soil [of the land], but [rather] because this matter will only come in the chosen land that the glorious God will dwell within. And in Torat Kohanim (Sifra, Metsora 5:3), they also expounded that a house only becomes impure after the conquest and division of the land and [when] each and every one knows what is his. And the reason [for this] is that [only] then did their minds become settled about them - to know the Lord - and that the [Divine] presence should dwell among them. And so do I think with the pocks of clothing, that it is only practiced in the land, and [that] it was not necessary to [specifically] exclude outside the land from them, as they would never occur there. And because of this, they are also only practiced on white clothes, and not with colored ones - as maybe the dye released that ugliness in that place according to its nature, and it is not 'the finger of God.' And therefore, clothes that become colored by the Heavens, can become impure, like the words of Rabbi Shimon (Mishnah Negaim 11:3). And according to its simple understanding, it is because of this that Scripture goes back in each and every verse [to mention], "the garment or the skin or the warp or the woof," because the matter is a miracle. And our rabbis have homilies about them and they are all in Torat Kohanim.

And when the plague of leprosy is in a garment, whether it be a woolen garment, or a linen garment;

malignant As in, “a pricking briar” [Ezekiel 28:24] — just as the “briar” is parallel to the “thorn”, so the word “pricking” is parallel to the word “painful”. The second mem in the word malignant is part of the root, thus it is not related to the word “disaster” [Deuteronomy 28:20]. The reason the passage does not mention silk, or cotton, is probably that: Scripture was speaking of materials that are commonly found. Likewise, Scripture says, “When you see your enemy’s donkey…” [Exodus 23:5], although the law is the same for a horse or a mule. or This disease rarely attacks anything other than wool or linen.