Positive Commandment 74 (Digest)
Offering of the Zav
"And when the zav is cleansed from his discharge... And on the eighth day, he shall take for himself two turtledoves..."—Leviticus 15:13-14.
A man who is a zav[one who suffers an abnormal seminal discharge] must, after the disorder has been cured, bring an offering—two pigeons or two turtledoves, one as a Burnt Offering and one as a Sin Offering.
Until he brings this offering, his purification process is not complete and he may not partake of sacrificial flesh.
Unabridged English Text of this Mitzvah »
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> The 74th mitzvah is that we are commanded that a man who is a zav;) must bring an offering after being healed from his discharge.
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> This offering, known as a korban zav, consists of two doves or two young pigeons, one for a sin-offering and one as a burnt-offering. His atonement is incomplete;) until they are sacrificed.
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> The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement;) (exalted be He), "When the man is rid of his discharge...on the eighth day he shall take for himself two doves..."
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> Footnotes
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> A man who emits a thin sort of seed as a result of an illness. See P104. Hilchos Mechusarei Kapparah 2:1.
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> 2.
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> See note to P75, above.
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> 3.
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> Lev. 15:13-15.
Positive Commandment 77 (Digest)
Offering of the Metzora
"On the eighth day, he shall take two unblemished male lambs and one female ewe"—Leviticus 14:10.
A metzora [one who suffers from the biblical disease known as tzara'at] must, after the disorder has been cured, bring an offering: Three animals – one as a Burnt Offering, one as a Sin Offering, and one as a Guilt Offering – and a log of oil. If his financial means do not allow for this, he can instead bring one lamb as a guilt offering and two pigeons or two turtledoves, one as a Burnt Offering and one as a Sin Offering.
Until he brings this offering, his purification process is not complete and he may not partake of sacrificial flesh.
Unabridged English Text of this Mitzvah »
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> The 77th mitzvah is that we are commanded that every leper;) must bring an offering after his condition heals.
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> It consists of three animals — a burnt-offering, a sin-offering, and a guilt-offering — and one log of oil. If he is poor, his offering consists of a sheep as the guilt-offering and two doves or two young pigeons — one for a burnt-offering and the other for a sin-offering. This is the fourth category of "those whose atonement is incomplete" [as long as the sacrifice has not yet been brought].;)
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> The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement;) (exalted be He), "On the eighth day, he shall take two unblemished male sheep and one unblemished yearling female sheep."
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> Perhaps someone will ask: why don't you count the sacrifices brought by all "those whose atonement is incomplete" as one mitzvah? This is because they all share the same idea — that they lack atonement, and would then be [one mitzvah] like one of the purification procedures. You would then say: "the following mitzvah is the commandment not to consider the purification of certain categories complete until the sacrifices have been brought — [those categories being] zav, zavah, a woman who has just given birth, and a leper. This seems to be similar to counting the purification of the mikvah as one mitzvah, that each person who is tameh must fulfill, regardless of the type of impurity. So too, you could count the sacrifices of "those who lack atonement" as one mitzvah, regardless of the type of impurity!
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> G‑d knows that this would be absolutely true if the identical sacrifice was brought for each of the four categories of "those whose atonement is incomplete." Then it would be similar to purification with water, which is a purification procedure which applies to [virtually] all who are tameh. But since, as you can see, the type of sacrifice varies, we are forced to count each one separately; because what completes the purification for this category does not work for another category. These categories are like the water of the red heifer , a mikvah, and the four species used to purify a leper — which, although they are all used for purification, nevertheless count as three mitzvos, as will be later explained.;)
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> The laws regarding the four categories of "those whose atonement is incomplete" and the laws of their sacrifices are discussed — in general and in detail — in the first two chapters of tractate Kerisus, the second chapter of Erachin and Zevachim, the 8th chapter of Nazir, the end of Negaim, tractate Kinim, and sprinkled throughout various passages in the Talmud. The vast majority, though, are found in the places I've noted.
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> Footnotes
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> Although the word metzora is commonly translated "leper," it is not an accurate translation. The metzora is afflicted by a condition that in some cases turns the skin white, in other cases affects the hair. The term "leprosy" is used because it is the contemporary condition that most closely resembles tzora'as, since the lesions are often lighter than the skin's natural color.
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> See P75.
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> Lev. 14:10.
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> P110.