Another matter, “this shall be the law of the leper.” That is what is written: “Though his height [sio] ascends to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds [laav]” (Job 20:6); sio, to the heights, laav, to the clouds.11The midrash has defined the words sio and laav employed in the verse. “He will perish forever like his dung” (Job 20:7); just as dung is foul, so, too, he is foul. “They who see him will say: Where is he?” (Job 20:7).
They see him but they do not recognize him, as it is written regarding Job’s comrades: “They lifted their eyes from a distance but they did not recognize him” (Job 2:12). Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan says: It is prohibited to walk within four cubits to the east of a leper. Rabbi Shimon said: Even one hundred cubits. But they do not disagree.
The one who said four cubits, that is when the wind is not blowing. The one who said one hundred cubits, that is when the wind is blowing. Rabbi Meir would not eat eggs from the alleyway of a leper. Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi would not enter the alleyways of the leper.
Reish Lakish, when he would see one of them in the city, he would stone them with stones. He would say to him: ‘Go out to your place. Do not contaminate the people,’ as Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: “He shall dwell apart” (Leviticus 13:46); he shall dwell alone. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon, when he would see one of them, he would hide from him. [All this is] as it is written: “This shall be the law of the leper [hametzora],” of the defamer [hamotzi shem ra].