“And the one to whom the house belongs comes and tells the Kohen, saying, ‘Something like a lesion (Negah) has appeared to me in the house.’” (Vayikra 14:35)
The Alter of Slabodka (Ohr HaTzafun page 12 cited in Chochmas HaMatzpun pages 73-74) says that Chazal explain that even a Torah scholar who knows with certainty that his home has been stricken with the dreaded affliction may not categorically declare, “It is the Negah that I see.” Rather, he should say, “It appears to me like the Negah.”
The Tosfos Yom Tov citing the Gevuras Aryeh explains why the homeowner has to hedge his language: “Since it is the Kohain that must view it and establish that [the house has the Negah and] is impure, if the homeowner were to precede the Kohain with a declaration of certainty and state that it is the Negah, it would appear to be a lie [as it is not an actual Negah until the Kohain says that it is].
[Furthermore, since the Torah does not qualify when the homeowner needs to hedge his words, we must assume that he would need to hedge his words in all cases.] Therefore, even in a case where the homeowner is a Torah scholar [who knows exactly what the Negah is supposed to look like] and therefore it is clear to him that the Kohain will declare that it is the Negah, [nevertheless, if the Torah scholar homeowner does not hedge his language and say, ‘it appears to me to be a Negah,’] he would be included within the verse in Tehillim (101:7), ‘He will not dwell within My house; he who practices deceit, who speaks lies, will not be established before My eyes.’”
However, there is an additional lesson to be learned. As mentioned above, since the Torah does not qualify when the homeowner needs to use his “hedging language,” we must assume that it applies in all cases. This would even include a case where the Kohein is ignorant and does not understand the principles and appearances of what the Negah looks like! In such a case, in addition to the Torah scholar homeowner who, “knows exactly what he saw,” we have a Kohain who does not know what he is looking at and would therefore certainly rely on the homeowner who is a scholar. Even in such a case, where we are almost 100% certain that the Kohain is going to say that it is a Negah, the homeowner still has to use his, “hedging language” because it has not happened yet i.e., the Kohain has not declared it to be a Negah.
We see from here how careful the Torah tells us to be with our words. Even if the homeowner’s words are true (he knows for sure that his house has a Negah and he knows for sure that the Kohain is going to declare it a Negah) the fact that they are not completely true (the Kohain still hasn’t declared his house to have the Negah) results in the Torah commanding him to hedge his language. Otherwise, as we have said above, such a person could be considered as one who, “... will not dwell within My house; he who practices deceit, who speaks lies, will not be established before My eyes.”
