In this Perek (chapter), we'll talk about all the different blemishes that would make the Kohen (priest) unfit to perform the Avodah (service) in the Beit HaMikdash. We're building on what we discussed in the previous Perek, which was blemishes of a Bechor, of an eldest animal. Here we'll talk about what disqualifies people, Kohanim, from performing the Avodah in the Beit HaMikdash.
The Mishnah says: All the mumim, all the blemishes we listed in the previous chapter that make an animal unfit to be brought as a Bechor offering, whether they're permanent or temporary, make a person who is a Kohen unfit to perform the Avodah. Beyond the blemishes that we listed in the last Perek, there are others that would apply to a person and not to a Bechor animal. A person who is a Kohen, if he has any unusual appearance, if he looks different from other people, would be disqualified from service in the Beit HaMikdash, as opposed to an animal. An animal could look a little different, but it has to have specific blemishes. That's how it would be excluded from being offered in the Beit HaMikdash.
Number one: a person whose head is pointy or wide on top. A person whose head juts out more than normal at the front or the back. Or a person whose head is flat in the front or flat in the back. Hunchbacks are people who have an extra piece of basar (flesh) on their back, and therefore have a bump there.
Rabbi Yehuda says that they are fit to perform the Avodah in the Beit HaMikdash. According to him, the bones of the hunchback are all okay. It's just a flesh issue. There are no unusually shaped bones. Everything else we listed in the Mishnah has oddly shaped bones. Here, the hunchback's bones are all okay. It's just an extra piece of flesh on his back. According to Rabbi Yehuda, that would not be serious enough to disqualify him from serving in the Beit HaMikdash. Chachamim (Sages) say that the hunchback is unfit to serve in the Beit HaMikdash. According to them, it's all about appearance. It's all about how it looks. And that's a strange look, whether it's coming from a bone or from a piece of flesh. The person looks different from a normal individual, and therefore he would be disqualified.