Shalom Shalom Shalom my good JTF readers... May you enjoy the coming Sabbath rest...
This week the Torah portion we are studying is the portion called Tazria-Metzorah, actually two Parshas which are usually read together (I cannot remember when they have not been read together, although I may have forgotten)...
In this weeks portion we continue to learn about the concept of 'ritual impurity' which is transmitted from dead bodies and various bodily emissions. The Kohens were responsible for identifying signs of Tzarahs, a skin condition which caused white skin to form on the body, with a hair. Most translations of the Torah translate Tzarahs as leprosy, but everyone who talks about it explains that it is not leprosy which we know today. This condition was caused by Lashon Hara, evil speech, and it required a person diagnosed with it to leave the camp for a period of isolation before being re-examined to see if the skin condition has healed.
So let me reproduce the 'Parsha in a Nutshell' from Chabad here:
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2879/jewish/Tazria-Metzora-in-a-Nutshell.htm
The Parshahs of Tazria and Metzora continue the discussion of the laws of tumah v’taharah, ritual impurity and purity.
A woman giving birth should undergo a process of purification, which includes immersing in a mikvah (a naturally gathered pool of water) and bringing offerings to the Holy Temple. All male infants are to be circumcised on the eighth day of life.
Tzaraat (often mistranslated as “leprosy”) is a supra-natural plague, which can afflict people as well as garments or homes. If white or pink patches appear on a person’s skin (dark pink or dark green in garments or homes), a kohen is summoned. Judging by various signs, such as an increase in size of the afflicted area after a seven-day quarantine, the kohen pronounces it tamei (impure) or tahor (pure).
A person afflicted with tzaraat must dwell alone outside of the camp (or city) until he is healed. The afflicted area in a garment or home must be removed; if the tzaraat recurs, the entire garment or home must be destroyed.
When the metzora (“leper”) heals, he or she is purified by the kohen with a special procedure involving two birds, spring water in an earthen vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread and a bundle of hyssop.
Ritual impurity is also engendered through a seminal or other discharge in a man, and menstruation or other discharge of blood in a woman, necessitating purification through immersion in a mikvah.
It is no 'coincidence' that archaeologists in Israel recently uncovered a Mikvah from the Second Temple period...
Let us start with a 22min talk from the illustrious Rabbi Chaim Miller from the Temple Institute in Jerusalem:
Topic: Video Study for Parsha Tazria-Metzorah (Read 3302 times)