Parshat Metzora

Parshat Metzora

(Vayikra 14:1-15:33)

                                     

Last week's Parshah described the signs of the metzora ("leper") — a person afflicted by a spiritual malady which places him or her in a state of ritual impurity. This week's Torah reading begins by detailing how the recovered metzora is purified by the Kohen (priest) 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.

 

A home can also be afflicted with "leprosy" by the appearance of reddish or greenish patches on its walls. In a process lasting as long as nineteen days, a Kohen determines if the house can be purified or it must be demolished.

 

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.

 

 

(from Chabad.org)