Metzora: A
Summary of the Parsha
God describes the purification ritual for people and homes afflicted with
leprosy; God also instructs Moses and Aaron regarding the laws of the emission
of bodily fluids.
By Nancy Reuben Greenfield
The following article is reprinted with permission from Jewish Family & Life!
God spoke to Moses, saying, “This is the instruction on how
to purify a leper who is healed. When the time is right, a priest shall go
outside the camp to the leper's area and confirm if the leper is healed. The
priest then shall make a sacrifice with two clean, living birds. One bird is to
be killed with ritual while the other is to be set free in open country.
“The healed leper must wash his clothes, shave off all his
hair and bathe in water. Then he shall be clean enough to enter the camp, but
he must remain outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day, after he
shaves off all the hair on his body, scrubs his clothes and washes his body,
then he shall be clean.
“On the eighth day, the healed leper, two lambs without
blemish, and a flour and oil offering shall be presented before the Lord at the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest shall ritually slaughter the lambs
and use their blood and the flour and oil to make wave offerings, sin
offerings, burnt offerings and guilt offerings for the leper who is to be
cleansed. With ritual and ceremony, the priest shall make expiation for him
before the Lord. Then he shall be clean.”
Then God spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “When you enter
the land of Canaan and I inflict leprosy upon a house there, the owner shall
come and tell the priest of the affliction. The priest must examine the house
and pronounce the home clean or unclean. The unclean parts must be removed and
replaced with clean materials. If the whole house is unclean, the house shall
be torn down and its materials shall be taken to an unclean place outside the
city. The house is to be rebuilt with clean materials.
“The priest will inspect the house again. If the priest
pronounces the house clean of leprosy, then the priest is to perform a
cleansing ritual for the house. He shall make offerings before the Lord with
two clean birds. One is to be slaughtered and the other is to be set free in
the open country. The priest thus effects purification for the house and it is
clean.”
The Lord then spoke to Moses and Aaron and instructed them
to tell the people about the laws concerning the emission of bodily fluids.
There are times when a man or a woman is "clean" [in a spiritual, not
physical sense] and a time when a man or a woman is "unclean." There
are specific rituals to transform a man or woman from unclean to clean.
Questions For Discussion
1) Why do you think there is a specific priestly
purification ritual for a leper who is no longer sick? Do you have a purification
ritual for when you become well after being sick? What is it?
3) In this portion, God says that God inflicts leprosy. Do
you believe that God causes leprosy? Do you believe that God causes sicknesses?
Why or why not?
Nancy Reuben Greenfield is a free-lance writer who lives
in Carrollton, Texas, with her husband and two young children. She writes
frequently on Jewish themes and is finishing a book, co-authored with her
father, called The Golden Medina.
