Metzora

📜 The Story

This parsha teaches how a person who had tzaraat, a special skin mark, became pure again and could come back into the camp. That person was called a metzora. The metzora could not come in until he was declared pure, so the Kohen (the priest) went outside the camp to check on him.

The Kohen did an unusual ceremony. He took two live kosher birds, a piece of cedar wood, a red thread, and a plant called hyssop. One bird was slaughtered over fresh water in a clay pot. The other bird was dipped in the water and then set free to fly away over an open field. Just like that bird, the metzora was now free to come home.

Then the metzora shaved off all his hair, washed his clothes, and dipped in a mikvah (a ritual pool). Seven days later he did it again. Then he brought offerings to the Tabernacle, along with a small jar of oil. The Kohen put some of the oil on his right ear, right thumb and right big toe, just like at the ceremony that made Aaron and his sons Kohanim.

The parsha also teaches about tzaraat on the walls of a house. This would happen after the Israelites settled in the Land of Israel. The Kohen would check the house, and sometimes stones had to be taken out and replaced. If the tzaraat did not go away, the whole house had to be taken down.

The Sages teach that tzaraat often came because of lashon hara, saying bad things about other people. Being sent out of the camp and then slowly welcomed back reminds us to think before we speak and to talk kindly about others.