Metzora
Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33
Metzora details the purification process for a person healed of tzara'at, an elaborate ritual involving two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, hyssop, and immersion, culminating in offerings on the eighth day. The parasha extends the laws of tzara'at to houses in the Land of Israel, where discolored patches on walls require priestly inspection and may necessitate demolition. It concludes with the laws of bodily discharges — both abnormal and normal — and their associated purification procedures, emphasizing that holiness extends to every dimension of physical life.
Key figures
- Moses — Receives and transmits the purification laws
- Aaron and the priests — Examine and declare the healed person clean, perform the rituals
Famous verses
- 14:2 This shall be the law of the one afflicted with tzara’at on the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest.
- 15:31 Thus shall you separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile My tabernacle that is in the midst of them.
Haftarah: {'ref': 'II Kings 7:3-20', 'connection': "Four metzora'im (lepers) sitting outside the gate of Samaria during a siege discover the Aramean camp abandoned, echoing the metzora's exclusion from the camp and eventual restoration."}
Total gematria: 311,120.