Tazria-Mtzorah - Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33 - 5/2/2025

Tazria-M’tzorah is a collection of laws and rituals all related to various types of impurities that can be introduced into the community, whether manifested on people or buildings. Some of the various conditions that may render someone or something impure can include childbirth, various skin conditions, or strange mold or mildew on clothing or on the walls of your house.

Each condition entails a variety of interventions, isolations from the community, inspections by a priest, and ends with specific offerings meant to purge the person of the impurity. 

Rabbinic authorities differed as to the origins of these afflictions. Some medieval authorities, more versed in sciences, saw them as natural phenomena. Others saw them as God’s punishment for some unidentified sin. Some, like menstruation and childbirth, were simply natural occurrences, but because of the involvement of blood, the source of life, they still conveyed impurity.

The specific details are less important than the overall value that is being upheld. As a holy people, blessed with God’s presence among them in the Tabernacle, they must remain in a state of ritual purity at all times. Impurity in one bears the danger of bringing impurity to all. To ensure that all remained pure and able to enter the Tabernacle without rendering holy vessels or the site itself impure, it was necessary to be vigilant against these incursions.

Ultimately, the goal was to preserve and protect the special relationship with God and to ensure that God’s presence would remain amidst the Israelites for all times.

Today we understand these are all natural phenomenon, with medical or scientific remedies. However, we still remain a holy people with a special place in the world. Our goal today is to maintain purity of spirit, morality, ethics, and Jewish values, so that we may be a light unto the nations. The work is hard, but we are all in it together!

-Rabbi Bonnie Margulis