PARSHA POSTS: METZORA

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May 4, 2025, 12:23 AM

Parshat Tazria-Metzora 5785

This week I saw a beautiful Dvar Torah from my Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yochanan Zweig Shlita. In which he quoted the gemara in Bava Batra 165a "Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: The majority of people succumb to sin with regard to...

May 2, 2025, 11:33 PM

Parshah through the Mediator’s Lens: Tazria-Metzora

Remains of Mikvah - in ruins of the ancient Jewish city of Gamla courtesy iStock

This week’s double portion, Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1–15:33), offers a particularly rich metaphor for the work I do in mediation related to the human condition. This portion is especially relevant now as it’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Summary of the Parsha Tazria-Metzora...

Ilana Sober Elzufon

May 2, 2025, 2:55 PM

Famine in the city

Palestinians receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in Jabalia, Gaza Strip, April 1, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi) (The Times of Israel)

For two months, Israel has not allowed food or humanitarian supplies into Gaza. Jews have long known what this looks like

May 2, 2025, 7:47 AM

The Holiness of Speech

It’s been an emotional week. Honestly, this is probably my sixth blog post, and I didn’t plan to share this one right now. I had forgotten that this week is a double Parsha—Tazria and Metzora—so here are my reflections...

May 2, 2025, 7:36 AM

Holiness and Childbirth (Tazria-Metzora)

The sidrot of Tazria and Metzora contain laws which are among the most difficult to understand. They are about conditions of “impurity” arising from the fact that we are physical beings, embodied souls, and hence exposed to (in Hamlet’s...

May 1, 2025, 9:54 PM

The portion of Metzora is not read alone

Sometimes, trying to help people seems complicated, but in this case, where the goal is to learn the lessons of the Torah, we have a case where the goal justifies the means. Two biblical portions, Tazria and Metzora, are...

May 1, 2025, 9:35 AM

Exclusion, Inclusion and Closure: Parshat Tazria-Metzora

This week’s double parsha tazria-metzora starts out with the impurity of a woman after giving birth: For a boy “she shall remain in a state of blood purification for thirty-three days” and for a girl “she shall remain in a...

Apr 30, 2025, 5:30 PM

‘Brought’ Parashat Tazria – Metzora 5785

The majority of the portions of Tazria and Metzora pertains to “tzara’at”, often mistranslated as “leprosy”. Tzara’at comes in the form of lesions that affect not only human skin but also clothing and buildings, pointing to a fungal source...

Mordechai Silverstein

Apr 30, 2025, 5:14 PM

It’s a Matter of Life and Death

The subject matter of Parshiyot Tazria-Metzorah leaves us in a bit of a quandary. Since much of the material covered in these parshiyot reads like a public health guide, it leaves us wondering about its religious significance. Of course,...

Apr 30, 2025, 6:56 AM

There’s No Place Like Home!

This week’s Torah reading is one of the most conceptually difficult of our entire annual cycle of weekly portions. In the second of our double portion, we read about TZARA’AT. The difficulty begins with the fact that we have...

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