Tazria-Metzora
She will conceive/Leper — תַזְרִיעַ־מְּצֹרָע
Torah Portion: Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24
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Reading #6 - Leviticus 14:33-15:15
My Thoughts:
A sensitive, hard to discuss subject today. Most believe the discharge in today’s reading (Leviticus 15) relates to sexual activity. So, why all the rules? We know that reproduction is very important to Hashem, even a commandment to “go and be fruitful and multiply”. It makes sense that there would be some cleanliness rules surrounding this commandment. Hashem wants ALL of our being to be clean before Him -- inside and out. Because many humans do partake in sexual activity (meaningfully with a spouse) then we are now given instructions on how to become “clean” when we go before Hashem. It all makes sense. Just a delicate subject.
Challenge:
So, here is an odd challenge for today. Because in today’s reading we are discussing cleanliness rules after sexual activity, it may be a good time to review this area in your life. We live in a world that looks at sex as in a very different way than the one true Elohim. There is perversion, sex outside of marriage, multiple partners and disregard for honoring the sacredness of marriage. This is a good time to take a look at this area in your life. Are you giving honor to Hashem? Are you following His commandments? Review, repent, ask for forgiveness and change. That is why we have Torah -- to give us life. A life that is clean in all areas and close to Him.
Leviticus 14:33-15:15
Leviticus 14:33 Hashem spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 34 “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land of your possession, 35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘There seems to me to be some sort of plague in the house.’ 36 The priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to examine the plague, that all that is in the house not be made unclean. Afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house. 37 He shall examine the plague; and behold, if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and it appears to be deeper than the wall, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39 The priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the plague has spread in the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the plague, and cast them into an unclean place outside of the city. 41 He shall cause the inside of the house to be scraped all over. They shall pour out the mortar that they scraped off outside of the city into an unclean place. 42 They shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
43 “If the plague comes again, and breaks out in the house after he has taken out the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it was plastered, 44 then the priest shall come in and look; and behold, if the plague has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew in the house. It is unclean. 45 He shall break down the house, its stones, and its timber, and all the house’s mortar. He shall carry them out of the city into an unclean place.
46 “Moreover he who goes into the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening. 47 He who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 “If the priest shall come in, and examine it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the house, after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 To cleanse the house he shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 50 He shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. 51 He shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 He shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, with the living bird, with the cedar wood, with the hyssop, and with the scarlet; 53 but he shall let the living bird go out of the city into the open field. So shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean.”
54 This is the law for any plague of leprosy, and for an itch, 55 and for the destructive mildew of a garment, and for a house, 56 and for a swelling, and for a scab, and for a bright spot; 57 to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean.
15:1 Hashem spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, because of his discharge he is unclean. 3 This shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body has stopped from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
4 “‘Every bed on which he who has the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything he sits on shall be unclean. 5 Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 6 He who sits on anything on which the man who has the discharge sat shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
7 “‘He who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
8 “‘If he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
9 “‘Whatever saddle he who has the discharge rides on shall be unclean. 10 Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. He who carries those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
11 “‘Whomever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
12 “‘The earthen vessel, which he who has the discharge touches, shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 “‘When he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
14 “‘On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before Hashem to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest. 15 The priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him before Hashem for his discharge.
