Tazria-Metzora
She will conceive/Leper — תַזְרִיעַ־מְּצֹרָע
Torah Portion: Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33
Reading #3 - Leviticus 13:40-54
My Thoughts:
Interesting. Today we read about leprosy or plague in a material item - such as clothing. The person is to isolate the clothing for seven days and then show it to the priest. If it still has the showing of the plague they are to burn it. This makes perfect sense. It is showing us that bacteria/germs can exist on other things. We learned a lot about this when Covid hit. We had to wash clothing, wash surfaces and be careful about what we touched. We could take our learning from the reading today and apply it to dangerous pandemics!
Challenge:
It’s difficult to read about leprosy in this Torah Portion. But, remember our Elohim cares about all aspects of our lives - then and now. He gave strict guidelines to prevent the spread of such a disease/infections. I challenge you to continue reading these portions of Scripture all week long. Think about how much Hashem loves us. Stay with it and don’t dismiss it all because it may not seem to apply to us today. Search your heart and seek revelation about how it does relate to our lives. Amen.
Leviticus 13:40-54
Leviticus 13:40 “If a man’s hair has fallen from his head, he is bald. He is clean. 41 If his hair has fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead bald. He is clean. 42 But if a reddish-white plague is in the bald head or the bald forehead, it is leprosy breaking out in his bald head or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest shall examine him. Behold, if the swelling of the plague is reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the body, 44 he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His plague is on his head.
45 “The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp.
47 “The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment; 48 whether it is in warp or woof; of linen or of wool; whether in a leather, or in anything made of leather; 49 if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the leather, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything made of leather; it is the plague of leprosy, and shall be shown to the priest. 50 The priest shall examine the plague, and isolate the plague seven days. 51 He shall examine the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever use the skin is used for, the plague is a destructive mildew. It is unclean. 52 He shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, in which the plague is, for it is a destructive mildew. It shall be burned in the fire.
53 “If the priest examines it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; 54 then the priest shall command that they wash the thing that the plague is in, and he shall isolate it seven more days.
