This week we have another of our famous double parshas (weekly Torah readings) and it is called Tazria-Metzora. Tazria is the name of the first parsha and means, “She will cause seed to be sewn.” Metzora is the name of the second parsha and refers to a person who has Tzaraat which is a spiritual malady and often mistranslated as leprosy. Seeing as we had our first double parsha a few weeks ago, I think I will go straight into … Continue reading
This week we have a double parsha (weekly Torah portion) which deals with purity. (For those who don’t know, the Jewish calender is lunar based and needs to add an extra month every other year or so to keep the month of spring in the springtime. When that extra month is not there, like this year, we have to double up some of the parshas. And this week is one of those times.) The first parsha talks about the purity … Continue reading
This week, we start the 3rd book of the Torah: Vayikra (Leviticus). This week’s parsha (Torah portion) gets into the blood and guts of sacrifices. It is not one of the prettier parshas, but it is an important one nevertheless because it tells us how we can redeem ourselves when we sin, not just as a person, but also as a community or a community leader, including the high priest and the king. One of the things I like about … Continue reading