Clean & Unclean - Understanding Parashat Tazria-Metzora

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Many people are confused over the highly detailed procedures for distinguishing between the statuses of “clean” and “unclean” contained in the Torah portions Tazria and Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33). Why would such strange, bizarre and even "embarrassing," passages be a part of the Holy Word of the Living God? Many people think that being “unclean” (ritually contaminated) and being “in sin” are synonymous. However, ritual impurity is not attached to sin, and even Yeshua himself became “unclean” on multiple occasions throughout his life. How can we hope to understand these foreign concepts and do they have any bearing on our lives today, outside of a Temple context? Also, in regard to the metzora (leper), was this the same awful disease we have seen in our lifetimes among the members of leper colonies? Or was it something completely different? If this disease was so awful and spread so easily, then why was a leper made “clean” once the affliction covered his entire body (Lev. 12:12-13)? Find out more about this complex subject in this teaching.