The Portions of Tazria-Metzora deal with issues of ritual impurity. Tazria begins with the ritual impurity of the mother at childbirth, and Metzora ends with the ritual impurity at the time of menstruation. In between we have the laws concerning tzara'at, an affliction of the body, clothes or houses, and how they are treated.

Although tzara'at is usually translated as leprosy, from the description given in the Torah, we see that this isn't necessarily so. Our sages regarded it as a spiritual infliction, brought about by speaking lashon hara - slander. The remedy was to put the afflicted person outside the camp, where he or she will not be able to speak to another.

The Haftarah is the one for Metzora. It deals with the story of the four lepers who, cast outside the town of Samaria during the siege of Aram, faced starvation. They decided to risk entering enemy lines, in the hope for finding food and having their lives spared. When they came into the enemy camp, they found that everyone had fled. They brought the good news to the town of Samaria. On this occasion, salvation came from the 'outcasts' in society, who might have been presumed to have little value or merit. The lesson is never to make assumptions about others or to put them down.

Incidentally, the same message comes across from the Haftarah of Tazriah, where the mighty captain Na'aman has his leprosy cured by bathing in the 'insignificant' River Jordan. He was able to secure the advice for this remedy from a little Jewish slave girl whom he had captured.

Points to Ponder Ritually Impure or Dirty?
Tazria begins with the laws surrounding childbirth. According to Torah Law the mother is ritually 'unclean' for seven days following the birth of a boy, and for fourteen days following the birth of a girl. Why the difference?

It is interesting to note that each time the Torah refers to cases of ritual impurity, it occurs following the loss of life, at least to an extent. Thus the most severe case is actual contact with the dead. A lesser case is the affliction of tzara'at (leprosy), described later on in the sedra.

Why ritual impurity at the time of childbirth? The answer is simple - for nine months, the mother has actually been two lives together. At birth, the one separates, rendering her ritually impure. Why then is the period for a daughter twice as long as for a son? Because the daughter is a future potential carrier of life.

We thus see that the state of ritual impurity has nothing to do with being physically unclean. We also see why, at the conclusion of the period of impurity, immersion in a mikvah - collected rainwater - is required. If the ritual impurity represents 'death', then water - rainwater - represents life. This immersion is a strict Torah requirement.

Metzora ends with the laws of ritual impurity for a woman at the time of menstruation. In this case, we are not dealing with a loss of life, but a loss of potential life.

Why is immersion for the other types of ritual impurity not required these days? To attend the service in the Temple, and particularly at Pesach-time, one had to be ritually pure. Today, we don't have a Temple, and therefore we are not required to be in a state of ritual purity, except for Kohanim, which is why they have to keep their distance at a cemetery, and may not serve on the Chevre Kadishah.

Family Purity Laws
As the laws concerning the woman who is ritually unclean have a direct bearing on her relationship with her husband, those laws apply to married women only. They form part of the Family Purity Laws. Simply stated, a husband and wife may not have intimate relations while she is menstruating, and for seven days afterwards. These laws provide a regular cycle within the framework of marriage, they enhance the mutual respect between husband and wife, and in the words of the Talmud, "they create a longing for each other, maintaining freshness in the marriage".

Back to the beginning....
In practice - notwithstanding the distinction between birth for a boy and a girl, the mother waits until she has been free of any flow of blood for seven days before attending the mikvah and resuming relations with her husband. Interestingly, for the average person, that is usually six weeks after giving birth, which today is what doctors recommend to allow the new mother's body time to heal.

Shabbat Shalom