Torah Portion

Tazria

תזריע

Leviticus 12:1-13:59
Second Kings 4:42–5:19

The Tzaraʿat Paradox

The Tzaraʿat Paradox

Why is partially infected skin impure but fully infected skin pure? Mary Douglas’ insight into the polluting power of anomalies helps us make sense of this counterintuitive rule.

Prof.
Albert I. Baumgarten
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Priests & Rabbis Determine Ritual Reality

Priests & Rabbis Determine Ritual Reality

The Torah allows the removal of vessels from a house before the priest quarantines it for tzaraʿat, understanding impurity here not as the result of physical reality but of a human declaration. This idea is developed further by the rabbis, who apply it to other areas of Jewish law.

Prof.
Martha Himmelfarb
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Postpartum Impurity: Why Is the Duration Double for a Girl?

Postpartum Impurity: Why Is the Duration Double for a Girl?

After giving birth to a male, the mother is impure for 7 days, followed by 33 days of purification. However, with a female, the mother is impure for 14 days, followed by 66 days of purification.

Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
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Postpartum “Bloods of Purity”

Postpartum “Bloods of Purity”

Mesopotamian gynecological texts and what we know about women’s post-partum flow are helpful in parsing the unusual Hebrew idiom demei tohorah, literally, “bloods of purity,” used in Leviticus 12 to describe the second stage of postpartum bleeding.

Prof.
Tamar Kamionkowski
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Tum’ah: Ritual Impurity or Fear of Contagious Disease?

Tum’ah: Ritual Impurity or Fear of Contagious Disease?

Already in the early 2nd millennium B.C.E., people knew that diseases were contagious, and fear of contagion plays a key role in the Torah’s laws regarding the skin ailment, tzaraʿat. What does this mean for understanding other kinds of tum’ah?

Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
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Gendering a Child with Ritual

Gendering a Child with Ritual

A child’s mother remains impure for forty days after the birth of a boy and eighty days after a girl. A comparison of this procedure with similar ones in Hittite birth rituals suggests that this gender-based differentiation serves as a kind of ritual announcement of the child’s gender.

Dr.
Kristine Henriksen Garroway
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Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels

Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels

Despite its lengthy coverage of tzaraat, biblical “leprosy,” the Torah omits discussion of its cause, its infectiousness, and its treatment. Comparison to the Mesopotamian rituals pertaining to a strikingly similar disease, Saḫaršubbû, shows that these omissions were far from accidental.

Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
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A Sin Offering for Birth Anxiety

A Sin Offering for Birth Anxiety

Following the purification period after birth, a mother must bring a חטאת –“sin offering,” despite her having committed no obvious sin. This offers us a unique glimpse into the prehistory of the Israelite cult, when apotropaic rituals (used to protect against dangerous forces) like those in other ANE cultures, were the norm.

Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
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The Parturient’s Days of Purity: From Torah to Halacha

The Parturient’s Days of Purity: From Torah to Halacha

In reference to the parturient, the Torah speaks of a 33 or 66 day period of דמי טהרה “blood of her purity” as distinguished from a 7 or 14 day period “like menstruation.” What is the difference between these two periods according to Leviticus and how did later groups such as rabbinic Jews, Karaites, Samaritans, and Beta Israel understand it?

Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
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Tazria

תזריע

Leviticus 12:1-13:59

...וְהִנֵּה כֵּהָה הַנֶּגַע וְלֹא פָשָׂה הַנֶּגַע בָּעוֹר וְטִהֲרוֹ הַכֹּהֵן...

ויקרא יג:ו

...if the affection has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean...

Lev 13:6

Leviticus

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