Tazria
Tazria, Thazria, Thazri'a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria is the 27th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. The parashah is made up of 3,667 Hebrew letters, 1,010 Hebrew words, 67 verses, and 128 lines in a Torah Scroll.
Jews read it the 27th or 28th Shabbat after Simchat Torah, generally in April or, rarely, in late March or early May. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years, parashat Tazria is read independently. In common years, parashat Tazria is combined with the parashah following it, Metzora, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.
Readings
In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or, aliyot.First reading—Leviticus 12:1–13:5
In the first reading, God told Moses to tell the Israelites that when a woman at childbirth bore a boy, she was to be unclean 7 days and then remain in a state of blood purification for 33 days, while if she bore a girl, she was to be unclean 14 days and then remain in a state of blood purification for 66 days. Upon completing her period of purification, she was to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering, and the priest was to offer them as sacrifices to make expiation on her behalf. If she could not afford a sheep, she was to take two turtle doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. God told Moses and Aaron that when a person had a swelling, rash, discoloration, scaly affection, inflammation, or burn, it was to be reported to the priest, who was to examine its colour and depth to determine whether the person was clean or unclean.Second reading—Leviticus 13:6–17
In the second reading, the priest was to examine the person again on the seventh day to determine whether the person was clean or unclean. The reading goes on to describe the features of skin disease.Third reading—Leviticus 13:18–23
The third reading further describes features of skin disease.Fourth reading—Leviticus 13:24–28
The fourth reading further describes features of skin disease.Fifth reading—Leviticus 13:29–39
The fifth reading describes features of skin disease on the head or beard.Sixth reading—Leviticus 13:40–54
The sixth reading continued the discussion of skin disease on the head or beard. Unclean persons were to rend their clothes, leave their head bare, cover over their upper lips, call out, "Unclean! Unclean!" and dwell outside the camp. When a streaky green or red eruptive affection occurred in wool, linen, or animal skin, it was to be shown to the priest, who was to examine it to determine whether it was clean or unclean. If unclean, it was to be burned.Seventh reading—Leviticus 13:55–59
In the seventh reading, if the affliction disappeared from the article upon washing, it was to be shut up seven days, washed again, and be clean.Readings according to the triennial cycle
Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading may read the parashah according to a different schedule.In inner-biblical interpretation
The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:Leviticus chapter 12
Leviticus 12 associates childbirth with uncleanness. In the Hebrew Bible, uncleanness has a variety of associations. Leviticus 11:8, 11; 21:1–4, 11; and Numbers 6:6–7; and 19:11–16; associate it with death. And perhaps similarly, Leviticus 13–14 associates it with skin disease. Leviticus 15 associates it with various sexuality-related events. And Jeremiah 2:7, 23; 3:2; 7:30; and Hosea 6:10 associate it with contact with the worship of alien gods.While Leviticus 12:6–8 required a new mother to bring a burnt-offering and a sin-offering, Leviticus 26:9, Deuteronomy 28:11, and Psalm 127:3–5 make clear that having children is a blessing from God; Genesis 15:2 and 1 Samuel 1:5–11 characterize childlessness as a misfortune; and Leviticus 20:20 and Deuteronomy 28:18 threaten childlessness as a punishment.
Leviticus chapter 13
The Hebrew Bible reports skin disease and a person affected by skin disease at several places, often translated as "leprosy" and "a leper." In Exodus 4:6, to help Moses to convince others that God had sent him, God instructed Moses to put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, his hand was "leprous, as white as snow." In Leviticus 13–14, the Torah sets out regulations for skin disease and a person affected by skin disease. In Numbers 12:10, after Miriam spoke against Moses, God's cloud removed from the Tent of Meeting and "Miriam was leprous, as white as snow." In Deuteronomy 24:8–9, Moses warned the Israelites in the case of skin disease diligently to observe all that the priests would teach them, remembering what God did to Miriam. In 2 Kings 5:1–19, part of the haftarah for Parashat Tazria, the prophet Elisha cures Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, who was a "leper". In 2 Kings 7:3–20, part of the haftarah for Parashat Metzora, the story is told of four "leprous men" at the gate during the Arameans' siege of Samaria. And in 2 Chronicles 26:19, after King Uzziah tried to burn incense in the Temple in Jerusalem, "leprosy broke forth on his forehead."In early nonrabbinic interpretation
The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:Leviticus chapter 13
taught that the skin disease in Leviticus 13 signified voluntary depravity.In classical rabbinic interpretation
The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:Leviticus chapter 12
Rabbi Simlai noted that just as God created humans after creating cattle, beasts, and birds, the law concerning human impurity in Leviticus 12 follows that concerning cattle, beasts, and birds in Leviticus 11.Reading Leviticus 12:2, "If a woman conceives," Rabbi Levi said three things: It is only natural that if a person has given into another's keeping an ounce of silver in private, and the latter returns a pound of gold in public, the former will surely be grateful to the latter; and so is it with God. Human beings entrust to God a drop of fluid in privacy, and God openly returns to them completed and perfected human beings. Rabbi Levi said a second thing: It is natural that, if a person is confined without attention to a chamber, and someone comes and kindles a light for the person there, the former should feel gratitude towards the latter. So too is it with God. When the embryo is in its mother's womb, God causes a light to shine for it there with which it can see from one end of the world to the other. Rabbi Levi said a third thing: It is natural that, if a person is confined without attention to a chamber, and someone comes and releases the person and takes the person out from there, the former should feel gratitude to the latter. Even so, when the embryo is in its mother's womb, God comes and releases it and brings it forth into the world.
Rabbi Ammi taught in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan that even though Rabbi Simeon ruled that a dissolved fetus expelled by a woman was not unclean, Rabbi Simeon nonetheless agreed that the woman was ritually unclean as a woman who bore a child. An old man explained to Rabbi Ammi that Rabbi Joḥanan reasoned from the words of Leviticus 12:2, "If a woman conceived seed and bore." Those words imply that even if a woman bore something like "conceived seed", she was nonetheless unclean by reason of childbirth.
Rabbi Joḥanan interpreted the words "in the day" in Leviticus 12:3 to teach that one must perform circumcision even on the Sabbath.
The Gemara read the command of Genesis 17:14 to require an uncircumcised adult man to become circumcised, and the Gemara read the command of Leviticus 12:3 to require the father to circumcise his infant child.
The Mishnah taught that circumcision should not be performed until the sun has risen, but counts it as done if done after dawn has appeared. The Gemara explained that the reason for the rule could be found in the words of Leviticus 12:3, "And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." A baraita interpreted Leviticus 12:3 to teach that the whole eighth day is valid for circumcision, but deduced from Abraham's rising "early in the morning" to perform his obligations in Genesis 22:3 that the zealous perform circumcisions early in the morning.
The disciples of Rabbi Simeon ben Yoḥai asked him why Leviticus 12:6–8 ordained that after childbirth a woman had to bring a sacrifice. He replied that when she bore her child, she swore impetuously in the pain of childbirth that she would never again have intercourse with her husband. The Torah, therefore, ordained that she had to bring a sacrifice, as she would probably violate that oath. Rabbi Berekiah and Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Yoḥai that because she fluttered in her heart, she had to bring a fluttering sacrifice, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons. The disciples asked Rabbi Simeon ben Yoḥai why Leviticus 12:2 permitted contact between the father and mother after 7 days when the mother bore a boy, but Leviticus 12:5 permitted contact after 14 days when she bore a girl. He replied that since everyone around the mother would rejoice upon the birth of a boy, she would regret her oath to shun her husband after just 7 days, but since people around her would not rejoice on the birth of a girl, she would take twice as long. And Rabbi Simeon ben Yoḥai taught that Leviticus 12:3 ordained circumcision on the eighth day so that the parents could join their guests in a celebratory mood on that day.
Leviticus 5:7; 5:11; 12:8; and 14:21–22 provided that people of lesser means could bring less-expensive offerings. The Mishnah taught that one who sacrificed much and one who sacrificed little attained equal merit, so long as they directed their hearts to Heaven. Rabbi Zera taught that Ecclesiastes 5:11 provided a Scriptural proof for this when it says, "Sweet is the sleep of a serving man, whether he eat little or much." Rav Adda bar Ahavah taught that Ecclesiastes 5:10 provided a Scriptural proof for this when it says, "When goods increase, they are increased who eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof." Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai taught that Scripture says of a large ox, "An offering made by fire of a sweet savor"; of a small bird, "An offering made by fire of a sweet savor"; and of a meal-offering, "An offering made by fire of a sweet savor." Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai thus taught that Scripture uses the same expression each time to teach that it is the same whether people offered much or little, so long as they directed their hearts to Heaven. And Rabbi Isaac asked why the meal-offering was distinguished in that Leviticus 2:1 uses the word "soul" to refer to the donor of a meal-offering, instead of the usual "man" used in connection with other sacrifices. Rabbi Isaac taught that Leviticus 2:1 uses the word "soul" because God noted that the one who usually brought a meal-offering was a poor man, and God accounted it as if the poor man had offered his own soul.
Rabbi Simeon noted that Scripture always lists turtledoves before pigeons and imagined that one might thus think that Scripture prefers turtledoves over pigeons. But Rabbi Simeon quoted the instructions of Leviticus 12:8, "a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin-offering," to teach that Scripture accepted both equally.
Rabbi Eleazar ben Ḥisma taught that even the apparently arcane laws of bird offerings in Leviticus 12:8 and the beginning of menstrual cycles in Leviticus 12:1–8 are essential laws.
Tractate Kinnim in the Mishnah interpreted the laws of pairs of sacrificial pigeons and doves in Leviticus 1:14, 5:7, 12:6–8, 14:22, and 15:29; and Numbers 6:10.
Interpreting the beginning of menstrual cycles, as in Leviticus 12:6–8, the Mishnah ruled that if a woman loses track of her menstrual cycle, there is no return to the beginning of the niddah count in fewer than seven, nor more than seventeen days.
The Mishnah taught that a sin-offering of a bird preceded a burnt-offering of a bird; and the priest also dedicated them in that order. Rabbi Eliezer taught that wherever an offerer substituted for an animal sin-offering the offering of two birds, the priest sacrificed the bird sin-offering before the bird burnt-offering. But in the case of a woman after childbirth discussed in Leviticus 12:8, the bird burnt-offering took precedence over the bird sin-offering. Wherever the offering came on account of sin, the sin-offering took precedence. But here the burnt-offering took precedence. And wherever both birds came instead of one animal sin-offering, the sin-offering took precedence. But here they did not both come on account of a sin-offering, the burnt-offering took precedence. Rava taught that Leviticus 12:6–7 merely accorded the bird burnt-offering precedence in the mentioning.
Leviticus 12:8 called for "two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering." Rav Ḥisda taught that the designation of one of the birds to become the burnt-offering and the other to become the sin-offering was made either by the owner or by the priest's action. Rabbi Shimi bar Ashi explained that the words of Leviticus 12:8, "she shall take... the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering," indicated that the mother could have made the designation when taking the birds, and the words of Leviticus 15:15, "the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering," and of Leviticus 15:30, "the priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering," indicated that the priest could have made the designation when offering them up.