Sedra of the Week: Tazria Metzora
Rabbi Garry Wayland looks at the forthcoming week's portion of the Torah
The focus of Tazria Metzora is, without doubt, the mysterious condition tzaraat. While historically identified with leprosy, this collection of discolourations of the skin, garments and even houses, defies traditional categorisation.
Thus, explain our sages, this malady is primarily spiritual and miraculous and a physical manifestation of spiritual or moral failings, most notably lashon hara, evil speech.
Many of the details are illuminated with this perspective: for example, the demand for the one afflicted to be excluded from the camp is an opportunity for self-reflection away from those he may have harmed and visits from Kohen are an opportunity for engagement with someone engaged with holiness.
Sin divides communities, cuts people off from friends and isolates individuals. We understand how tzaarat, rooted in malicious behaviour towards others, brings isolation to the sinner.
However, Kings II in the Haftarah tells a different story.
Samaria is under siege by the King Ben-Hadad of Aram, leading to a catastrophic famine. As society is crumbling, the prophet Elisha predicts that soon matters will return to normal.
We learn of four men stricken with tzaarat, outside the Israelite city, who weigh up their options. They decide to beg for food from the besieging Aramite army, only to discover the entire camp has been abandoned. We learn it is not only those from within who hold the key to salvation. Sometimes, it is those who we would least expect to rely upon – the weak, the outcasts – who are the ones that prove the most dependable.
ω Rabbi Garry Wayland is an educator with United Synagogue Living & Learning
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
