Torah Portion

Metzora

מצרע

Leviticus 14:1–15:33
Second Kings 7:3–20

Tzaraʿat Purification: A Vestige of Demonic Exorcism

Tzaraʿat Purification: A Vestige of Demonic Exorcism

In Priestly law, impurity is stripped of its mythic origins in the demonic realm but still retains its dangerous, physical presence, and must be mitigated by specific acts of ritual cleansing and banishing, depending on the type of impurity. Purification from the skin disease tzaraʿat (Leviticus 13–14) offers the starkest example of such a ritual.

David Bar-Cohn
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Biblical Cookware and Crockery

Biblical Cookware and Crockery

The Bible contains numerous references to ceramic pots, bowls, jugs, and other types of dishes. What do we know about these vessels?

Dr.
Nava Panitz-Cohen
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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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Menstruant as Zavah: How the Laws of Niddah Developed

Menstruant as Zavah: How the Laws of Niddah Developed

Leviticus 15 describes two types of impure bleeding for women: menstruation (niddah), and bleeding that is “not during her menstrual period (zavah).” The Rabbis attempt to define the difference in an abstract manner, and in so doing, elide the two.

Prof.
Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert
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Sex During Menstruation: From Impurity to Prohibition

Sex During Menstruation: From Impurity to Prohibition

Leviticus 15:24 does not declare sex with a menstruating woman to be forbidden, only that it results in temporary impurity. Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18, however, strictly prohibit it. What accounts for these two different approaches?

Dr.
Eve Levavi Feinstein
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Niddah (Menstruation): From Torah to Rabbinic Law

Niddah (Menstruation): From Torah to Rabbinic Law

In Leviticus 15, the laws of niddah are about purity; Lev 18 and 20, however, prohibit sex during menstruation. The rabbis, who inherited both of these texts, create a new, hybrid concept: the prohibition of sex while a woman has the status of menstrual impurity.

Prof.
Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert
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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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On the Origins of Tevilah (Ritual Immersion)

On the Origins of Tevilah (Ritual Immersion)

When and why washing became immersion: between traditional-rabbinic and scientific-critical approaches to the origin of immersion and the mikveh.

Prof.
Yonatan Adler
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The Purification of a Niddah: The Torah Requirement

The Purification of a Niddah: The Torah Requirement

Jewish law requires a menstruant woman to purify herself by immersing in water. A schematic look at Leviticus 15 actually implies this is not a Torah requirement.

Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
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The Purification of a Niddah: When Silence Matters

The Purification of a Niddah: When Silence Matters

Immersing in the Priestly Text: In support of Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber's contention in “The Purification of a Niddah: The Torah Requirement” that the Torah does not require women to immerse after niddah in order to become pure.

Dr. Hacham
Isaac S. D. Sassoon
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Metzora

מצרע

Leviticus 14:1–15:33

וְלָקַח לְחַטֵּא אֶת הַבַּיִת שְׁתֵּי צִפֳּרִים וְעֵץ אֶרֶז וּשְׁנִי תוֹלַעַת וְאֵזֹב׃

ויקרא יד:מט

To purge the house, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop.

Lev 14:49

Leviticus

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

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