Parshat Metzora

The name of the Parshah, “Metzora,” is often translated as “leper” and it is found in Leviticus 14:2.

Last week’s Parshah described the signs of the metzora (commonly mistranslated as “leper”)—a person afflicted by a spiritual malady which places him or her in a state of ritual impurity. This week’s Torah reading begins by detailing how the recovered metzora is purified by the kohen (priest) with a special procedure involving two birds, spring water in an earthen vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread and a bundle of hyssop.