Parashat Metzora

Bringing new meaning to the status of a menstruating woman.

Metzora: A resource for families.

Four lepers save the Israelite camp.

How to create a society that recognizes and meets the needs of ill and marginalized people.

When we embrace with one hand but push away with the other, it's the push that remains in lasting memory.

Rabbinic interpreters regarded leprosy as punishment for the sin of careless speech.

An internal process of repentance must accompany the external, physical cleansing for leprosy.

The image of a house afflicted with a plague encourages us to examine what real and metaphorical plagues afflict our own homes and societies.

God describes the purification ritual for people and homes afflicted with leprosy; God also instructs Moses and Aaron regarding the laws of the emission of bodily fluids.

Parshat Metzora calls attention to how we treat those who are excluded and alienated from our society.

We can learn numerous lessons from the statement of the owner of a house that appears to be afflicted with spiritual defilement.

Just as the priest went out from the community to welcome back those afflicted with leprosy, we too should reach out to those who feel excluded.

Even if we view leprosy as a punishment, we must work to heal the afflicted, allowing our sense of compassion to override justice or logic.