Tazria continues the laws of purity and impurity begun in Shemini. One of the key roles of the Priest was to be able to distinguish tahor from tamei, pure from impure, the latter debarring an individual from entering the sacred space of the Sanctuary.

One example given is the length of time a woman must wait after giving birth, which differs when she is mother to a son or a daughter.

Othello, WikiLeaks, and Mildewed Walls
It was the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, that translated tsara'at, the condition whose identification and cleansing occupies much of Tazria…
The Plague of Evil Speech
The Rabbis moralised the condition of tzara’at – often translated as leprosy – the subject that dominates both Tazria and Metzora. It was, they said,…
The Circumcision of Desire
It is hard to trace with any precision the moment when a new idea makes its first appearance on the human scene, especially one as…
How to Praise
The Sages were eloquent on the subject of lashon hara, evil speech, the sin they took to be the cause of tsara’at. But there is…
The Price of Free Speech
Hannah Smith was a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl living in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Bright and outgoing, she enjoyed an active social life and seemed to have an exciting…
Words That Heal
At the risk of disclosing a spoiler, I would like to begin this week’s Covenant & Conversation by discussing the 2019 film A Beautiful Day…
The Sacrifices of Childbirth
At the start of this parsha is a cluster of laws that challenged and puzzled the commentators. They concern a woman who has just given…
The Power of Praise
From time to time couples come to see me before their wedding. Sometimes they ask me whether I have any advice to give them as…
The Eighth Day
Our parsha begins with childbirth and, in the case of a male child, “On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised”…
Holiness and Childbirth
The sidrot of Tazria and Metzora contain laws which are among the most difficult to understand. They are about conditions of “impurity” arising from the…
Maternal Identity
Advances in medical technology such as in vitro fertilisation have raised complex ethical and legal questions. In the case of surrogacy for example – where…
The Sign of the Covenant
The sedra of Tazria begins with the laws of childbirth and the command of circumcision: “On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall…