This weeks exciting Torah portion is a double portion, Tazria-Metzora, and it gets into some intense commentary about tzara’at. A lot of people translate tzara’at as leprosy, but it’s not really the same thing as what we think of as leprosy today. It’s a mysterious condition that shows up on your skin, your clothes, even your house! But if you dig into what the Torah is saying, it seems like it’s talking about something deeper, something like a spiritual problem: perhaps, the disease of social exclusion. The Torah lays out the whole process for figuring out what’s going on with someone who might have tzara’at. A Kohen, a priest, would inspect the infected individual, and if they were diagnosed, they had to go into isolation, away from everyone else. And this wasn’t just physical isolation; it was social and spiritual, too. The person was considered ritually impure and couldn’t participate in communal life. 

Why would the ancient Israelites have such a strong reaction to a skin condition? Well, the Torah doesn’t really spell out the cause of tzara’at, but the results are pretty clear: separation and exclusion. And that really brings out something the Torah cares a lot about: the importance of the community being whole. Tzara’at, in this sense, is anything that interferes with sh’eimut, health and wholeness, from the word shalom. It makes someone, at least for a while, unable to be part of the whole. The Torah emphasizes how isolating tzara’at was. It says, “He shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his dwelling be.” (Leviticus 13:46). This isolation really drives home the social implications of the disease. So, whether tzara’at was a physical thing, a spiritual thing, or a symbol for something else, the main point is that, according to the Torah, it meant being removed from the community. 

The purification process for the metzora (the person who has tzara’at) really brings this theme home. All the elaborate rituals with the birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop? They’re all about creating intentional moments to bring a person into the community. The metzora isn’t just healed; they’re purified, cleansed of whatever isolated them. Truthfully, healing from tzara’at isn’t just about getting better physically; it’s about social and spiritual repair. It’s about getting a friend, or potential friend, back into their rightful place in the community. These rituals help make this reintegration happen in a few important ways. First, they acknowledge that the person has gone through a big change. The whole tzara’at experience has changed them, and the rituals recognize this transition. The purification process is symbolic. This cleansing is key to making the community feel comfortable welcoming the person back. 

The process is gradual, allowing someone to re-enter communal life at a pace that works for them. It can be tricky to welcome someone in. The fact that the Kohen and the community are involved in re-entry reminds us that being a part of a whole isn’t just up to the individual. The community has a big role to play in welcoming people in. Rituals are created as a public declaration that everyone has a place in our community. They have a place at the Torah, at our Shabbat tables, in our classrooms, and in our hearts.  

In our own lives, we may not encounter tzara’at in its biblical form, but we certainly encounter its modern-day equivalents. There are many ways in which people can be excluded and marginalized. We might even be at fault, intentionally or not, for excluding someone who deserves to be a part of our community. The Torah’s message in Tazria-Metzora remains relevant today. We are called upon to be mindful of the ways in which we include or exclude others, and to go out of our way to meet someone where they are so that we may create inclusive communities where everyone feels valued and respected. We must remember that a r’fuah shleimah, fully healing, involves not only physical health but also social interconnectedness and a sense of belonging. May we work towards building a Jeremiah and a world where all can find their place amongst and within our community.