In Honor of the Marriage of Daniel Johnson and Edwin Greenlee Rabbi Julie Greenberg The Torah portion this week, Metzora, is about an affliction called tazra’at that is
sometimes translated as leprosy. The strange thing about this disease in the Torah is
that it can affect a person, a garment or a house. Imagine that, a house with leprosy.
In the Torah portion, the Cohen, the priest is called in to diagnose the condition
and to treat it with elaborate rituals.
What can it possibly mean for a house to be sick? It’s clearly not the kind of
problem that a carpenter or plasterer or in these days a plumber or electrician could fix.
If so, why would you need a priest to address the situation? Clearly, the affliction of
tzara’at has to do with a spiritual disorder that requires healing of a spiritual nature.
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