parshat Tazria

Brit milah helps transform the male from baal to ish, from dominant partner to loving husband, just as God tells Hosea that this is what He seeks in His relationship with the people of the covenant.

The laws of ritual purity, though they seem unpleasant, are a direct function of the greatness of the people of Israel. Only Israel, is required to distance itself from impurity to such a great extent.

Brit milah helps transform the male from baal to ish, from dominant partner to loving husband, just as God tells Hosea that this is what He seeks in His relationship with the people of the covenant.

We will try to prove now that tzara’at is also the result of lacking between man and his fellow man. At first glance, this is almost a trivial task, as Chazal teach us that the main cause of tzara’at is lashon hara, one of the most basic interpersonal sins.

Parashat Tazria opens with the command to do a brit mila on a baby’s eighth day. It would seem that we thereby make a bodily sign of being like slaves of Hashem, which would indicate that we left the bondage of Egypt to be slaves to Hashem. So in what way did we become free men? We will investigate this matter as we go through, in the coming weeks, the holidays of spring (Pesach, Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut, Lag Ba’omer, Yom Yerushalayim, and Shavuot).

Explaining why the fact that one can only get tzara'at - a biblical disease - in Israel is actually a good thing for Israelis!

May I be mekadeish levanah now, although I am indoors, and I am also obviously looking at the moon through a window? The brocha of borei me’orei ha’eish on an electric light - could one do this when a lightbulb must be encased in glass for it to burn? What do the above questions have to do with this week’s parsha?

When we lose someone close to us, the pain is almost unbearable. How can we find solace and comfort at such times?

A Short video connecting the Parasha to the land of Israel

A Shiur by Rabbi Zalman Melamed for the weekly portion "Tazria-Metzora"