Below is a collection of Parashat Tazria resources created by The Lookstein Center staff or contributed to the site by Jewish educators.
This is a growing collection. Check back soon or write to us at content@lookstein.org if you didn’t find what you’re looking for.
DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Question #1: In Parashat Tazria, we learn about an unusual sickness called tzara’at. If someone was afflicted with this disease, they didn’t go to the doctor and get medicine to help them feel better – instead, they went to the Kohen (priest) who would diagnose them and instruct the sick person to leave their home, and live outside the camp or the city for a week. The rabbis explained that this was not a regular kind of sickness, but a punishment for lashon hara – speaking badly about others and hurting them or gossiping about them. This disease worked as a sort of “time out” – a person who was mean to others did not deserve to be together with others but was sent away to think about what he did and how to be a better person. Have you ever been hurt by something mean someone said about you? Were they punished? Did you ever have a “time out”? How did you feel about it?
Look inside the text (Vayikra 13: 2-3),
אָדָ֗ם כִּי יִהְיֶה בְעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ שְׂאֵת אוֹ סַפַּחַת אוֹ בַהֶרֶת וְהָיָה בְעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ לְנֶגַע צָרָעַת וְהוּבָא אֶל אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אוֹ אֶל אַחַד מִבָּנָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים – When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body, it should be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.
וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן אֶת הַנֶּגַע בְּעוֹר הַבָּשָׂר וְשֵׂעָר בַּנֶּגַע הָפַךְ לָבָן וּמַרְאֵה הַנֶּגַע עָמֹק מֵעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ נֶגַע צָרַעַת הוּא וְרָאָהוּ הַכֹּהֵן וְטִמֵּא אֹתוֹ׃ – The priest should examine the affection on the skin of his body: if the hair in the affected patch has turned white and the affection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is tzara’at; when the priest sees it, he should pronounce him unclean.
Question #2: This parasha teaches us about a disease called tzara’at. The Rabbis explain that this was a punishment for speaking badly about another person and spreading rumors. The Rabbis teach that harmful speech would hurt three people – the person saying it, the person being gossiped about, and the person who listened to the story. How can you be hurt just listening to someone saying bad things about another? What can you do if someone starts speaking badly about another?
Question #3: Tzara’at is a spiritual disease that has physical manifestations. One of the interesting features of tzara’at is that even with clear signs of tzara’at, the person (or the house) is not considered “infected” until he or she is declared impure by the Kohen (priest), so much so that the Kohen tells the afflicted person to clear the house before he pronounces the decision of pure/impure lest the person’s property is declared impure when the declaration is made. Imagine someone who has violated the norms of their society – for example, someone who put a friend’s money in bad investments to make himself lots of money – so much so that they need to be shunned, banned, excommunicated, or jailed. How are we to treat the people surrounding us – their parents, spouses, children, and siblings? Can we, should we, separate between them and those in their close orbit, or does that minimize the power of social exclusion?
Question #4: The Torah is famous for its democratization of knowledge. All knowledge is available to anyone who seeks it. Good translations make all classical Jewish texts available to all. Parashat Tazria describes the intricate details of diagnosing the spiritual disease of tzara’at, even though it is likely that few people ever really understood those details. Is it sometimes better to know less, or is it always better to have all of the information ever produced accessible at our fingertips? Is some information too dangerous, either for our physical or our spiritual well-being, to be accessible to all?