Summary

Last week’s Portion described the signs of the metzora ( “leper”)—a person affected by a spiritual disease that  places him or her in a state of ritual impurity. This week’s Torah reading begins by detailing how the recovered metzora is healed  by the kohen (priest) with a special procedure involving two birds, spring water in a  vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread. A home can also be afflicted with tzaraat by the appearance of dark red or green patches on its walls. In a process lasting as long as nineteen days, a kohen determines if the house can be purified, or whether it must be totally destroyed.