Parashat Tazria-Metzora: summary, verses and dates

Tazria and Metzora are read together in most years. Together they cover Leviticus 12:1 to 15:33, 157 verses.

תַזְרִיעַ־מְצֹרָע

Book: Leviticus
Reading: 12:1 to 15:33
Verses: 157
Position: 27 of 54

Opening verse

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

Leviticus 12:1

Read the full text from the start of the portion: Leviticus 12 in Hebrew and English.

Summary

Tazria (Leviticus 12:1 to 13:59)

The portion begins with the mother after childbirth: the days of impurity, the circumcision of a son on the eighth day, and the offerings brought when the period ends. Then it turns to tzaraat, a skin condition traditionally understood as a spiritual affliction rather than a medical one. The priest, not a doctor, examines swellings, scabs and bright spots, isolates the person for seven days, and declares them pure or impure. A person confirmed with tzaraat tears their clothes, covers their lip and lives outside the camp. The same condition can appear in wool, linen and leather garments, which are washed, examined again and burned if it spreads.

Metzora (Leviticus 14:1 to 15:33)

A person healed of tzaraat returns through a ceremony held outside the camp: two birds, cedar wood, crimson thread and hyssop, then shaving, washing and a week of waiting, then offerings at the sanctuary, with a reduced set for the poor. Tzaraat can also appear on the walls of a house in the land of Israel. The house is emptied, the stones are examined, and the affected ones are removed and replaced; if the condition returns, the house is demolished. The portion ends with the laws of bodily discharges in men and women and the purification that follows.

Key moments

Circumcision on the eighth day (12:1 to 12:8)
The priest examines the affliction (13:1 to 13:17)
Tzaraat in garments (13:47 to 13:59)
The two birds and the return to the camp (14:1 to 14:9)
Tzaraat in the walls of a house (14:33 to 14:53)
Purification after discharges (15:1 to 15:33)

When is Tazria-Metzora read?

Upcoming Shabbat readings in the Diaspora calendar:

Saturday, April 29, 2028
Saturday, April 21, 2029