Torah Portion for 05/27/2023

The transcription is from Leviticus, chapter 14, verses 1-57. It describes the process of cleansing a leper. The leper is brought to the priest who examines them to see if the leprosy is healed. If it is, the priest performs a ritual involving birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. The leper is then cleansed by sprinkling blood and is required to wash their garments and shave off all their hair. On the eighth day, the leper brings offerings to the priest for further cleansing. If the leper is poor, they can offer a different set of offerings. The transcription also includes instructions for cleansing a house that has been infected with leprosy. Stones with the plague are removed, the house is scraped and plastered, and if the plague returns, the house is torn down. The house is cleansed using birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. The transcription concludes by stating that Leviticus, chapter 14, verses 1 through 57. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, This shall be the Torah of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look and see if the leprosy is healed in the leper. Then the priest shall command, and he shall take for him who is to be cleansed, two live and clean birds, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command, and he shall slay one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. Let him take the live bird, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them in the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird loose in the open field. And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shall shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, and shall be clean. Then after that he comes into the camp, but shall stay outside his tent seven days. And on the seventh day it shall be that he shaves all the hair off his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shaves off. And he shall wash his garments, and wash his body in water, and be clean. And on the eighth day he takes two male lambs, perfect ones, and one ewe lamb, a year old, a perfect one, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. And the priest who is cleansing shall present the man who is to be cleansed with these offerings before Yahweh at the door of the tent of appointment. And the priest shall take one male lamb, and bring it as a gilt offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he slays the sin offering and the ascending offering, in a set-apart place. For the gilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest. It is most set-apart. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the gilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh. And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest put some of the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the gilt offering. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he puts on the head of him who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh. And the priest shall make the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterwards he slays the ascending offering. And the priest shall offer the ascending offering and the grain offering on the slaughter-place, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. But if he is poor and is unable to afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a gilt offering to be waived, to make atonement for him, and one-tenth of an ephah, a fine flower, mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil, and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford, and one shall be a sin offering, and the other an ascending offering. And he shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tent of appointment before Yahweh. And the priest shall take the lamb of the gilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall waive them as a waive offering before Yahweh. And he shall slay the lamb of the gilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the gilt offering, and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest pours some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh. And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the gilt offering. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he puts on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh. And he shall prepare one of the turtle doves, or young pigeons, such as he is able to afford, that which he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering, and the other as an ascending offering, with the grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before Yahweh. This is the Torah for one who had an infection of leprosy, who is unable to afford for his cleansing. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe and to Aaron, saying, When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession, then shall the one who owns the house come and inform the priest, saying, It seems to me that there is some plague in the house. And the priest shall command, and they shall empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the plague, so that all that is in the house is not made unclean. And after that the priest goes in to look at the house, and he shall look at the plague and see, if the plague is on the walls of the house with sunken places, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look and see if the plague has spread on the walls of the house. Then the priest shall command, and they shall remove the stones with the plague in them, and they shall throw them outside the city into an unclean place, while he lets the house be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. And they shall take the other stones, and put them in the place of those stones, and take other mortar and plaster the house. And if the plague comes back, and breaks out in the house, after he has removed the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, then the priest shall come and look and see, if the plague has spread in the house, it is an act of leprosy in the house, it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, its stones, and its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall bring them outside the city to an unclean place. And he who goes into the house, all the days while it is shut up, becomes unclean until evening. And he who lies down in the house has to wash his garments, and he who eats in the house has to wash his garments. However if the priest indeed comes in and looks at it, and sees that the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And to cleanse the house, he shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop, and he shall slay one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and shall sprinkle the house seven times. He shall thus cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and the running water, and the live bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet. And he shall let the live bird loose outside the city in the open field, and shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. This is the Torah for any infection of leprosy, and eruption, and for leprosy of a garment, and of a house, and for a swelling, and for a scab, and for a bright spot, to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean. This is the Torah of leprosy.