Show Notes
This week's parsha, Tazria, continues to focus on the laws of tumah and tahara, spiritual impurity and purity. Among other lessons, we learn about:
A new mother, who must bring korbanot to God in order to thank Him for having survived the dangers of childbirth.
Brit Milah, the rule that every eight day old male must be circumcised as a way of showing they are joining on to the Brit (covenant or treaty) God made with Avraham.
The laws of Tzaraat, a skin and clothing condition that God brought upon a person to serve as a wake-up call and help them realize they needed to do teshuva and repent for their wrong choices.
Lashon hara, or evil speech, a main reason why someone would have received Tzaraat. Evil speech can cause a person to become excluded from their community, and someone who receives tzaraat upon their body must also physically remove themselves from their community. Hopefully, this experience will cause them to feel more empathy and to refrain from engaging in evil speech in the future.
More from Parsha for Kids
In the last parsha of the Torah, V'Zot HaBracha, Moshe dies. But what matters is not that he died- rather, the way he died. Moshe approached God alone. There were no adoring crowds. No family surrounding him. It was just the man and his Maker. And this is something that will happen to us all. We will all, ultimately, approach God. The question to be answered is simply this: have we lived a life that we are proud to show to God?
This week's parsha, Haazinu, is actually a song! Moshe wanted to make sure that the core ideas of Judaism would be accessible to everyone, whether or not they were able to read. In this song, we focus on some important ideas. These include: