Weekly Sidra: Tazria (she conceived)
Shabbat: Shabbat HaChodesh
Torah Portion: Vayikra / Leviticus 12:1-13:59 
Special Maftir: Shemot / Exodus 12:1-20
Haftorah: Yechezkel / Ezekiel 45:18- 46:15

Tazria, Thazria, Thazri’a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria’ (תַזְרִיעַ — Hebrew for “she conceives,” the 13th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 27th weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. Jews in the Diaspora read it the 27th or 28th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in April. The name is derived from the words of Leviticus 12:2, where HaShem says to Moses, “When a woman [conceives] and bears a male child …” Leviticus 12 discusses the laws of purification after childbirth. Leviticus 13 introduces the laws for diagnosing and quarantining lepers. Except in biblical calendar leap years, Tazria is read together with the subsequent Torah portion, Metzorah, on the same Sabbath.

Note: On the Shabbat the Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. Here are this week`s aliyot:

This parsha continues after parsha Shemini where Aharon and his sons were installed into the priesthood. This parsha is frequently combined into a double parsha with Metzora, next week’s parsha, but this year, we are reading it as a single parsha.

Note: On the Shabbat the Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person "goes up" to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. Here are this week`s aliyot:

1st Aliya: This aliyah begins with the law of a woman who gives birth to a male child, and the law of brit-mila (circumcision) when the child is eight days old. The law of a woman who gives birth to a female child is given next. After that this aliyah describes the steps to be taken when a person contracts tzarat, a spiritual disease of the skin, that is often incorrectly translated as leprosy.

2nd Aliya: This aliyah continues to discuss the laws of the spiritual skin disease called tzarat. Here, cases of the disease being cured are discussed, as well as cases declared chronic tzarat. In this and in next week’s, parsha (Metzorah) we’ll see that the disease of tzarat can break out on a person’s skin, their clothes, or the walls of their house. Various sins are said to cause tzarat, included are: conceit or arrogance, lashon hora (derogatory talking about another person), acting miserly, idol worship (this was the punishment after the golden calf), immorality, murder, blaspheming God, robbing the public, and a person acting in a capacity not permitted to him.

3rd Aliya: The third aliyah discusses tzarat in the case where a person first had a physical affliction other than a burn, such as a boil, and it heals, and only after that tzarat develops in the place previously occupied by the boil.

4th Aliya: The fourth aliyah discusses tzarat in the case where a person first had a burn on their skin, and it heals, and only after that tzarat develops in the place previously occupied by the burn.

5th Aliya: The fifth aliyah discusses tzarat of the head or beard, which is characterized by hair falling out and leaving a bald patch.

6th Aliya: The sixth aliyah discusses baldness and the type of tzarat that may be associated with it. Also here are the procedures to be followed by the one who has tzarat (the Metzorah) which include him calling out loud that he is ritually impure and that he shall remain outside the camp, all alone, until his condition clears up. This aliyah also discusses tzarat that affects garments.

7th Aliya: The seventh aliyah contains the methods by which the Kohen examines and purifies garments from tzarat.