What is "metzora"

Metzora may refer to:

• Metzora (parsha), the 28th weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading
• A person affected by skin disease, or tzaraath

Metzora, Metzorah, M'tzora, Mezora, Metsora, or M'tsora ( — Hebrew for "one being diseased," the ninth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 28th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Leviticus. It constitutes The parashah is made up of 4,697 Hebrew letters, 1,274 Hebrew words, and 90 verses, and can occupy about 159 lines in a Torah Scroll (, Sefer Torah).

Jews generally read it in April or, rarely, in early May. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years (for example, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2024, and 2027), parashah Metzora is read separately. In common years (for example, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025, 2026, 2028), parashah Metzora is combined with the previous parashah, Tazria, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings.

The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It addresses cleansing from skin disease (, tzara'at), houses with an eruptive plague, male genital discharges, and menstruation.