The twenty-eighth reading from the Torah is Metzora, a word that means "leper." The word appears in the second verse of the reading, which says, "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing" (Leviticus 14:2). Leviticus 14 spells out the complex purification rituals for the cleansing of a leper and a leprous home. Leviticus 15 briefly covers the laws regarding ritual unfitness stemming from bodily emissions. Except in biblical calendar leap years, Metzora is read together with the previous Torah portion, Tazria, on the same Sabbath.
“Adir hu, yivneh beyto be’karov — bim’hera, bim’hera, be’yameynu be’karov. El b’ney, el b’ney, b’ney betkha be’karov,” which is to say: “Strong [Adir] is He, He will build His Temple soon — swiftly, swiftly, in days soon to come. Lord, build, Lord, build, build Your Temple soon.”
