Tazria

The Poor Widow's Offering (illustration by Frederick Goodall)

Tazria, Thazria, Thazri'a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria' (תַזְרִיעַ‎—Hebrew for "she conceives", the 13th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah, where the root word זֶרַע‎ means "seed") is the 27th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. The parashah is made up of 3,667 Hebrew letters, 1,010 Hebrew words, 67 verses, and 128 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).[1]

Jews read it the 27th or 28th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in April or, rarely, in late March or 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, 2024 and 2027), Parashat Tazria is read separately. In common years (for example, 2025, 2026, and 2028), Parashat Tazria is combined with the next parashah, Metzora, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.[2]

  1. ^ "Torah Stats for VaYikra". Akhlah Inc. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  2. ^ "Parashat Tazria". Hebcal. Retrieved April 2, 2016.