The laws of tzara’at take us deep within the world of purity and impurity that is central to the book of Vayikra. In Parashat Metzora, we learn that impurity can lurk anywhere, even in the walls of one’s house. Normal human experiences such as childbirth or seminal emissions can bring about ritual impurity; no one can possibly live their lives without it.
Maimonides, the great medieval philosopher, wrote that the entire system of purity laws was constructed to ensure that we don’t just casually enter into the sacred space of the Temple. We must be cognizant of our bodies and our spiritual status, and exert the necessary effort to be ready to enter that space.
Purity and impurity are almost impossible to fully grasp in a world so far removed from the rituals of Temple service. What once would have been a major force controlling religious experiences is now a murky stretch of biblical chapters and volumes of rabbinic literature that describe a sensitivity to forces and conditions that we generally lack.
The paradigmatic example of a ritual that required a state of purity is the Passover sacrifice. There is even a second Passover described in the Torah that is designed for those who couldn’t participate the first time around. While we have no lived experience of the full purity and impurity system, we certainly know what it is to miss a celebration.
