Parashat Tazria-Metsora
1 Iyar, 5786 / April 18, 2026
By Rabbi Kirk Gliebe
This Week's Readings:
Torah: Leviticus 12:1-15:33
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24
Brit Chadashah: Romans 10:13-17
After I became a believer in Messiah Yeshua at the age of 15, I soon found that almost all of my friends began to “unfriend” me. This partly came about because I was no longer doing the things I used to do, but mostly this happened because I was openly passionate, and sometimes too insistent, about my new faith. Most of my friends just didn’t want to hear what I was saying to them about Yeshua. It didn’t take long for me to feel like a complete outsider. In time I learned to better communicate my faith, as well as to accept life as an outsider for Messiah Yeshua within the Jewish community.
In the Torah portion today, we read about the laws for the unclean. As I was reading through the passages, I realized that probably every one of us has fallen into the category of unclean at some point in our lives. There is really no way around it, we have all experienced some kind of nasty discharge from a scab or scratch or something. Of all the ways to be unclean, leprosy was definitely the worst. Lepers were not only unclean, they were cast out of the city. As a leper you lived a life outside of the community.
The Haftarah portion gives us information about Messiah’s future Kingdom. In this portion G-d provides both encouragement and the promise of punishment. Encouragement for those who humbly respect G-d and his expectations, and punishment for those who remain disobedient and rebellious toward G-d and his expectations. In verse 8 Isaiah asks the question, “Who has heard such things? Who has seen such things?” The writer is expressing amazement regarding G-d’s ultimate plan to bring those who have been far from him, close starting with Israel, and then extending to all mankind. In the end of days God will call all people from the earth to be holy and to be His people. This will be the time when there will be a new heaven and new earth. The sinful influences of this life will no longer exist, and just as there will be no sickness because there will be no exposure to disease, there will be no sinfulness either because there will be no exposure to sinful temptation. All people will be in close relationship with G-d, just like G-d planned for it to be at the beginning.
In the Brit Chadashah portion Paul asks the question “How?” How will they believe the good news? How will they hear the good news? How will anyone hear the good news if nobody preaches it? It’s clear from the Scriptures that G-d expects those who believe in him to be his hands and feet and voice, to show and share the Besora, Good News, with the people around them. If we don’t share the message of Messiah Yeshua with the people we know, they might not hear it, and possibly never come to have a personal relationship with G-d.
What have you done lately to share G-d’s message with the people around you? Sometimes we are afraid of sharing our faith because we are afraid we won’t be taken seriously; we won’t be accepted and trusted. The reality is that sometimes we are treated poorly and even rejected, put “outside the camp”. But that shouldn’t stop us. People may consider us outcasts from the Jewish community and even our greater community because of our belief in Messiah Yeshua, but the truth is that we have been called to speak up about our faith, regardless of how people view us, including our close family and friends.