Tzaraath
Sign in to saveTzaraath (Hebrew: ṣāraʿaṯ), variously transcribed into English and frequently translated as leprosy (though it is not Hansen's disease, the disease known as "leprosy" in modern times), is a term used in the Bible to describe various ritually impure disfigurative conditions of the human skin, clothing, and houses. Skin tzaraath generally involves patches that are white and contain unusually colored hair. Clothing and house tzaraath consists of a reddish or greenish discoloration.
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Encyclopedic overview
25 sectionsContents
- Name
- Affliction of the body
- Skin patches
- Boils and burns
- Scalp or beard
- Inspection and pronouncement
- Impure status
- Purification ritual
- Stories involving tzaraat
- Affliction of clothing
- Affliction of housing
- In Rabbinic Judaism
- Laws of skin
- Laws of clothing
- Laws of houses
- Interpretations
- Current practice
- Modern medical interpretations
- ''Tzaraath'' of the skin
- Similar conditions not considered ''tzaraath''
- In clothing fabrics
- In houses
- Notes
- References
- External links
Tzaraath (Hebrew: ṣāraʿaṯ), variously transcribed into English and frequently translated as leprosy (though it is not Hansen's disease, the disease known as "leprosy" in modern times), is a term used in the Bible to describe various ritually impure disfigurative conditions of the human skin, clothing, and houses. Skin tzaraath generally involves patches that are white and contain unusually colored hair. Clothing and house tzaraath consists of a reddish or greenish discoloration.
The laws of tzaraath are given in depth in chapters 13–14 of Leviticus, and several Biblical stories describe individuals who have contracted tzaraath.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tzaraath” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.