Metzora, Metzorah, M'tzora, Mezora, Metsora, M'tsora, Metsoro, Meṣora, or Maṣoro ( — Hebrew for "one being diseased," the ninth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 28th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It addresses cleansing from skin disease (, tzara'at), houses with an eruptive plague, male genital discharges, and menstruation. The parashah constitutes The parashah is made up of 4,697 Hebrew letters, 1,274 Hebrew words, 90 verses, and 159 lines in a Torah Scroll (, Sefer Torah). Jews generally read it in April or, rarely, in 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, 2022, 2024, and 2027), parashah Metzora is read separately. In common years (for example, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025, 2026, 2028), parashah Metzora is combined with the previous parashah, Tazria, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings. Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot. First reading — Leviticus 14:1–12 In the first reading (, aliyah), God told Moses the ritual for cleansing one with a skin disease. If the priest saw that the person had healed, the priest would order two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop. The priest would order one of the birds slaughtered over fresh water and would then dip the live bird, the cedar wood, the crimson stuff, and the hyssop in the blood of the slaughtered bird. The priest would then sprinkle the blood seven times on the one who was to be cleansed and then set the live bird free. The one to be cleansed would then wash his clothes, shave off his hair, bathe in water, and then be clean. On the eighth day after that, the one being cleansed was to present two male lambs, one ewe lamb, choice flour, and oil for the priest to offer. Second reading — Leviticus 14:13–20 In the second reading (, aliyah), the priest was to kill the lamb and put some of its blood and the oil on the ridge of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the one being cleansed, and