As we consider the Jewish calendar, observance of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and the festivals, laws governing roles and obligations have value and offer guidance.

This week we read from the double portion Acharei Mot/K’doshim.

I chose to write about this portion because Acharei Mot was the portion of the week of my adult Bat Mitzvah in 1995.

This week’s Parshah, Tazria-Metzora, deals with all kinds of ritual impurity, including the skin disease, tzara’at, usually translated as leprosy. An afflicted individual is to be placed outside the Israelites’ camp until the disease is gone.

I recall my high school years as an intense time of personal growth – understanding who I was, how I saw the world, which values resonated with me and which actions best expressed those values.

“Why?” As children, we wonder about the color of the sky, and we ponder the rules of the games of the playground. Eventually, we start to ask bigger “why” questions: Why do some people have everything when others have nothing?

There was a girl who used to journey from her home into the woods every day to pray. She would leave her house, walk the long path winding through the trees, and pray to God. Upon finishing her prayer, she would walk the long path back home.

The parashah for this week is Tzav from Leviticus 6:1-8:36. It deals with the conclusion of the extensive instructions about sacrifices that began in Leviticus 1:2 and the priests’ ordination.

Parashat Vayikra, which in Hebrew means “and [God] called,” from the third book of the Torah, Leviticus, begins with obligations given to Moses by [God]: “The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting saying: Speak to the Israelite people.

Vayak’hel/Pekudei concludes the book of Exodus, solidifying the freed Israelites into a people through the establishing of Shabbat (holy time) and the building of the Mishkan (holy space). The detail with which the text describes the artistic design and...