The weekly Torah portion (Sedarot, Parashot or Parshiyot) were not always known by the names we refer to them today.
In a study published in the periodical Sinai (1998), Ilana Katzenellenbogen has shown that in the days of the Geonim and the early Rishonim, the names of the weekly portions were different from the names we use. For the most part , the weekly portions were called by their first word or first two words. Only in instances where the first words of a portion also appear in other portions were the weekly portions called by the words which immediately follow the opening words.
Here are some names of the weekly portions as they appear in the writings of early authorities, followed in brackets by the names in use today. Veyikhu li (Terumah), Tzav et Aharon (Tzav), Zot Tihyeh (Metzora), Behar Sinai (Behar) and Zot Hukkat HaTorah (Hukkat).
After the names of the weekly portions underwent changes and what was once called Zot Tihyeh became known as Metzora, there were rabbinical personalities and even entire communities that didn’t want to use the word Metzora as a name for a portion of the Torah.
The Hida (Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulay) in his books on the Torah and the Haftarot (Rosh David, Pnei David and more) calls the weekly portion of Metzora by the name Tohora. (We refer here only to the first printing of these books, which appeared during the lifetime of the Hida. In later editions some printer might have substituted the better known Metzora for Tohora).
In changing the name of the portion, the Hida followed in the footsteps of the Talmudic sages, who called the order of the Mishna and a tractate within it that deal with the purification of impurities, Tohorot. Maimonides, in the introduction to his commentary on the Mishna, explains that Tohorot was a euphemism (Loshon Nekiya). Maimonides himself called the book in his Mishneh Torah which speaks of the purification of impurities– Sefer Tohora.
Even in his travel diary, the Hida uses the name Tohora for Metzora. Thus he writes at one point: “The third of Nissan, the third day of the week in which we read the portion of Tohora” (Maagal Tov HaShalem, p. 46, Jerusalem,1934).
The only book in which the Hida uses the name Metzora is his Nahal Kedumim, a commentary on the Torah. The commentary was originally printed, along with other commentaries in Or Torah (Livorno, 1795-1797).
It seems that because Or Torah featured not only a commentary by the Hida, but also other contributors, the printer didn’t want to use the name Tohora, with which many users of this book were probably not familar. The name Metzora was retained (as far as I could ascertain) in all the other editions of Nahal Kedumim which were all printed after the death of the Hida.
The Hida was neither the first nor the only one to call the portion of Metzorah by the name Tohora. I found the name Tohora in two books which were printed in the first part of the 18th century. It seems that in Istanbul the portion of Metzora was generally known by this name. Tohora appears on a Jewish wall calendar printed in Istanbul in 1750 and in a general Jewish calendar printed there in 1788. (The two calendars are found in the Jewish National and University Library and in the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem, respectively.)
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 26, 2002
(Conclusion)
In many books printed in Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey, in the second half of the 19th century, the weekly portion of Metzora is called Tohora. One may assume that at least from that time on the Jews of that city called this Sidra by that name.
Tohora was not the only name employed by those who did not want to use the name Metzora.
Rabbis and scholars of Aleppo, Syria, have apparently used the name Tahor for the Sidra of Metzora since the end of the 18th century. The name Tahor is found in the works of rabbis and scholars of Aleppo that were printed in Livorno, Aleppo and in the Land of Israel. Rabbis in the Land of Israel who hail from Aleppo continue to use the name Tahor in their publications. There is no doubt that this is the name by which Aleppo Jews have been calling the portion of Metzora for generations.
Rabbi Yosef Hayyim ben Elijah of Baghdad was perhaps the first or one of the first rabbis to call the Sidra of Metzora by the name Tohorot. We find this name in his great work, Ben Ish Hai, printed for the first time in Jerusalem in 1898.
In an earlier work of his, Aderet Eliyahu, printed in Livorno in 1864, he still employs the name Metzora which shows that until his time the Jews of Baghdad used the name Metzora. Following Rabbi Yosef Hayyim, other Baghdad scholars began to use the name Tohorot, which eventually was accepted by the entire community.
In the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem I saw calendars from the years 5712-5732 (1951-1952 until 1971-1972), printed by the remnants of the Baghdad Jewish community in which Tohorot is given as the name of the weekly portion of Metzora.
I was told by my late friend Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Katzenellenbogen that the Yemenites call the Sidrah of Metzora, Zot Tihyeh. Thus it was also in Yemen. When the names of the weekly portions underwent changes, Yemenite Jews, too were affected, probably by the importation of books printed in other countries. Generally their names for the Torah portions are the same as ours. But seemingly, when it came to the Sidra Metzora, they didn’t want to accept this name and preferred to retain Zot Tihye.
(Before continuing, I would like to say a few words about the late Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Kazenellenbogen. He was a son of the late Gaon Rabbi Raphael Katzenellenbogen of Jerusalem and a great rabbinical scholar in his own right. He served for many years as assistant to Rav Y.L Maimon Fishman and as senior editor at the Rav Kook Publishing House, and in that capacity edited important rabbinic writings. Later he was appointed general director of Mossad HaRav Kook. Together with the late Rabbi Shiloh Raphael he founded Mossad HaRav Kook’s “Institute of the Publication of Rishonim and Aharonim” which printed the novellae of the Rashba, the Ritva and other books. He died on the 29th of Shevat 5761 at the age of 74. He was beloved and highly esteemed by all who knew him. A short time ago a special issue of the periodical Sinai was published in his memory.)
Hasidic leaders, generally did not object to the use of the name Metzora. An exception seems to bee the late Rabbi Hayyim Eleazar Shapiro of Munkacz In his Hayyim VeShalom (2 parts, Sigeht, 1938), which was published after his death by his son-in-law and successor, Rabbi Baruch Rabinowitz, the Torah portion is call Zot Tihye Torat.
The Jewish Press, Friday, May 3, 2002