Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Masei/0/en
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Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Masei
Cities of Refuge or Exile? Bemidbar 35 speaks of the creation of ערי מקלט (cities of refuge) as places to which an inadvertent killer might flee from a גואל הדם (blood avenger). See Arei Miklat – Cities of Refuge or Exile for more.
- What does this law suggest about the Torah's view of blood avengers? On one hand the very existence of such cities attests to the fact that the Torah does not want the unintentional killer to die. On the other hand, this institution simultaneously attests to the fact that the Torah did not outlaw avenging of blood. If the גואל הדם is a negative institution, why allow it at all? If it is legitimate, why protect the unintentional murderer from them?
- The flip side of the question relates to the Torah's evaluation of the unintentional murderer. How culpable does the Torah hold him? Is he totally innocent, and sent to the cities only for his own good? If so, though, why is he only allowed to leave the city at the death of the high priest and not at his own discretion? Does this suggest that perhaps he, too, is somewhat deserving of punishment, and that the cities are a form of mandatory exile rather than a safe haven?
