Signs That Say Refuge

About This Talk

Chapter 8 makes setting aside cities of refuge a positive commandment that applies only in the Land of Israel: Moshe set aside three across the Jordan and Yehoshua three in Canaan, and none gave refuge until all six existed, yet Moshe designated his three anyway, saying that a mitzvah had come to his hand; in the era of the King Mashiach three more will be added in the lands of the Keni, Kenizi and Kadmoni promised to Avraham. The court must build and maintain roads to the cities at least thirty-two cubits wide, bridge every river and level every hill and valley, post signs reading Refuge, Refuge at every intersection, and send inspectors every fifteenth of Adar, and a court that neglects them is as if it shed blood; the cities are measured to be evenly spaced, are of middle size, set near water and markets in populated areas, are repopulated with priests, Levites and Israelites if they shrink, and allow no snares or rope traps so the blood redeemer has no reason to come. All forty-eight Levite cities give refuge, but the six designated cities protect even one who entered without that intent and give lodging free of rent, while the other Levite cities protect only one who entered intending refuge and charge rent; the surrounding area protects too, though the killer may not live there, and a tree inside the boundary whose branches reach outside protects one who stands beneath its leaves, while a tree outside whose branches reach in protects him only once he reaches the trunk. Chapter 9 sets out the decapitated calf: when a slain body is found in a field and the killer is unknown, five elders of the High Court measure exactly from the nose to the nearby cities that have a court of twenty-three, never to Jerusalem, which was not divided among the tribes, and not at all near a border town or a city of gentiles; a more populous city brings the calf over a closer one, since number outweighs proximity, and two equal cities at equal distance bring one calf in partnership with a stipulation; the calf is decapitated with a cleaver from behind at a strongly flowing river, the elders wash their hands and declare that our hands did not shed this blood, meaning that they did not let him leave without provisions or without accompaniment, and the priests ask for atonement for Israel. The calf is brought only for one slain by a weapon, lying exposed on the ground, in a field and not hanging or floating, whose killer is unknown, so that even one witness, a servant or a woman who saw the killer prevents it, which is why the rite ceased late in the Second Temple period when murderers became open; detailed rules decide between conflicting witnesses, with the majority followed among those otherwise unacceptable. Chapter 10 applies the rite in the Land of Israel and across the Jordan; the calf may be up to two years old, is not disqualified by blemishes but is by being a trefah, and is disqualified by any work and by a yoke carried even a handbreadth; it is decapitated only by day, never two at once since mitzvot are not done in bundles, and becomes forbidden for benefit once brought down to the river; if the witnesses are proven false it is permitted, if the killer is found before the decapitation it returns to the herd, and if found afterward it is buried and the killer is still executed; the river valley may never be plowed or sown, on pain of lashes, though work not done with the soil itself is permitted, and a city that delays bringing the calf is compelled to bring it even years later.