Cities of Refuge
Clear signposting to Cities of Refuge is crucial for fast escape routes. Each year on the 15th of Adar, as winter ends, the court is instructed to repair roads to facilitate swift escape to these cities.
- צוריאל גביזון
- פורסם כ"ד חשון התשע"ד
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- A City of Refuge is a city where a person who accidentally killed someone must flee.
- The stay in the city serves two purposes: protecting the killer from the avenger of the blood, and as a punishment for killing someone due to negligence. For the second reason, fleeing to the City of Refuge is obligatory, even when the killer faces no threat.
- In the Cities of Refuge, priests or Levites resided. The accidental killer would flee immediately after the killing to one of these cities. The aim of the escape was to prevent the avenger of the blood from coming and taking revenge on his slain relative. If the avenger killed the murderer outside the Cities of Refuge, he was exempt from punishment.
- The Gemara teaches that if a teacher kills unintentionally, all his students move to study with him in the City of Refuge. Similarly, if a student is exiled to a City of Refuge, the teacher goes with him.
- There is a duty to mark the way to the Cities of Refuge with clear signs so as to allow the fastest possible escape to the City of Refuge. Each year on the 15th of Adar, as winter ends, the court is instructed to repair the roads to allow quick escape to the Cities of Refuge.
- In the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, it is told that Moses set aside three Cities of Refuge across the Jordan River: Bezer in the territory of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in the territory of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.
- In the Book of Joshua (20:1-9), it is said that Israel dedicated Kedesh in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and Kiryat Arba (Hebron) in the territory of the tribe of Judah as Cities of Refuge. According to the opinion of Abaye (Talmud Makkot 10a), all 48 Levitical cities served as Cities of Refuge, but the six known Cities of Refuge provide protection even to those who fled to the city without knowing it was a refuge city, unlike the other 42, as ruled by the Rambam.
- In the Book of Exodus (21:14), it states: "But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar to be put to death." The sages deduced from this verse that in such conditions, the altar does not protect the murderer, but it does provide temporary protection if the murderer meets three conditions: 1. The murderer killed unintentionally, not deliberately. 2. He is not holding the altar but is on it. 3. He is a priest performing service.
- In any other case, the murderer is taken forcibly to the court(or, if an unintentional killer is convicted, the avenger of blood is permitted to kill him), even if he is a priest required to stop his sacrificial duty.
- In the time to come, when Hashem expands the boundaries of the land, an additional three Cities of Refuge will be added, totaling nine cities.
