Parashat Masei: City of Refuge

Recently, the parents of a soldier killed by an accidental bullet from a fellow soldier invited the one who killed their son to express his condolences. They understood that their son’s friend was also shattered, bearing no real responsibility for the death. Yet a natural question remains: did the soldier do everything possible to prevent such an accident?

The mechanism of protection

In the ancient world, relatives of the slain typically avenged the death by killing the one responsible. The Torah introduced the concept of the City of Refuge: “And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying, Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan, into the land of Canaan: You are to select for yourselves [certain] towns; towns of asylum shall they be for you, for fleeing-to for the [accidental] murderer, one who strikes down a life in error. The cities shall serve you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the killer may not die unless he has stood trial before the assembly. [...] For the Children of Israel, for the sojourner and for the temporary-settler among them, these six towns are to be for asylum, for fleeing to for anyone who strikes down a person in error.” (Numbers 35:9–15)

If you accidentally killed someone, you fled to such a city for trial. If acquitted, you remained there until the High Priest’s death. Leave before then and you could be killed by the avenger without trial.

A complete world

The City of Refuge functioned as a protected enclave with good living conditions. The Talmud interprets “the cities shall serve you as a refuge” – specifically the word “you” – to mean “for all your needs” (Makkot 13a). The roads leading to it were accessible and clearly marked. Most inhabitants were not seeking refuge themselves. The Talmud rules that if a student was exiled, his teacher was exiled with him – without him, the student’s needs would not be met. According to Rabbi Yochanan, if the teacher was exiled, his entire academy was exiled alongside him to ensure his students’ complete welfare.

Intention and action

At the heart of the City of Refuge lies the conviction that moral judgment arises from the combination of intention and action. If you did not intend it, you did not sin. As Bahya ben Asher (1255–1340, one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye) wrote: “This law teaches us that the heart is the most important part of a person and the essential part of all commandments and all sins. Hence he is punished with exile and not with death, since his heart did not agree with the murder. There is no obligation for punishment with the death penalty until the body and the heart are partners in that murder, the body in the action and the heart in intention. Since both of them did not agree to this, he is exiled and not executed.” (Commentary on Numbers 35:11)

Yet the matter is more complex. There is a spectrum between fully intentional and fully accidental. Maimonides distinguishes between an accident bordering on unavoidable circumstance, an ordinary accident, and an accident bordering on intentional wrongdoing. An accident bordering on unavoidable circumstance describes something entirely unforeseeable – there was no way it could have been prevented. The person responsible doesn’t need to flee; he is legally protected. An accident bordering on intentional wrongdoing describes recklessness and complete disregard for consequences – like throwing a stone into a crowd. The killer isn’t entitled to shelter in the City of Refuge. According to Maimonides, the City of Refuge was intended only for the middle ground between these extremes (Laws of Murderer and the Preservation of Life, ch. 6).

Responsibility and forgiveness

These distinctions mirror modern criminal law, which recognizes intent even without conscious purpose – complete indifference to consequences, or knowingly assuming unreasonable risk with reckless disregard. The law also recognizes negligence without criminal intent: I was unaware, but I ought to have been.

These legal distinctions carry profound existential implications, touching on responsibility, forgiveness, and repentance. A person is accountable not only for what he intended but also for what he did. Forgiveness comes more easily for accidents bordering on unavoidable circumstance. Repentance for acts bordering on the intentional is far harder. The relationship between responsibility, forgiveness, and repentance nourishes some of the most meaningful dimensions of our lives.

Lior Tal Sadeh is an educator, writer, and author of “What Is Above, What Is Below” (Carmel, 2022). He hosts the daily “Source of Inspiration” podcast, produced by Beit Avi Chai.

For more insights into Parashat Masei, listen to “Source of Inspiration” (in Hebrew).

Translation of most Hebrew texts sourced from Sefaria.org

Main Photo: Fleeing to the City of Refuge\ Wikipedia