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Friday

י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Friday
י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

Mitzvah 408) To give the Levites cities to dwell in, which “catch”

Parshas Mas’ei

“Command the children of Yisrael and they shall give to the Levites from the portion of their inheritance cities for dwelling!” (Bamidbar 35:2)

It is a positive commandment that Klal Yisrael were commanded to give cities for dwelling from their portion to the tribe of Levi, as they have no portion of their own in the land, as it says “Command the children of Yisrael and they shall give to the Levites from the portion of their inheritance cities for dwelling!”. It also says at the end of the chapter, “All the cities that you give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities!”. From these cities of the Levites, some were set aside to catch the accidental murderers. However, even those which were not designated for the above had the power to “catch”.

The root of this commandment is that the tribe of Levi are the chosen one amongst the tribes, and set aside and prepared for the service of the house of Hashem, and they therefore do not have a portion of fields and vineyards, but they do need cities to live in with their wives, children and other household members. Due to the greatness of their level and the value of their deeds and the niceness of their value their land was chosen to save all accidental murderers in the hope that maybe their land which is sanctified with their holiness would atone for their sins. Another reason for this is that since the tribe of Levi were well-known for their good character-traits and wisdom everybody understands that they will not hate an escaping murderer and they will not touch him even if he killed one of their friends or relatives, since the killing was by accident. About this chosen tribe the verse relates “Who said about his father and his mother I have not seen him!” which means that they will never do anything in the world apart from that which is correct according to the path of truth, and even the love for parents and relatives which is natural will not change their attitude.

This commandment applies when Klal Yisrael are living on their land, and it is one of those commandment which is incumbent on the whole nation, and especially on the leaders and in the future after the inheritance and dwelling in the holy land they will immediately have completely fulfilled this commandment. It should come speedily in our times, Amen.