The Torah relates in our Parasha, that:(38:8-156):
’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying;’Speak to Bnei Israel and say to them: When you cross the River Jordan to the Land of Canaan, you shall designate cities for yourselves, cities of refuge they shall be for you, and a killer shall flee there - one who takes a life unintentionally.
‘The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the killer should not die until he stands before the assembly for judgment.’
(35:28)’He shall dwell in it until the death of the Kohen Gadol whom one who had been anointed with the sacred oil.’
We further read:
(35:28)'The one who has bern adjudged to find refuge in one of the cities of refuge,’must dwell in his city of refuge until the death of the Kohen Gadol, and after the death of the Kohen Gadol, the murderer shall return to his possession.’
Abarbanel asks the obvious question that arises, on these psukim:’Why did the Torah tie the stay of the murderer in the city of refuge, to the death of the Kohen Gadol, and what is the relevance of the words:’The Kohen Gadol who has been anointed with the sacred oil?’
Rashi comments:’Because he’ - the Kohen Gadol - ‘comes to cause the Shechina to dwell on israel, and to lengthen their days, whilst the murderer comes to chase away the Shechina from Israel, and to shorten life, it is not appropriate that they should be before the Kohen Gadol.
‘Another thing: Since it was for the Kohen Gadol to pray for the people, that there should not arise this obstruction to Israel, in his lifetime.’
Abarbanel advances a different answer to our query: ’The Torah chose the death of the Kohen Gadol as the time for the return of the murderer from his exile in the city of refuge, because - the Kohen Gadol being such a prominent person in Israel - that event would have a major sobering impact and cause all the people to be fearful, reflecting that the life span of man is like that of a passing shadow’ and this will lead all - including any avenger - to remove any thoughts of revenge from his mind.
‘He will thereupon forget his private sorrow at what was done to the one who was close to him who was killed.
‘It was for this reason that the Torah said: Till the death of the Kohen Gadol, he being the great one, whose death would cause all thoughts of vengeance, to be forgotten.
‘Our Sages (Makot 11.) said: Because his death atoned for Israel, as he should have prayed for mercy for his generation - and he didn’t’.
‘As to the words: ’Who was anointed with the sacred oil’, could be said to allude to Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu, Who anointed him with the sacred oil, and elevated him, to be the most honored in the nation - so who would be concerned at the death of a close friend, as against the national tragedy which befell the entire nation?’.
Haktav veHakabalah advances another reason, for this being the release from the city of refuge:’Since inadvertent killings will inevitably occur - and the perpetrators be obliged to go into exile in the cities of refuge - undoubtedly the circumstances would vary in each case, as each would depend upon the intention and according to the specific case, to go into exile - and by our standards of judging, one would be obligated to be exiled tor ine year, another for two, and the third one, ten years, according to the specifics of the event.
‘Our Sages say - as to inadvertent killing - that it occurs when two are in a hostel, one meriting death and the other meriting exile - one kills the other in a manner that the one who merits death, is killed, and the other - exile; as we are told:’Hashem, before whom all is revealed, does justice’ - and knows how many years of exile the one merits, and He also knows how many years of life the Kohen Gadol has remaining.
‘Therefore, He ensures that the number of years the inadvertent killer will have to remain in exile in the city of refuge - till the ordained death of the Kohen Gadol - is the number of years that he merited exile.
‘Had there been the one fixed period of exile to all inadvertent killers, clearly justice would not be done - as it varies from case to case - and this is clearly correct.’
Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl precedes his exposition on our subject, by bringing the parsha of Noach, where - despite the decree having been issued Above - that ‘the end of all flesh had come’ - the flood was called: מי נח: ‘the waters of Noach’, Hashem faulting him as bearing responsibility for not having prayed for mercy, this despite the decree having been made.’
Ask the Rav: ’Could his prayer, in these circumstances, had any effect ? ‘And he answers that: we can offer an answer, from our parsha, and the role played by the Kohen Gadol - Rashi blaming him, that by reason of his prayers - or lack of prayer - the inadvertent killing occurred in his lifetime.
‘More surprising - to us - is the halakha that, if the Kohen Gadol during whose reign, the inadvertent killing occurred, dies before a verdict has been rendered as to that killing, that Kohen Gadol dies, and another Kohen Gadol is anointed - in that case, the inadvertent killer - if adjudged to exile - remains there till the death of the second Kohen Gadol, even though he was not in office at the time of the killing.
‘The reason for attributing blame to him, is - again - that the adverse judgment was, in some way, due to his failure to pray that the killer be exonerated by the Beit Din!
‘To understand this wondrous matter, let us note a special halakha: in capital cases, the defendant is exonerated if all the judges rule that he was guilty- Why? Because if not one of them found in favor of the accused, they must not have performed their duty fully, evidenced by the failure of any one judge, to find reason to acquit!
‘What relevance can this have to our situation - that some measure of blame attaches to the Kohen Gads, for the exile to the city of refuge, of our inadvertent killer?
‘The answer is to contemplate the role of the Kohen Gadol: it is to elevate the spiritual level of the world, by his service of Hashem - and, within his people, as the most sanctified and elevated of all.
‘Had he performed his role as required, the world would be elevated to a level where the inadvertent killer would not be found liable to exile, by the Beit Din - as at that elevated level, assuredly there would be found a side of merit to acquit - and to spare him, exile.
‘However, in our own imperfect world, the judges adjudged - and this too is a true judgement - that the verdict was: exile.
‘Since the Kohen Gadol did not succeed to raise the level of the world - he bears an element of blame, which was the reason that - as our Sages relate - his mother, to appease the residents of the city of refuge, presents them with gifts so that they not pray for his death - which would allow their sons to return home.’
Rav Moshe Sternbuch adds:’The case of the second Kohen Gadol’ - which we elucidated in the preceding exposition - ‘involves a novel element: That though the exile to the city of refuge is an atonement for his inadvertent act, nevertheless the Kohen Hagadol - the tzadik o the generation - is required to pray for mercy, that the killer be acquitted - meaning: that Hashem, beyond the strict letter of the law, accept his repentance from his bad ways, without him suffering the pangs of exile - and the Kohen Gadol is called to account, for his failure to pray for this.’
Rav David Hofstedter brings our Rashi, and wonders: ’Why is the Kohen Gadol ascribed blame - for not praying -only for this transgression, and not also for other transgressions by Bnei Israel, such as idolatry and not keeping the Shabbat?
‘Further, what of the case of the second Kohen Gadol anointed, who is ascribed blame for inadvertent killings committed before his assuming the role, on the death of his predecessor.
‘The answer may be, that in truth, the Kohen Gadol is held accountable for not praying for inadvertent killings which occurred during his reign - not only because of his standing at the head of the people - but because they negate the essence of the Kehuna.
‘Our Sages extol peace as being one of the foundations of Aaron and his tribe - this being true of every Kohen, which is evidenced by every Kohen having the zechut of ‘the Priestly Blessing’, which concludes:’and place on you, shalom’.
‘As this is the essence of Kehuna, inadvertent killing is a negation of this attribute - more so, in the case of a Kohen Gadol.
‘Any killing - even inadvertent - testifies to a breach of the comity and amity which should bind everyone in Israel - as had the killer the required feeling of good-will towards every Jew, he would have taken greater care not to kill.
‘Had the Kohen Gadol performed his role in perfection - one of whose pillars is peace - blessings from Above would have been showered on the nation,’and it would not have come to there being killing - even inadvertently - by one of the people.
‘This being the case, the responsibility of the anointed Kohen Gadol - even though the killing occurred before his anointment - to the unity and peace, obligated him to pray for peace among the people and - had he done so - he would have been assisted from Abovee, that no individual amongst the people would be adjudged to go into exile, as the Beit Din would assuredly find a point of merit, justifying the acquittal of the person judged.’
Rav Yosef Salant asks on the Gemara which Rashi brought- that the Kohen Gadol bears blame for not praying for mercy for the inadvertent killer:‘Why should he seek mercy for the one who has been adjudged as being required to go into exile in a city of refuge? If this is a true judgment, should he pray that the Beit Din err in their judgment?’
The Rav answers:’I found a sage who answered as follows:The halacha is that if all the members of the Beth Din find him guilty, he ia acquitted’, for the reason we have previously brought - ‘and therefore, the Kohen Gadol should have prayed that all would adjudge him guilty, as he would then be absolved from exile.
‘A beautiful answer, but the basic question remains: If, by the Torah, he is truly liable to exile, the exile is his atonement - so why are we seeking to blame the Kohen Gadol for not praying properly, if, had he done so, the killer would have found atonement, by his exile in a city of refuge?! Now he is left without atonement!
‘More surprising, the halakha of the second Kohen Gadol - where the killing occurred before he entered office, but the Beit Din handed down its judgment of exile, after he assumed the role - why should he bear blame, for not praying for mercy?
‘To answer this, let us note our Sages teaching: the parsha of the קרבנות: the offerings, is juxtaposed to the parsha of the priestly garments, to teach that, just as the korbanot atone, so too, do the priestly garments, each of them for a different transgression, including the robe, which atones for inadvertent killing.
‘This wondrous chessed surely depends on the intention of the Kohen Gadol, when he dons the garment - to atone for inadvertent killing, he had to have the intention, that mercy be shown to inadvertent killers - and pray that this be the case.
‘Had the Kohen Gadol properly performed his role, when donning the priestly robe, and prayed for mercy for inadvertent killers, this would have - just like the korbanot - brought atonement to all inadvertent killers, amongst the people.
‘He would also have in mind - and in his prayers - that the Beit Din when deciding a case of inadvertent killing which occurred before his assuming the role, would find grounds to acquit - and Hashem would heed his prayers, so that the judges would find grounds to absolve him from exile.
‘This would not be a perversion of justice - nor deprive the killer of atonement - as he is truly deemed to have atonerd - and he is clean in the eyes of Heaven, which is why he was also acquitted in the earthly tribunal.
‘If - on the other hand - he is found guilty by the Beit Din - and sent to exile in a city of refuge - it is a sign that the priestly garments have not worked in the desired manner - as they should have absolved him and brought him atonement - and for this, the Kohen Gadol bears blame, for not seeking mercy properly when donning the priestly garments, as had he done so whole-heartedly and prayed for mercy, when donning the garments, that the garments atone for inadvertent killing in the nation, there would have been atonement for the transgression - and the Beit Din would have acquitted the accused.’
A parting gem, brought by Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger, from the mussar master Rav Chaim Zaitchik, as to why the Kohen Gadol anointed with the sacred oil, after the inadvertent killing, but before the judgment of the Beit Din, bears blame for not praying for mercy, for the inadvertent killer.
‘The reason is, that at the time of the great joy and pride at having been elevated to his high new office - and specifically at that special time - the one newly anointed, is called to account, for not having in mind the predicament of the needy individual - the inadvertent killer - and to feel and share in his predicament, by praying for him.
‘Imagine the picture today: One is elevated to high office, would he have in mind - on his special day - the predicament of a lowly individual - more so, one awaiting judgment, for inadvertent killing?
‘The Torah comes to demand of us - especially at this time of our personal good fortune - to have in mind - and in our prayers - every individual who is in need.’
לכבוד הולדת הנין הראשון לנו, ביום שבת קודש
ולרפואת חיילי צהל וכן נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.