Friday, August 01, 2008

An End To Exile

The "accidental murderer" is one whose actions are criminally negligent - but cannot be considered deliberate. So instead of being sentenced to death for his crime, he must sit in exile in one of the cities that are populated by the holy tribe of Levi until the death of the Kohen Gadol.

There are many interpertations of the message behind this unusual sentence. Most classic being that the Kohen Gadol somehow has the power to elevate the nation from a level of carelessness for the personal saftey of our fellows to a level of proper concern. And so the Kohen Gadol is tainted by this crime as well and must atone for it with his life, in the fullness of time.

But perhaps there is a different angle as well. It is known that we are never punished by G-d in a manner designed to harm us, rather, Hashem's justice is meant to be instructive and guiding us in a proper direction - much in the same way that a guard rail would hurt if we ran into it headlong - even though it is just there to prevent us from falling over the edge.

With this in mind let us examine the exile of the "accidental murderer". The tribe of Levi devoted themselves to serving Hashem - whether in learning His Torah or serving in His Temple. Any long term association with these tzaddikim would hopefully rub off on the receipient. And how much "rubbing off" will the murderer need to mend his ways ? Depends. It depends on his level of absorption of the righteous ways of the Leviim.

And what is the capstone ? The death of the Holiest Levi of them all, the Kohen Gadol. When the Kohen Gadol dies, all who are affected by the loss are moved to pledge themselves to fill the gap that he left. Since he is no longer around to perform this mitzva or another, we attempt to 'cover' and raise our standards of righteousness in his honor. And when the 'accidental murderer' has lived with the Leviim and identifies with their loss - he will also be moved to resolve to better his ways by this tragic loss. This will complete his teshuva - thusly earning hs freedom.

And what about us ? Are we not in exile ? Is Hashem not waiting for us to 'raise our game' and thus earn our deliverance ?

In this period of mourning for our losses - may we merit to increase our righteousness and become the jews we need to be to merit the geula sheleima, bimheira beyameinu, amen.

Hatzlacha !!

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