{"id":49149,"date":"2019-02-10T22:47:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T20:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=49149"},"modified":"2022-09-04T16:21:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-04T13:21:51","slug":"city-of-refuge-punishment-or-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/city-of-refuge-punishment-or-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"City Of Refuge: Punishment Or Protection?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[762,631,547,627],"acf":{"old_id":"49149","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":48810,"related_cahpter":"152","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The exile experienced by the accidental murderer is entirely human","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The assembly shall protect the manslayer from the blood-avenger, and the assembly shall restore him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and there he shall remain until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the sacred oil&#8221; (35:25).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 35 is all about cities of refuge. Accidental killers are allowed the safety of fleeing from their avenger to a city of refuge, where their avenger can no longer lay claim on their life. It is unclear throughout this chapter whether the city of refuge is a punishment or a protection, and this verse outlining that the murderer can or will return home after the death of the high priest at first glance only adds to the confusion. Does the murderer remain in the city because they are unsafe elsewhere, and somehow the priest\u2019s death means they can no longer \u201chide\u201d in the city? Or is the murderer being kept in the city against their will and the death of the high priest releases them from their purgatory?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Talmudic tractate Makkot 11a there is a rabbinic discussion that reveals a third reading of these cities. \u00a0It says &#8220;Therefore, the mothers of High Priests would provide those exiled to cities of refuge with sustenance and garments so that they would not pray that their sons would die.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The notion that the mother of the high priest would need to worry about the prayer of the murderer is a complex one. The high priest, the human who comes in closest physical contact with God, is vulnerable to the prayers of the accidental murder. This makes clear that the exile experienced by the accidental murderer is entirely human, and that God has not grown distant from them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yet, though the city of refuge provides them with an escape, its inherently temporary status, and the fact that they are forced to flee there, leaves the saved accidental murderer feeling alone. The wisdom of the high priest\u2019s mother when she faces the suffering of the exile is to try to make even this temporary circumstance feel like home.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":49150,"id":49150,"title":"num35-run away","filename":"num35-run-away.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/city-of-refuge-punishment-or-protection\/num35-run-away\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num35-run-away","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":49149,"date":"2019-02-10 20:47:00","modified":"2019-02-10 20:47:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1101,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-1024x881.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":881,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1101,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1101,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-1200x1032.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1032,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"City of Refuge: Punishment or Protection?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The exile experienced by the accidental murderer is entirely human","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":49150,"id":49150,"title":"num35-run away","filename":"num35-run-away.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/city-of-refuge-punishment-or-protection\/num35-run-away\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num35-run-away","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":49149,"date":"2019-02-10 20:47:00","modified":"2019-02-10 20:47:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1101,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-1024x881.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":881,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1101,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1101,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-1200x1032.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1032,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-run-away-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107713,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49149\/revisions\/107713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}