{"id":51116,"date":"2019-03-10T18:01:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T16:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51116"},"modified":"2022-10-02T09:53:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T06:53:30","slug":"seeking-asylum-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seeking-asylum-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking Asylum \u2013 Then and Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":[459,363,762,571],"acf":{"old_id":"51116","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"172","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The importance of refuge for accidental criminals and others","content":"

In the first part of our chapter (19:1-11), Moses recaps the instructions about setting up \u201cCities of Refuge\u201d (\u2018Arey Miqlat<\/em>) detailed in Numbers 35:6-28. These were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rights of asylum and refugee status have a long history among the nations and religions of the world. These rights were formalized in the 1951 United Nations \u201cConvention Relating to the Status of Refugees\u201d, which defines who is a refugee and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash (Tanhuma Buber, Masei 8, Talmud Bavli Makkot 9b-11a) elaborates on this biblical commandment: \u201cYou shall provide yourselves with places to serve you as cities of refuge to which a manslayer who has killed a person unintentionally may flee. The cities shall serve you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer may not die unless he has stood trial before the assembly\u201d (Numbers 35:11-12). <\/span><\/p>\n

About this commandment, Scripture says: \u201cGood and upright is the Lord. Therefore, He shows sinners the way\u201d (Psalms 25:8). \u201cRemember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your faithfulness; they are old as time\u201d (Psalms 25:6). This is as if King David had cried out before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Were it not for the mercies You showed Adam, he could not have survived. For You warned him: \u201c\u2026the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it. For as soon as you eat of it, you shall die\u201d (Genesis 2:17). But, instead of killing him immediately, You exiled him from the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:24) and he lived for 930 years before dying (see Genesis 5:5). And although Adam may be accused of having brought death to the world (see Tanhuma Huqqat 16), God treated him like one who commits accidental manslaughter and is exiled to the cities of refuge. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Moses received this commandment, he asked: Master of the Universe! If a man slays a person unwittingly, how is he to know how to flee to the cities of refuge? God replied: \u201cYou shall prepare the way\u2026that any manslayer may flee there\u201d (Deuteronomy 19:3). Moses asked: How exactly shall we \u201cprepare the way\u201d? God told him to set up stelae as signposts to point the way, on which will be written: Manslayer! This is the way to the Cities of Refuge. Is this not truly a fulfillment of what King David said: \u201cGood and upright is the Lord. Therefore, He shows sinners the way\u201d (Psalms 25:8)? <\/span><\/p>\n

And if God shows the way to safety to manslayers, how much the more so will He show the right path to the righteous, as it says: \u201cHe guides the humble in the right path and teaches the humble His way\u201d (Psalms 25:9).<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImage<\/span> by: kalhh on Pixabay<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51117,"id":51117,"title":"dt19-refugees","filename":"dt19-refugees.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seeking-asylum-then-and-now\/dt19-refugees\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt19-refugees","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51116,"date":"2019-03-10 16:00:43","modified":"2023-06-06 07:04:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":847,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-1024x678.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":847,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":847,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-1200x794.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":794,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Seeking Asylum \u2013 Then And Now","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The importance of refuge for accidental criminals and others","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":51117,"id":51117,"title":"dt19-refugees","filename":"dt19-refugees.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seeking-asylum-then-and-now\/dt19-refugees\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt19-refugees","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51116,"date":"2019-03-10 16:00:43","modified":"2023-06-06 07:04:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":847,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-1024x678.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":847,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":847,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-1200x794.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":794,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-refugees-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"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,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116"}],"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=51116"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108320,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51116\/revisions\/108320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}