{"id":51126,"date":"2019-03-10T19:04:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T17:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51126"},"modified":"2022-10-02T10:02:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:02:02","slug":"modeling-godliness-in-providing-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/modeling-godliness-in-providing-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Modeling Godliness in Providing Refuge"},"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":[476,383,379,581,411],"acf":{"old_id":"51126","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":50767,"related_cahpter":"172","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The commandment of sanctuary pushes us to the limits of compassion","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In its discussion of the mitzvah of sanctuary, the book of Deuteronomy describes a devastating set of circumstances. Someone in the community has been killed. The victim\u2019s family is shattered, and may wish to pursue the perpetrator according to their right of blood-vengeance. The culprit, who never intended to hurt his fellow, sits in a liminal state of culpability: while he does not assume the blood guilt of a murderer, the death he has caused cannot remain unaddressed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While both the guilt and the way forward are unclear in this situation, the pain is palpable. And it is within this network of uncertainty that the Torah emphasizes the need for cities of refuge. This mitzvah, the text insists, is incumbent not upon the death-causer or the blood-avenger, but upon the whole community of Israel. By establishing these nine cities- enough so that one is always accessible to a pursued individual- we are enacting the commandment \u201cto love the Lord your God, and to walk in God\u2019s ways for all days.\u201d (19:9)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The medieval commentator Ibn Ezra emphasizes the continuous nature of this mitzvah, that the pursuit of God\u2019s ways is an ongoing project. By creating and maintaining these cities of refuge, we model Godliness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To care for the vulnerable, even for those whose action have resulted in harm, is to take powerful steps towards this continuing mitzvah. What is asked of us in the commandment of sanctuary is a communal push to the limits of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">r<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">achamim<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mercy or compassion<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city of refuge cannot heal the pain of the family in their loss, nor can it enact a perfect justice for the accidental death-causer. It is instead a powerful container for a painful complication, one that allows the wider community to cease a cycle of violent revenge and to sow earthly seeds, in imitation of a higher, even Divine mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51128,"id":51128,"title":"dt19-sanctuary","filename":"dt19-sanctuary.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-sanctuary.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/modeling-godliness-in-providing-refuge\/dt19-sanctuary\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt19-sanctuary","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51126,"date":"2019-03-10 17:04:35","modified":"2019-03-10 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