Parachat Masei, the end of Sefebhubh Midbar comes to a close with an account of the Aramiklut,

the cities of refuge, the six cities, three on each side of the Jordan, that were set apart as places

to which people who were found innocent of murder, just guilty of manslaughter, were sent.

Of course, the cities of refuge are all about the fact that in very

early societies, especially non-urban ones, without a police force, or wherever you find the

breakdown of law and order, there was always a danger that people would take the law into

their own hands, especially when a member of their family got killed,

and then began a cycle of vengeance and retaliation that has no natural end.

One revenge killing leading to another, until the community has been decimated.

In other words, the story of the Montague's and Capulets in Romeo and Juliet, or the Sharks and the Jets of Wedside Story, or, of course, the Corleonis and the Titallias in the Godfather.

The only way of avoiding a relentless replay of these revenge killings is the effective and impartial rule of law, but there is one

persisting danger. If somebody is killed by accident, then at the end of the day, the person who

killed him is deemed innocent of murder, but the family of the victim feel we lost one of our

family and this man is walking free.

And therefore there was a particular danger that the family would still feel the need to take revenge.

And that is why to prevent this cycle of revenge killings, the cities of refuge were set apart.

And what is very interesting is this little detail,

that somebody who was sent to the city of refuge had to stay there until the death of the high priest.

That's how long they had to say. And what on earth has the death of the high priest got to do with it? And here is where

I want to signal the difference between two approaches in Judaism, both attempting to answer the

question, what's the connection between cities of refuge and the death of the high priest? Here is the

way the Gemara, the Talmud, deals with it.

...