A Kohein Gadol's Life
In the early days of rail travel, crossing
guards warned travelers of approaching trains.
These men were especially important at night.
When trains came, they stood in the middle of
the road, swinging a lantern to warn coach
drivers of the impending danger. One night,
there was a terrible accident at a particular
crossing. A coach collided with a train, killing
a family of six. An inquest by the railroad
authorities subpoenaed Ben, the guard on duty
that night. "Ben," the chairman of the review
board asked, "were you on duty the night of the
accident?" "Yes, sir, I was," Ben replied
nervously. "Did you know the train was coming?"
"Yes, sir, I did." "Did you take your place in
front of the crossing?" "Yes, sir, I did." "Did
you have your lantern with you?" "Yes, sir, I
did." Then the chairman thanked Ben and told him
to step down. The inquest closed the case
without knowing the cause of the accident.
Speculation was that the coach driver was drunk
or blind.
Many years later, Ben lay on his deathbed,
surrounded by his family. Softly he began to
moan, "Those poor people. Those poor, poor
people." His oldest son leaned down to hear his
father. "Are you talking about the people in
that coach, Dad?" "Yes. Those poor, poor
people." "But, Dad! Don't you remember? There
was an inquest. You were cleared; it wasn't your
fault!" "They forgot to ask one question," Ben
gasped. "What didn't they ask?" "They forgot to
ask," Ben whispered, "if my lantern was lit."
Our parsha[1]
is home to the unique and fascinating
halacha of the unintentional murderer, the
rotzeiach b'shogeg - who bears some degree
of responsibility in the snuffing out of a life;
he who could have been more careful is to be
sent to the city of refuge, the ir miklat
[the resident levi cities] to do time.
22. But if he pushed him accidentally,
without malice, or threw an object at him
without premeditation,
....The congregation shall protect the murderer
from the hand of the blood avenger, and the
congregation shall return him to the city of
refuge to which he had fled,
This is unique within the context of Torah
justice, which generally does not sanction a
prison system. For the most part, prison as
rehabilitation fails miserably. The Torah prison
conception incorporates other fascinating
interconnecting elements that deserve our
attention
First, consider that there is a negative
incentive for the rotzeiach to scram to
the ir miklat[2]:
26. But if the murderer goes beyond the
border of the city of refuge to which he had
fled 27.
and the blood avenger
finds him outside the limits of his city of
refuge, and the blood avenger slays the
murderer, he has no blood. For he shall
remain in his city of refuge until the Kohen
Gadol dies, and only after the Kohen Gadol has
died, may the murderer return to the land which
is his possession.
Fascinating. The Torah introduces the goel
hadam - the blood avenger, the relative of
the victim whom the Torah gives license to mete
out apparent vigilante justice to the murderer
were he to step out of the bounds of the ir
miklat. A good NFL receiver is always taught
to know where the field is; one can be sure
l'havdil that rotzeiach b'shogeg took
a crash course in miklat geography. This whole
notion evokes images of the Wild west[3];
One more gripping element, the focus of our
attention, creates a dramatic triangle. First
the pasuk.
and he shall remain there until the Kohen
Gadol, who anointed him with the sacred oil,
dies
In other words, the length of the unintentional
murderer's stay in the city of refuge is
variant. He stays until the kohen gadol dies - a
halacha that remains in force even when the
unintentional murderer soul has left this world:
If the murderer died [in banishment] before
the high priest, they move [after the kohen
gadol's death] his bones [body] to burial place
of his ancestors as it is written, ...the
murderer shall return to the land of his
possession
We seek to understand the kohein gadol -
rotzeiach connection. What significance is
there in the apparently arbitrary link between
the unintentional murderer's freedom and the
demise of the kohein gadol? First, consider this
dramatic scene
Therefore, mothers of high priests were wont
to provide food and garments for them [the
unintentional murderers] that they might not
pray for their son's death.
The Kohen Gadol's emah understood well
what lurked in the hearts and minds of the
miklat men. They wanted to return home and that
could only happen at the demise of the Kohen
Gadol. By serving some brownies and knitting
some sweaters, she may be effective in removing
the potency of the murderers's prayer.
Now we are ready to probe the connection - but
let us remember that there are three
personalities involves: the kohein gadol, the
rotzeiach and the blood avenger. As such, the
connection between the kohen gadol's death and
the release of the unintentional murderer might
relate to any or all of these 3 possibilities.
We now present several classic approaches:
1. Seforno: and because there are many
different types of unintentionality - some
closer to intentional and some closer to
completely accidental - the Torah gave to exile
variant times. Some will commit their
unintentional act shortly before the kohen
gadols' death and other times the rotzeiach
shall die in exile before the kohen gadol and
this [a demonstration of] God's justice who
knows all - to punish ... commensurate to the
degree of his unintentionality
In other words, the Kohen Gadol's death is a
subjective point designed to account for the
variant nature of the rotzeiach's crime. As our
opening story indicates, the man who didn't turn
on the light - did everything else right - but
he REALLY blew it. The driver who looked both
ways and then crossed the red is more negligent
than the one whose car slicked on the greasy
patch and didn't control his skid properly. A
million shades of gray requires an adjustable
and calibrated system. As such, the kohein
gadol's demise as a release point for the
rotzeiach is an ode to Divine design[4].
In this brilliant Sefoorno, we marvel at the
precision and yet still wonder: why choose
the Kohen gadol and why not some other objective
persona - the king, head of Sanhedrin or
even simply the head of the tribe?
We thus turn to (2.) Chizkuni and Da'as Zekeinim[5]
For if the murderer would be allowed to walk
around freely, people would say - have you seen
this person who took a life and he is free to
move around - and the kohein gadol is not
avenging this and it is up to him .... As it
says [that in times of crisis] you shall go to
the kohein of that day
It is about the Kohein Gadol - but it is
not his fault. The Torah seeks to sparing him
from shame. As the ranking spiritual and moral
authority, a communal moral lapse of an
egregious nature must be addressed. If not, the
leader [the kohein gadol] is cast in a very
negative light. The people want justice - but
from a pure Torah perspective, the murderer can
not be put to death by the kohein gadol. So the
Torah throws the rotzeiach out of the communal
eye. When the new kohen gadol emerges, everyone
understands that it did not happen on his watch.
Chizkuni/Da'as Zekeinim's approach offers us a
window into Divine mercy - but ultimately finds
nothing inherent in the connection between
rotzeiach and kohen gadol.
3. Rambam[6]
finds the connection as focusing on the third
party: the goel hadam
And the Torah connects his return with the
death of the man who is most respected and
beloved by all, for with this the blood
avenger will be calmed --- for it is a
natural phenomenon when one suffers a loss -
that if something similar [or greater] happens
to someone else, one will find comfort ... and
there is no instance of death that is greater in
loss than the death of the koehin gadol
There are many other approaches[7],
but we shall conclude with two famous notions of
Rashi, his second approach [#4] echoing the
classic Talmudic approach[8]:
Another interpretation: Because the Kohein
Gadol should have prayed that this pitfall not
occur in Israel during his lifetime.90
The kohein gadol must pray for people. His
shemone esrei can not be a personal shopping
list - he must carry the needs of all of klal
Yisroel. In Rav Hirsch's [cf. beginning of Emor]
brilliant formulation, he is the ultimate
communal man - thus the kohein gadol can not
become impure for personal relatives. He is a
sacred communal possession[9].
Further, he kohein gadol is responsible for
creating a better climate and articulating a
forceful and compelling spiritual message[10].
5. Rashi then presents us with 2nd
notion [based on Sifri] .
As he causes the Divine Presence to reside in
Israel, and lengthens their lives, while the
murderer causes the Divine Presence to leave
Israel, and shortens their lives, he (the
murderer) is unworthy of being in the presence
of the Kohein Gadol.
Another piece of the triangle. It is about the
rotzeiach. The kohein gadol and the rotzeiach
simply can not dwell together. Just as the knife
may not be used for the mizbeiach stones[11],
for the knife represents death and the altar
life - so may the kohein gadol not be present in
the same room with the murderer; they represent
a jarring antithesis the one who loves life and
the one who cheapens it. At the same time that
one man is doing all he can to bring the
Shechina into this world [think of Rashi's other
approach], another man snuffed out [from this
world] some of tzelem Elokim. Thus the Torah
limits the rotzeiach's space
A few days ago, I had the great privilege
praying with a very famous 98 year old rabbi. He
is at the top of the holy Rabbis. His name:
Rabbi Aharon Leib Staiman of Bnei Brak. He is a
simple and obviously holy Jew who lives life in
an incredibly God centered way. Being able to
pray in his minyan allowed me the opportunity of
being close [literally about 18 inches away]
echoing the Talmudic comment that in this world,
we can be a lot closer to the holy people than
in the next. Praying near him was very
meaningful - but to watch how after prayer
services are over, everybody wants a word or two
with this man was special to behold. People
call, fax, e-mail or come from around the world
to seek his advice and comforting message.
To me, it was most remarkable, how a man [at an
age that the world would consider passé] lives
and gives life. His intense and focused life is
the source of his ability to elevate others. To
us regular people, we need bear in man the
kohein gadol/rotzeiach dialectic. To the extent
that we devalue our fellow man, we snuff out
life; to the extent that we focus on increasing
Hashem's presence in this world, we then can
give others encouragement and life itself.
Good Shabbos from Cleveland [celebrating with
the Posts]
Asher Brander
[1] Its appearance is connected to
the apportionment of the Eretz Yisrael
and its attendant borders
[3] Cf. Rambam [Rotzeiach, 1:1-2]
and Ketzos Hachoshen [2:1] vs. Tumim as
to whether this halacha applies even
nowadays. It is hard to argue although
some have that the goel hadam is a
concession given that Sanhedrin appoints
one, if no relative exists and that
according to some tanaim it was an
absolute mitzvah
[4] Cf. Meshech Chochma for a
fascinating offshoot of this concept
with regard to the lifespan of the Kohen
Gadol. With this notion, he also
explains ambiguous term of Bamidbar
35:25 asher mashach oto
[7] Cf.
Rashbam, Ikarim, Akeidas Yitzchak and
Abarbanel
[8]
Makkos 11a, Cf. Gur Aryeh who argues
that Rashi's approach is not exactly
reflective of the gemara
[9] He
may only become tamei for thee meis
mitzvah - for the obligation to bury the
one who has not bruiers is upon the
community.
[10] An
obvious question on this approach is the
halacha that if a murder was committed
during the lifetime of the kohein gadol
- who then dies (and is replaced) - and
then beit din decides the punishment -
the halacha makes the release of the
murderer contingent upon the death of
the 2nd koheein gadol - but
what did he do at that point?
[11]
Cf. Rashi, Shemos, 20:22