Torah - City of Refuge
The City of Refuge, mentioned in this week’s Torah portion, was the place where the inadvertent killer would run to find protection and atonement. As the Torah states:
Then Moses decided to separate three cities on the side of the Jordan towards the sunrise, so that a murderer might flee there, he who murders his fellow man unintentionally, but did not hate him in time past, that he may flee to one of these cities, so that he might live. (Deuteronomy 4:41-42)
The Rebbe explains that what provided the atonement was not merely the pain of exile, the agony of being dislodged from their family and friends. Instead, atonement was achieved because the person fleeing to the City of Refuge ceased to be an individual who was indifferent to human life; rather, by being disconnected from family and loved ones, the person becomes part of a collective, elevated, and atoned for by becoming part of a larger community, a his community is now the collective the city of refuge that he would now reside in.
The Talmud teaches that “the words of Torah offer refuge and protection”. When one is pursued by negativity, pulled by the lure of the evil inclination, one can and should turn to Torah study and find protection in its holiness.
Perhaps we can suggest that the protective power of Torah is not only that it is a sacred place that shields us from negativity. Instead, when we open a volume of Torah, we lose our sense of being an isolated individual, burdened by the challenges of our own personal circumstances. When we study Torah we become part of something larger than ourselves. We become part of a lglobal community of people, connected to 3,300 years of Jewish history. From Rashi to Rambam, from Rabbi Akiva to Rabbi Yishamel, from Abaya to Rava; From Israel to Babylonia to Western Europe to Spain, to Eastern Europe, back to Israel and the United States. The conversations are alive, the discussions are relevant and timely.
The study of Torah invites us to become part of a community that offers protection and solace, a community that elevates us, bringing out the best version of ourselves.
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutie Sichos 29 Devarim