Two Forms of Urban Life
There are two words in Biblical Hebrew for the word city. The common word, used in the overwhelming majority of cases is ir, the second word is kiryah.
There are two words for city, because there are two types of cities. The two cities may look the same, they both have shops and boulevards, parks and homes, yet there is a profound difference between them. The ir is a city that houses many individuals, the kiryah is a place where the many individuals experience social cohesion. They feel interconnected and interdependent, part of one social fabric. The kiryah is more than a collection of individuals, the people in the kiryah are united, they care for each other and they view the needs of their neighbor as their own. In short, the ir is a collection of individuals, the kiryah is a community.
In our portion Moses uses the word kiryah to describe the cities that the Jewish people conquered east of the Jordan:
From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a kiryah (city) too high for us: the Lord our God delivered up all before us. (Deuteronomy 2:36)
During wartime the unity of a city, and the cohesion of its inhabitants, is critical. For the city to survive a large scale threat, each individual person must suspend their personal wellbeing and work to save the collective city. Therefore when Moses describes the fortitude of the enemy they overcame, he mentions, not only their physical strength, but their spiritual strength as well: they were a kiryah, united and connected. This highlights the great miracle that the Jewish people were successful in conquering cities that were physically fortified and, perhaps more importantly, spiritually fortified.
[Kiryah also appears regarding the commandment to establish cities of refuge to protect the inadvertent killer, the Torah states:
You shall designate (vihikrisem) cities for yourselves; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and a murderer who killed a person unintentionally shall flee there. (Numbers 35:11).
The word the Torah uses for “designate” is vihikrisem, which is the same root as the word kiryah. The Torah is telling us that in order for the city of refuge to have the desired effect of rehabilitation and atonement, we must ensure that the city of refuge is indeed a kiryah. The inadvertent killer was not careful enough in protecting human life, for him to be rehabilitated and healed, he must learn to transcend his own ego and care for others as much as he is concerned about himself. The city of refuge, then must be a place whose inhabitants exemplify unity and concern for one another. Therefore the commandment to establish the city of refuge literally reads “transform the city into a kiryah”.]
As the Jewish people were about to enter the land of Israel, Moses introduced the concept of kiryah. There are many cities that are united around a common cause that all members of the society can relate to. Yet in order for the Jewish people to succeed they would have to produce a deeper level of kiryah, a deeper level of unity and connection, one that would run deeper than the unity based on a common cause and benefit. The Jewish people are able to create a kiryah, a united society, because at our core we are one, we are part of the same spiritual soul and energy. If we are to be successful in creating a healthy society in Israel, we must tap into the part of our soul that is one with the souls of our fellow, and sense the oneness. We must create a kiryah, where each individual is part of a greater collective united community.
(Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutei Sichos 29 Devarim 1)