A person was hosted in a city. His visit came to an end, and a short time after he departed his body was found dead in a field, close to the town. He appeared to have been murdered, and the perpetrator is unknown.
The Torah instructs us to perform the fascinating mitzvah of egla arufa. The zekenim of the closest city to the murder scene must come with a calf, behead it, and declare, “Yadenu lo shafchu es ha’dam ha’zeh - We have not spilt this blood - we are not responsible for this murder.”
Who Is Responsible?
Let us delve into the deeper meaning of this mitzvah. Why would we assume that the zekenim, the elders and tzaddikim of the city, hold responsibility for the murder of an innocent man?
The answer is provided by Chazal. The zekenim mean to say: "We did not notice him leaving, sending him off without food and escort." If this man had been given shelter, food, and company, he may have escaped his horrible fate. Why was he out in “no man’s land” alone? Why did nobody look after him?
For this sin, all of Klal Yisrael, starting with the members of the Sanhedrin, needed to ask themselves some difficult questions, to make resolutions for the future. The egla arufa ritual served as a tool for national repentance and atonement.
Those Left in the Field, Today!
This mitzvah, along with its lessons, may seem abstract and not so relevant to us today. However, it has a deeper meaning which is more relevant to us now than ever before.
The Torah describes a body being found in a field. Unlike a city which is a protected place, surrounded by a wall or a fence, a field is open and vulnerable. It is unprotected from its surroundings.
Fine Jewish people, teens or otherwise, sometimes leave the “city”, abandoning the spiritually-protected environs in which they have been raised and entering the vulnerable and unprotected “fields” of the world outside. They are without shelter, unprotected, and open to all the dangers of the outside world. What happens if they fall prey to its influences, experience a real yerida, or worse, we find a “corpse in the field”? In these sad circumstances, many of us feel that we do not bear the responsibility; we could not have prevented this, he was not our child etc. However, in the parsha of the egla arufa the Torah is teaching us an invaluable lesson. Each of us, including the great Sanhedrin, and especially the zekenim - the elders of the city - must examine ourselves. Did we not have the ability to prevent this? Did we send him off in the best possible way, with food, drink, and most importantly, with words of encouragement? Did we fail to notice the struggle, his troubled face? Could we not have saved this soul with a kind smile or word of encouragement? All of Klal Yisrael need a kaparah when these devastating events occur. It is our duty to prevent them from happening.
The Special Learning Ya’akov Taught Yosef
Chazal relate that before Yosef was sent to Mitzrayim, Ya’akov had taught him “the Torah he had learnt in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever”. The subject of the final sugya he learnt with him was egla arufa.
Ya’akov had learnt Torah from his father and grandfather - Avraham and Yitzchak. Why did he prefer to teach Yosef the Torah of Shem and Ever? And why was the sugya of egla arufa so pertinent as to be the final sugya studied by Yosef before he went into galus? Chazal relate that when Yosef wanted to convince Ya’akov that he was still alive, he sent him “agalos” from Mitzrayim, to allude to the egla arufa - the subject of their final chavrusa together. Evidently, the egla arufa was related to those circumstances. How so?
Let us add a seemingly unrelated question on this week's parsha. The Torah meticulously details who may join the Jewish army. Anyone who has committed even the smallest avera or failed to observe the slightest halacha is sent home. The army had exceptionally high spiritual standards. However, when the kohen mashuach milchama would come he would assert that they would be victorious due to the merit of reciting shema. What is the connection between Krias Shema and going out to war, and why is this the greatest merit they had?
Let us revisit some of our work from Parshas Balak.
The Midnight Encounter!
One of your close relatives made a simcha a short distance from your home. It finished later than expected and you find yourself walking home at 1:30 in the morning. You think you know the way but unfortunately, you do not, and, before you know it, it is 2:15 and you are lost in a crime-ridden neighbourhood. You begin to panic as you hear drunken shouting and bottles smashing in the distance.
You decide to try another way, cutting through the alleyways, hoping that this fearful nightmare will soon be over. Out of breath and with a thumping heart you run through an alleyway and suddenly you feel the tight grip of a hand on your shoulder. In panic you turn around and, to your horror, you see a drunk, six-foot man, who looks like a beast ready to beat you. He wastes no time with formalities and begins his job wrestling you to the floor. You are no pushover and fight back. It ends up being one of the longest and hardest wrestles in history; the two of you spend the rest of the night fighting.
Eventually, seeing that he cannot overcome you and throw you to the ground, he decides at least to hit you. He takes a stick and injures you severely; you fall to the floor moaning in pain. Suddenly he realises that the sun is rising and says, “Ok, I must go”! What would your response be? Would you let him go immediately or would you keep your grip and say, “Not so quick my dear friend, I will not let you go until you give me a bracha”?
Why, after an entire night of vicious fighting with saro shel Esav, did Ya’akov Avinu, who had been injured in the fight, continue to hold on to the malach when he wanted to go? Why did he need his bracha, even at the risk of his life?
A New Name?
At that time the malach also gave Ya’akov a new name - Yisrael. Since then, the Jewish nation has not been known as Klal Ya’akov, but Klal Yisrael, the name given to us by Saro Shel Esav, a name we invoke in our greatest statement of emuna - “Shema Yisrael”. This seems extraordinary. How can we be defined by our greatest enemy?
Ya’akov Avinu was teaching us an important yesod. We go through life and encounter all kinds of situations, experiencing better times and worse times, ups and downs. Generally, we like to hold onto the better times, dwelling on the periods of success, achievement, and prosperity. However, when we encounter periods of challenge, difficulty, and nisyonos, we try to move on from them as quickly as possible. As soon as the hardship has passed, the moment we are no longer faced by the darkness and nisayon, we try to forget that it ever happened.
Ya’akov Avinu, however, acted otherwise. He had undergone the most difficult of challenges from the saro shel Eisav and come out crippled. Nevertheless, he said: “I will not move on. I will not let the saro shel Esav go until I walk out blessed, until I have grown, and taken something with me from this challenge. If I move on as the same person, unchanged, what was the point of the challenge?” This is an exceedingly important message for us. Throughout history, but especially during Ikvesa d’Meshicha, we have experienced the most difficult challenges and suffered crippling injuries. We must make sure that we should not move on and simply forget these challenges; we must learn lessons and thus be “blessed” by the experience.
A Special Yeshivah
From whom did Ya’akov learn this special trait?
In Parsha Vayeitzei (5781) we explained that while Ya’akov was punished for neglecting the mitzvah of kibud av va'em for the twenty-two years he had spent away from home, he was not punished for the fourteen years that he spent learning Torah in the yeshivah of Shem. This is because it was vital to his ruchniyus development and thus took precedence over the mitzvah of kibud av va'em.
At first glance, this is difficult to understand. Ya’akov had the best possible Torah upbringing. He learnt Torah with his grandfather Avraham Avinu until the age of fifteen. He then learned in the yeshiva of his father Yitzchak for a further forty-eight years until leaving Be’er Sheva at the age of sixty-three. If so, why was he so desperate, and why was it so important, to spend another fourteen years in the yeshiva of Shem? Why were these fourteen years of learning so crucial that he could legitimately push off the instructions of his parents and disregard the mitzvah of kibud av va’em?
Before answering this question let us examine why the yeshiva of Shem was so unique.
In Difficult Surroundings
The Torah describes Noach as an “ish Tzaddik tamim b’dorosav”. He lived in a generation of terrible corruption and tumah and, despite it all, he remained strong and did not give in to temptation. It was in this milieu that his son Shem was born and raised. Noach managed to protect him from the evil surroundings and taught him the skills and unique Toras ha’galus that Shem would need to survive.
Ever was born in the dor haflaga. This generation built a tower, hoping it would reach the sky and with the intent of, chas v’shalom, slaying Hashem. Although Ever lived in this kind of society he held strong and kept away from its evil conduct.
These were the lessons taught in the yeshiva of Shem and Ever - the skills of learning Torah, keeping mitzvos and staying close to Hashem, despite corrupt and evil surroundings.
This, explained R’ Yaakov Kaminetzky zt”l, was why Ya’akov needed to spend time with Shem and Ever before departing for Charan. He was to be placed in evil and corrupt surroundings and challenged to remain steadfast in his emunah loyalty to his Creator. In short, he would be bid with withstanding the temptations that would abound in his surroundings. This was why he was tasked with travelling to Charan and living with Lavan in a city of swindlers.
The ability to survive in a difficult, painful and corrupt environment was not something that Yaakov had learned from the avos. Although they spent many years learning Torah, they did so surrounded by righteous people. (When Yishmael became a bad influence he was expelled from Avraham‘s home.) Ya’akov thus had to make a stop in the yeshiva of Shem where he would learn how to engage with the avoda of sur me’ra from those with real life experience.
