In this week’s sedrah we read a story about a man who went into the forest to gather firewood (Devarim 19: 4-8). It might have been wintertime and he needed wood for the fireplace, or maybe his wife had sent him out to get wood for the stove so she could prepare supper. Whatever it was, this Jew was now hacking away at a tree in a forest.
And then something terrible occurred. As he was swinging the ax, the iron head of the ax ricocheted off the tree and careened off into the woods and lo aleinu, nit gedacht, it struck a fellow Jew who was standing nearby and it killed him.
Now, our protagonist did this without any premeditation of course. “I didn’t intend anything wrong,” he says. “It went flying on its own. I didn’t even know he was standing there behind the tree.” And still, even though it was done unintentionally, the Torah calls him a rotzeiach, a murderer (ibid. 19:4,6).
“It’s no excuse,” Hakadosh Baruch Hu says. “Just like you came into the forest to chop wood, you should have considered that maybe other people were also there. You should have thought about that beforehand and secured the ax head to the handle before taking a swing. You should have looked around too, to check if anyone was standing nearby.”
Looking For Directions
So what happens now? The Torah says about him, ל≈‡ָה יםƒרָﬠ∆ה ןƒמ ַ̇חַ‡ ל∆‡ סָנ¿ו – He has to flee to one of the cities of refuge. He has to quickly make his way to one of the arei miklat in order to be safe from the vengeance of the go’el hadom who wishes to avenge the blood of his relative.
So we’ll imagine the scene as the Gemara (Makkos 10b) portrays it. The murderer is making his way through the backroads and byways, steering clear of the go’el hadam and trying to find his way to the city of refuge. And then he comes to a fork in the road. Which way should he go, to the left or to the right? And he’s in a rush; the go’el hadam is pursuing him. He has no time to open maps or stop at a gas station for directions.
But fortunately for him, there’s a sign there, ‘Ir Miklat’ with an arrow pointing him in the right direction. That’s how it was in ancient Eretz Yisroel; the roads were especially marked with posted signs, “Miklat, Miklat,” showing the rotzeiach which direction he should run.
That’s a din in the Torah. Prepare for yourselves the road (ibid. 3). At every fork in the road, in every place where the rotzeiach might get lost, there had to be guideposts helping him make his way to the safety of the ir miklat. The Torah wants to help him.
Getting Directions
After all, he’ll become a better person in the ir miklat. First of all, just being there, in golus, away from his ordinary life, is already a kapparah for him. And the cities of refuge weren’t ordinary places; they were arei Levi’im, special Torah communities. It means that Hashem is guiding him into the city where he will live among Torah teachers.
I imagine there were lectures in that place, places of mussar where the rotzeiach learned to be sorry for what he did; where he learned how careful you have to be with your fellow Jew’s life. And so what do you see? That Hakadosh Baruch Hu is guiding the sinner. First He shows him the path to the city and then once he gets there, there’s a system—the Levi’im are there to teach him the right way to teshuva.
A General Rule
Now, the Gemara tells us there that we shouldn’t think this din is a one-off; an especial rule that applies only to someone who kills b’shogeg. “Oh, no!” say our Sages. “This is a mashal for the system of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. He is yoreh chatoim baderech – Hashem shows the sinners the road.” It’s a fundamental principle of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world; 'ה רָׁ ָ̆י¿ו בֹטו – Because Hashem is good and upright, therefore, He sends messages to help those who are veering off the path of righteousness (Tehillim 25:8).
So here’s a man who has an institution, a yeshiva, and he ridicules all the rules of safety that are done in other places. A fire drill is a joke to him. The exit sign over a door is a joke to him. It’s all “goyishe things”.
What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He’s yoreh chatoim baderech. First he sends a fire inspector. The inspector wants to teach him. But he’s not interested. It's a bother and it's expensive too. So he bribes him so that he shouldn't bother him too much with safety rules, with building codes. A true story.
But Hashem doesn't give up. Because it’s a Torah principle. So He causes a fire to come somewhere else and people who have to be taken out of this world anyhow are burned up. And He expects this menahel to see this sign on the road and take the right turn.
I remember many years ago, there was the Cocoanut Grove Fire in Boston. It was a great tragedy. The Cocoanut Grove was a big night club and it was jammed with people—mostly Jews, by the way. One Friday night a big fire broke out and there was a pandemonium, a stampede, and hundreds were killed; burned and killed. I remember it well; I lived in Massachusetts then and the newspapers were full of it.
Lessons From Tragedy
Now, a tragedy like that is not meant to be merely a curiosity, a news item that comes and goes. Hashem is trying to teach you something. He expects you to take a lesson from that tragedy.
Now, there were a number of lessons there. Of course one is that night clubs are not a place for Jews to be. It’s a good lesson! Another lesson, it was Friday night. Friday night, you’re certainly not supposed to be in a nightclub. Another lesson is, Jews have to eat kosher. They don’t serve kosher in that place. Many lessons Hashem was teaching.
But among the lessons, the most important one was that you have to watch out for fire precautions. Yoreh, Hashem is teaching, chatoim baderech, the sinners who don’t think about what could happen because of their negligence.
Hashem wants you to learn to be more careful with safety precautions. Not just when you’re chopping wood in the forest; in modern times too! In that club there were exit doors that were locked and other hazards, and many changes were made because of this story, many new regulations. If the goyim in Boston can learn these lessons, surely we have to.
Frum Fires
But this menahel, he never studied the lesson of yoreh chatoim baderech. It’s just a Gemara, he thought. It’s not a principle for life. And so above the fire exit in the dormitory he didn't bother to put up a fire exit sign. What happened eventually? Some boys from out of town were at the dormitory; they were newcomers and when a fire broke out they didn't know where to run. And they were burned up.
He’s a murderer, this menahel! You think only someone who goes into the woods to chop wood can be called a murderer by the Torah? I’m sorry to say this, but I think that menahel is even more guilty than the wood chopper. Because you were warned—more than once! You had an inspection but you chose to ignore it! That’s bigger than just a signpost on the road with an arrow. And the fire in Cocoanut Grove? Even bigger! Hashem was teaching you when He made that story! Why didn't you see?!
Safety First!
Of course, Hashem is teaching us very many things—we’ll talk about some of them soon—but this is one of the most important lessons that Hashem is constantly teaching us: Be especially careful with the life of a Jew! We’ll say it b’laaz so that there’s no misunderstanding: Safety First! There’s nothing more precious in the world than a Jew—whether it’s you or a stranger—and he has to be guarded with the utmost care.
And we all should learn that lesson. A woman lights the neiros Shabbos, and she hurries to put on her bigdei Shabbos and leaves little children playing around in the room where the neiros are burning. A terrible chet. Or the man who wants all his little children to be mekayem ner Chanukah. So he takes his little boys and little girls and he gives them menorahs. “Here, a Chanukah menorah for you, for you, for you.” And they're all standing and lighting the Chanukah menorahs and this big tzaddik walks out of the room. He's a rasha gamur! He has to stand over them and watch them.
Keep Your Eyes on the Road
You know why people are careless with their lives and other people’s lives? Because they think that nothing could happen. That’s an instinct in human beings—just as they lived until now and nothing happened, that’s how it will continue. Just like you ran across the street or drove recklessly and nothing happened, so that’s how it will always be.
And so Hashem says, “Oh no! Chas v’shalom, chas v’shalom it happens! And I’ll show you the results or I’ll let you hear about it, so that you should learn.” And therefore, whenever we hear of an accident, we should never let that opportunity go by. If you see a meshugener who walked across the middle of the street and a car hits him—everybody runs to see how he’s lying in the street. And now ambulances are coming with their sirens. One of the purposes is to teach the frumme, the ovdei Hashem, “Are you a chotei? You’re careless sometimes when you’re crossing the street? Well, I’m showing you something now to guide you on the right path. Don’t do that! Don’t be careless!”
So last week, when we heard about someone’s grandchild who was visiting here in our neighborhood and he fell out of the window—baruch Hashem he survived—when you hear these things, it should enter your heart like an arrow!
Safety guards! “I’m never going to allow children in my home unless the windows are bolted shut or there are window guards.”
Experience Life
And therefore, you have to keep your eyes open and make it a policy of yours to learn from experience. I say ‘experience’—it’s Hashem teaching you. Only we have to listen! Once upon a time, a yid came to me and he told me a story. He said that a meshulach came from Eretz Yisroel to his house. So he put a hot glass of tea on the table for him and he went into the kitchen with the meshulach to give him something to eat. In the meantime his child, a little boy, came in and he knocked down the glass of hot tea and it spilled on his hands. They had to rush him to the hospital.
I was thinking then, “Oooh, Hashem sent this man to me as a teacher: ‘Miller! Be careful with hot water!’ Especially with children in the house!” Could be I was careless sometimes, yes. But now I was being reminded.
And that’s a very important principle. Whatever news you get, whatever you hear—and you’re hearing all the time—it should enter your ears. And make it a principle, “Hashem is trying to wake me up, to rescue me from my chatoim, my negligence. From now on, I’m going to be more careful”.
