QUESTION: What is the connection between the Judges with the Cities of Refuge?
ANSWER: The purpose of the court system and the Cities of Refuge is not to carry out punishments. Rather, their main purpose is to effect purification and atonement. Thus, the month of Elul should become one’s city of refuge in order to do soul-searching and stock-taking. (380עמ' בלקוטי שיחות כרך)
QUESTION: Why is a person is more satiated from צומח (growth of the ground) which is a lower level, than meat which is from חי which is a higher level?
ANSWER: The explanation, according to the Baal Shem Tov, is that physical hunger and thirst comes from the spiritual hunger and thirst of the neshama for the holy sparks that are within the food and drink. The greater satiation from products of the ground than animals is that the holy sparks in the products of the ground are from a higher source. (1114, עמ' ד לקוטי שיחות כרך)
QUESTION: In the time of Moshiach there will no longer be homicides (accidental or otherwise), so why do we need to have three additional cities of refuge?
ANSWER: Three more Cities of Refuge are needed in the era of Moshiach to house those that committed accidental deaths prior to the arrival of Moshiach. Spiritually, Elul (the last month of the year) is a month of refuge from all the negative matters of the whole year that lead to the death of the soul. In this month we can escape to a place of Torah that enlivens the soul. (107 , עמ'כדלקוטי שיחות)
QUESTION: What is the reason for Eglah Arufah?
ANSWER: The Eglah Arufah is an unprecedented form of sacrificial atonement in three different manners:
- Mefurash - Atones for - How
- Rambam: פועל - Elders of the city - Publicizes the murder
- Ramban: פעולה - Act of murder - No simple reason (mysterious like any korban)
- Rashi: נפעל - Effect of the sin - Calf & place fruitless like the dead person
(121, עמ' כד לקוטי שיחות כרך)
QUESTION: Everything belongs to HaShem. Why does the law make a distinction between one’s body (can not incriminate oneself) and one’s money (admission is like a 100 witnesses)?
ANSWER: A person is not the owner of his body (one cannot harm oneself by admission); money appears to be disconnected from HaShem, the law allows one to display ownership (in order to use money for good or for bad) (60 , עמ'לח לקוטי שיחות כרך)
