07 Jul PARSHAS MASEI: CONFUSING CAUSATION

“The assembly shall
rescue the killer from
the hand of the avenger
of the blood, and the
assembly shall return
him to the city of refuge
where he had fled; he
shall dwell in it until the death of the Kohen
Gadol whom he had anointed with the sacred
oil.” (35:25)
A person who kills someone unintentionally
is required to flee to an ir miklat (city of
refuge) and remain there until the Kohen
Gadol dies. If he leaves the ir miklat, a
relative of the victim can avenge the death by
taking the life of the murderer.
The pasuk tells us that the killer must remain
within the ir miklat until the death of the
Kohen Gadol “asher mashach oso b’shemen
hakodesh — whom he had anointed with the
sacred oil.”
Who is “he”? Contextually understood, the
pronoun “he” in this pasuk is referring to the
killer. Did the killer anoint the Kohen Gadol?
The Talmud explains that the pasuk was
worded this way to teach us a halachah.
Not every killer is worthy of refuge in the
arei miklat. Beis din is required to judge

whether or not the killer is a candidate for the
arei miklat.
What happens if the killing occurred while
the Kohen Gadol was alive, but Beis Din
only decided the case after that Kohen Gadol
died and another Kohen Gadol was anointed?
Does the killer go free immediately?
The Talmud tells us that the killer does not go
free until the demise of the second Kohen
Gadol.
This is written implicitly in the pasuk we are
discussing, explains the Talmud. This pasuk
is referring to Beis Din sending a person
whom they deemed worthy of refuge to the
arei miklat. When does he go free? Upon the
death of the Kohen Gadol “asher mashach
oso” — i.e., the Kohen Gadol who was
anointed at the time that the Beis Din
determined the killer worthy of refuge, not
the one who was serving when the actual
killing took place.
In Meshech Chochmah, Rav Meir Simchah
of Dvinsk elaborates on this point to enable
us to read the pasuk more literally.
Torah justice differs significantly from
today’s legal systems. Modern justice
attempts to go beyond the actual crime, into
the mind of the criminal, to determine why he

committed the crime. Was he
abused as a youngster? Perhaps
the discrimination suffered by
people of his race caused him
to commit the crime? Was he
fully coherent when he
committed the crime? Maybe
he was insane at the time ….
Hundreds of criminals are
freed each year because the
jury or judge trying their case
felt that they were able to
evaluate the motives of the
criminal, and based on their
evaluation, the criminal should
not be punished for his crime.
Truthfully, however, we
mortals have no way of
determining most people’s motives. In the
Torah justice system, the dayanim are
required to rule cases based on cool,
calculated examination of the evidence, with
absolutely no leniency for what they might
consider to be extenuating circumstances.
In cases of unintentional manslaughter, there
are specific parameters by which Beis Din is
required to send a person to an ir miklat. For
how long? Beis Din does not set the killer’s
sentence. The killer must stay there until the
Kohen Gadol dies. A modern justice
system would set standard sentences,
depending on the perceived motive of the
crime and the level of recklessness
displayed by the killer. That seems very
logical. Is the Torah system fair? Is it fair
to punish killers equally no matter what
their motives were?
Actually, the Torah system is the fairest
system of all, says the Meshech Chochmah,
because it is literally Divine. In the Torah’s
system, a person will remain in the ir
miklat for the precise amount of time that
it takes for him to atone for his actions.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu evaluates the
motives of each killer sent to the arei
miklat and determines the term of the
Kohen Gadol based on how long each
killer is supposed to remain there.
For instance, Reuven inadvertently kills
someone and based on the level of his
negligence and other extenuating
conditions, he should be in the ir miklat for
20 years. Now, if ten years before the
killing, two candidates were being
considered for Kohen Gadol, one of whom
is destined to live another 15 years and one
of whom is destined to live for 30, Hashem
will arrange for the Kohen destined to live
for 30 years to be anointed, to ensure that
Reuven serves out his sentence.
If Shimon also killed someone but based
on his motives and actions, he should only
have to take refuge for 10 days, Hashem
will make sure that the Kohen Gadol
serving in Shimon’s days is one who is
meant to die ten days after Shimon walks

into the ir miklat.
This is why the pasuk states, “asher mashach
oso,” says the Meshech Chochmah. Since
Hashem chooses the Kohen Gadol based on
the terms of penance needed by the various
killers in the arei miklat, it is as if the killers
anoint the Kohen Gadol of their generation!
Considering the number of people in the arei
miklat at any given time, the combinations
and permutations necessary to determine
who should be the Kohen Gadol are obviously
beyond the scope of human calculation.
Hashem, however, is a Keil emunah ve’ein
avel — a G-d of faith without iniquity
(Devarim 32:4). Hashem will not allow a

person who is only supposed to serve a ten-
day sentence to remain in the ir miklat for

eleven days, and he will not allow a person
who requires 20 years of penance to leave
one day earlier.
This insight leads us to a startling conclusion.
We view the world through human logic and
explain everything we see based on our
understanding of the circumstances.
If we heard that an 83-year-old Kohen Gadol
died, we would understand his death. No one
lives forever, right? Human logic dictates
that old people die.
If a 40-year-old Kohen Gadol dies suddenly,
however, we would wonder why he died.
And if we heard that he had a heart attack, we
might think, “Was there any family history of
heart disease? Did he smoke?”
The Meshech Chochmah teaches us
something amazing. What we view as
causation is not the actual causation. The
Kohen Gadol’s death is not based on old age,
heart disease, or any other illness. The Kohen
Gadol’s death is determined by the need of
the killers in the arei miklat to go free.
The same concept applies to all other events
in life. What we consider to be the reasons for
our health, wealth, success, or lack thereof,
are usually not the real reasons. Causation is
very confusing. Only Hashem, the G-d of
faith without iniquity, knows the true reasons
for the events in our lives.