Shoftim 5782

Question: Why is it considered a blessing to have more ערי מקלט? Wouldn't this imply more manslaughter occurring?

Approach: On the face of it, we can explain that, with the population more spread out, we need to provide more cities so that the רוצח בשוגג can reach an עיר מקלט quicker. We might also explain that the three extra cities are the three on the East Bank of the Jordan, as the initial command in this section doesn't mention them whatsoever. This would imply that this speech was initially given by משה well in advance of the conquering of the East Bank.

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