Taming Vengeance and Impulse
As we come to the conclusion of the Book of Numbers with the final dual portion, Matot-Mas’ei, we encounter a phenomenon as ancient as primordial violence and as current as the perils of January 6th, 2021.
The text commands the creation of Arei Miklat/Cities of Refuge. These were sanctuary communities to which a manslayer could flee to escape the wrath and hand of the blood-redeeming relative of a victim of accidental killing. The intention was to allow the centralized authority to adjudicate the crime rather than allowing tribal violence and retributive blood feuds to metastasize into chaos and internecine conflict.
More pointedly, it affirms our tradition’s fundamental value of justice as paramount, especially in the face of vigilante violence. And while we may, at times, feel a sense of superiority against the primitive actions of our ancestors, the unhinged events of January 6th, exacerbated by the cynical enabling and embrace of whole swaths of our leadership and citizenry, are a clarion warning that our nature and our sensibilities remain rooted in some of our darkest impulses. Our faith, our law, and our conscience are the last, best safeguard before the abyss!
Rabbi Daniel Weiner