Masei - Death and Responsibility

There are various interesting topics in Parashat Masei. After exploring a few strange pesukim and their placement within the summary of the journeys, we move on to the topic of the Cities of Refuge for the "accidental killer." It is noteworthy that at times this killer is referred to as a killer ("makkeh"), and at times as a murderer ("rotzei'ah."). This terminology relates to the ideas of responsibility that the Torah has. When using dangerous equipment, we cannot take a lackadaisical attitude - we must be very careful. One who is not sufficiently careful in life-threatening situations can be much worse than negligent.