Chapter 35 - Text Notes
64 Erachin, 33b.
65 Sotah, 27b. See Ramban.
66 Not calling or inviting. Sifri, 3.
67 Bereishis,
27:20.
68 I.e., protect against the redeemer.
69 Sifri, 8.
Verse 14 will specify three on each side of the Yardein. Why mention
six in our verse? To teach that they were interdependent. (G.A.)
70
Hoshea, 6:8.
71 Makos, 10a. But the cities of refuge were only
for those who killed inadvertently. Why, then, did the abundance of
murderers in Gil'ad necessitate extra cities? Because the many
murderers there claimed that they had killed inadvertently, and took
refuge in the cities. (Ramban)
72 To teach that even someone who kills inadvertently with an
instrument large enough to kill, is liable to the death penalty. (G.A.)
73 For the death penalty to apply.
74 Vs. 17, 18.
75
Sifri, 9.
76 Teaching that with an instrument large enough to
kill, he must be put to death.
77 V. 23.
78 Even with a
lethal instrument,the inadvertent killer is merely exiled, but not put
to death. (G.A.)
79 Sifri, 9. But our verse already specifies
"which can kill." Why the additional criteria of the size of the
stone? (M.) To teach that the stone must be definitely lethal. Where
this is in doubt, the death of the victim is not acceptable as proof
that the weapon must have been deadly. (G.A.)
80 "... if he [the victim] gets up and walks ..
. the attacker shall be aquitted." (Shemos, 21:18) But if he dies,
the attacker is liable to the death penalty for murder.
81 Sifri,
10.
82 "... and he dies ... he must be
avenged." (Shemos, 21:20) The master must be put to death for murder.
83 Sifri, 11.
84 "Whenever he meets him" is otherwise
redundant. (M.)
85 Rashi inserts the missing phrase. (M.)
86 Not
without seeing his death, but without seeing him when he was struck.
(M.)
87 Makos, 7b. Descending objects may easily fall out of
control, so more care should have been exercised. This lends an element
of negligence to the accident, which must be expiated through exile.
Ascending objects, however, are almost universally under control. Thus,
the accident was absolutely unexpected, and no expiation is required.
(Imrei Shefer, from Rambam, Rotzeiach, 6:12)
88 Thus, he must remain confined in exile until the passing of
the Kohein Gadol.
89 Sifri, 20.
90 Because of the
kohein's fault in not praying, the murderer's exile ends
with his death (Makos, 11a). G.A. objects to this intepretation,
contending that Makos does not say this, but merely that, if the
murderer should pray for the death of the kohein, his prayer
might be effective because the kohein did not pray.
91 Not,
as the literal reading would indicate, the murderer, but some unknown
anointer.
92 11b.
93 The murderer's.
94 Kohein
Gadol.
95 In favor of exile to a city of refuge.
96 Even in
capital cases. (M.)
97 While the Temple stood. After its
destruction, the Sanhedrin was no longer authorized to function.
(Ramban, from Sanhedrin, 52b)
98 Sifri, 25.
99 Although unspecified in the text, it is understood that the
next phrase applies to one who kills the murderer. (G.A.)
100 Sifri,
26.
101 From the death penalty. The passage is understood as "do
not accept atonement, etc. to absolve him from the death penalty, but
he must die." (M.)
102 Unlike the owner of a murderous ox, who
may absolve himself from the death penalty by paying (Shemos, 21:30).
There, death is by Heavenly decree. Here, however, where the murderer
is put to death by mortals, payment is unacceptable. (M.)
103
Kesubos, 37b.
104 Either to the court, or the "goel"
redeemer. (M.)
105 Kesubos, ibid.
106 Not someone who is
now fleeing, but someone who has already fled, as Rashi goes on to
explain. (G.A.)
107 Michah, 2:8.
108 Tzefaniah, 3:18.
109 Yehoshua
5:5.
110 But not literally "falsely flatter"---this has no
relation to the passage here. Still, false flattery is used as a simile
for evil because one who flatters the wicked is himself evil. (G.A.)
111 Sifri, 32.
Chapter 36 - Text Notes
112 From "if" rather than "when." (M.)
113 When the
Temple is destroyed. (S.C.)
114 Toras Kohanim, Vayikra, 148.
115 To the heir who sold it.
116 Certainly, if yoveil
does not occur, it will not revert. Even if it occurs ...
(G.A.)
117 Where Scripture discusses their marriages. (M.)
118
Following the accepted custom. See Bereishis, 29:26. (M.)
119 27:1.
120 Since Scripture alternates, we learn that they were equally
esteemed, some for their seniority, others for their wisdom. (M., G.A.)
121 Bava Basra, 120a.
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