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Matot-Masei (2026)

Shabbat Matot-Masei (Chazak)

Dvar Torah – Building a principled homeland
This week's portion introduces the laws of Sanctuary Cities. It answers a hard question every society faces. What do we do with someone who has caused terrible harm — not out of malice, but through carelessness? Someone has committed manslaughter. Though they never meant to kill, yet a life is gone because they were not careful enough.

The Torah's answer is neither completely punitory nor an easy pass. It is a city of refuge. The offender may not leave its walls, sometimes for years. Life goes on — but it is a changed life, lived under the weight of what happened. In that single law, two truths are held at once: human life is never cheap, and a human being is never beyond repair.

Where does the Torah send them? To a city of the Levites — the teachers of Israel. The idea is quietly profound. Surrounded, day after day, by people devoted to a higher way of living, the offender is slowly reshaped. When freedom finally returns, the hope is that a different person walks out than the one who walked in.

The Ramban adds that this is not incidental to the Promised Land - it is the essence of it. The Holy Land cherishes life and does not tolerate any concept of it being disposable.

Justice and mercy, accountability and second chances. The Torah insists we can build a society on both and it’s the ground that it expects us to build our home on.

 

Shabbat in/out times
Yerushalayim 19:08/20:29
Tel-Aviv 19:28/20:31
Amsterdam 21:42/23:13
NYC 20:10/21:17
Detroit 20:52/22:01
Seattle 20:49/22:06

Shabbat Shalom!



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