Timeless Torah

David furtively looked around. As he scanned the short span of highway that led to the city gates, he breathed a sigh of relief. The road was clear. He emerged from the thicket and moved towards the walled city. Suddenly from behind a rock, he saw whom he feared most, the brother of the man he had accidentally killed. Drawing upon a source of energy he was previously unaware of, he dashed to safety. He had entered a city of refuge.
In this week’s Biblical portion we read about the ancient cities of refuge manned by the Levites, to which a man who had killed accidentally could find sanctuary. In a well known Chassidic comparison, the final month of the Jewish year, Elul, is in time, what the cities of refuge were in space. Unfortunately, these shelters were restricted to the land of Israel. Nonetheless, the Sages assure us that someone who committed accidental homicide outside the Holy Land could still flee to one of the cities of refuge.
In a related judicial issue, this week’s Torah portion begins with the mandate to appoint, “Judges and officers in all your gates” which is taken to mean everywhere Jews reside, even if it be outside Israel.
The question then one is compelled to ask is why the difference? The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that there are two phases of repentance. There is (A) remorse over what has been done in the past and (B) commitment to act differently in the future. How does man find the strength to change? Obviously man cannot atone while clinging to the environment which led him to sin. While he might feel remorse, he must also take the decisive step to move away from the past, and escape to the realm of holiness, i.e. to the land of Israel. There on its sanctified earth, his future would have a better opportunity.
On the other hand, judges had to be appointed in every locale. As it is written in Ethics of our Fathers, “Do not judge your fellow man until you come to his place.” A court which sits in Israel cannot recognize the trials and temptations which exist in the Diaspora. Judges therefore had to be drawn from the same circumstances as those who had fallen.
Throughout the year, man must stand ever vigilant and judge whether he is living up to his spiritual potential. Come Elul, however and he must move to a higher plane of existence. The new environment of refuge is created by the Elul sounds of the shofar, the extra charity, the midnight selichos, potential prayers and a host of other factors.
It is truly a sanctuary in time.