Bloodshed, suicide R'l, traffic fatalities, work
accidents and all other kinds of tragedies. Why is the number
of human deaths on the upswing?
"And you shall appoint for you cities to be cities of refuge
for you, that the slayer who kills any person unaware may
flee there. And the cities which you shall give shall be six
cities for refuge. You shall give three cities on this side
of the Jordan and three cities shall you give in the land of
Canaan."
Rashi quotes the words of the gemora in Makkos:
"Even though there were nine tribes in the land of Canaan and
only two and a half tribes across the Jordan, yet the number
of cities of refuge was equal on both sides, since in Gilad,
across the Jordan, there were many murderers, as it is
written, `Gilad, a city of evildoers, filled with blood.'"
The Ramban asks, "But were these cities of refuge not
appointed for manslaughterers, that is, those who killed
inadvertently, and not premeditatedly? If so, how can one
determine that there were many murderers in Gilad merely by
the fact of the equal number of cities of refuge? Can
incidents of manslaughter be predicted in advance? And if it
happened to be true that more deaths by man-accident did
occur, does this, then, testify that it was a city of
bloodshed?"
The Maharal writes in Gur Arye as follows: "But it
seems to me that the one who did kill by accident should have
been more circumspect and not come to kill. This is why he is
punished by exile, for if not, why indeed should he be forced
to leave his home? What has he done to deserve this exile? He
should have been careful! He should not have been the cause
of another's death! And since there were many murderers in
Gilad, no one, not even the best of folk, were careful or
took safety precautions to preserve life by not causing
accidental killings. It follows that just like there were
many planned and intentional murders, so were there many
accidental deaths caused by negligence and lack of
precaution, a lack of sufficient awareness for the sanctity
of life. This is why it was necessary to have a
disproportionate number of orei miklot."
A high incidence of fatalities, even by accident, is no mere
coincidence. It is no quirk or statistical error. It is a
direct and necessary result of a disregard for the sanctity
of life and for the divine image reflected in mankind. In a
place where murder is rampant and human life has no value,
people will not be careful to preserve human life. No one
will take the pains to prevent deaths! A frightening
thought.
R' S. R. Hirsch zt'l pinpoints the very root of this
disregard for human life in his commentary. On the verse, "So
you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood
pollutes the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the
blood which is shed therein . . . And you shall not defile
the land which you shall inherit," he writes: "The entire
Torah rests upon three foundations: upon justice,
chessed within society, and the sanctity of the
personal life of the individual. In other words, the entire
Torah depends upon the recognition or rejection, the
acceptance or denial, of man as a creature of divine origin,
formed in the image of G-d. Justice depends upon the
recognition of man towards his fellow man as also sharing the
divine image. Sanctity and personal morals depends equally
upon man's acknowledgement that he bears the divine stamp
upon himself.
"But if that image becomes distorted to an animal image, if
man is considered a material, physical entity like all other
animals in creation, then the driving force in man's
life is violence, self interest and gratification of animal
lusts. Here there is no place to consider justice,
chessed and moral sanctity and in such a state there
prevails an atmosphere of defilement in the man's personal
world and in his environment, for what is tumah if not
a physical subjugation to one's body and a lack of moral
freedom which can only lead to violence and corruption.
The public's apathy towards bloodshed is an overt denial of
the divine element within man. It loudly declares
tumah as a principle in man's personal and national
makeup.
Therefore, the Torah addresses the Jewish people in its
national homeland and says, "And you shall not defile the
land in which you dwell." Do not outright declare through
your indifference to the life of man that impurity reigns
within your borders. Do not let impurity take hold in the
land "in which I dwell in your midst." A society in whose
midst Hashem dwells must express the sanctity of man and must
declare its recognition that man was created in G- d's
image.
*
In our Torah, the code of eternity, there is an explicit
address to the phenomenon of the sharp rise in the number
of accidental deaths [caused by human negligence]. No
difference if the category was changed to traffic fatalities
or work accidents resulting in death. The background is
identical. The Torah attributes the overt lack of
responsibility and consideration towards the sanctity of
human life to the terrible murders that are being perpetrated
knowingly, by human malicious design. Both are intertwined;
both stem from the corrupt root that breeds overt heresy and
denial of the divine origin and makeup of man, and in
equating of the divine image of man to that of the animal
form, a mere biological entity.
In face of the indifference that envelops society, warns the
Torah: "Do not declare that the principle of impurity reigns
in the land!" Be fully cognizant that man was created in the
very image of Hashem!
