Cities of Refuge

The case of the ערי מקלט was mentioned in last week’s Parsha. There was a commandment to set up cities of refuge for the accidental killer. The specifics of the law are that we are referring to one who had no intention to kill, but did display a certain degree of negligence. The Torah gives the example of the blade of an ax flying off accidentally, killing an innocent victim. The negligence was that the ax should have been examined and tightened before use. There is a strange Halacha associated with this. If the victim was known to be an enemy of the ax holder, the killer would not be allowed the safety of the עיר מקלט. Somehow, because it is someone that he dislikes and is not speaking to, the “accident” is no longer viewed as an accident. This is difficult to understand but we must assume that the Torah’s wisdom is far greater than our own.