Accidental Death

There are instances when we need to look at the significance of every word in the Torah. A case in point, are the laws related to the cities of refuge.

The cities of refuge are mentioned numerous times in the Torah. These cities were a kind of “safe zone,” for those who may have killed accidentally, but with a small amount of negligence. The classic example is the top of an ax flying off and killing an innocent bystander. The guilty party should have examined the ax before attempting to chop down a tree. He goes to the city of refuge.

There are other accidental death situations where it makes a big difference if the act was in a downward fashion, or upward fashion. If someone is going down a ladder and a rung breaks, and he falls on and accidentally kills, he goes to the city of refuge (עיר מקלט). But if he was going up the ladder and the rung broke with the same result, no entrance to the city of refuge.

The same would apply if he were carrying a heavy bucket of cement up to his roof, no city of refuge. If he was on his way down from the roof, and the heavy bucket accidentally dropped, he would be a candidate for the Ir Miklat.

All of this is learned from the words in the Torah, ןיפל עליו וימות, “And it fell on him and he died.” From these words it is derived that it must be דרך נפילה, in the direction of falling, or a downward motion, in order to qualify for the safety of the city of refuge.

This is known as a גזירת הכתוב, or a “decree based on the scriptural text.” It may not be logical to us, but it is a tradition that we are obligated to follow.