Musar zu Schemot 2:11

I have found a beautiful commentary concerning this amongst the writings of the Arizal. We must understand why Moses bothered to set aside these three cities, seeing they could not perform their function until the other three cities of refuge on the West Bank of the Jordan had been set aside also (Numbers 35,13; compare Makkot 9). When we understand the Arizal's commentary on the problem of the cities of refuge, we will also understand why the Torah interrupted the report about the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people by mentioning already at this point that Moses set aside the three cities of refuge which were to be on the East Bank of the Jordan. The Ari zal sees in Moses' action an attempt at rehabilitation for when he had committed manslaughter and had taken it upon himself to slay the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew (Exodus 2,12). He had considered this killing in the category of a murder inadvertently committed because he had felt at the time that he was performing a מצוה by doing so. The first letters of the words הירדן מזרחה שמה, which describe what Moses did, form the acronym משה. The following words, אשר ירצח את רעהו are also an allusion to Moses. We have already described that Moses was the re-incarnation of Abel. The Torah here alludes to the first murder i.e. fratricide, when Cain slew his brother Abel. This is also alluded to in Exodus 2,11, when the Torah describes Moses as observing an Egyptian man: מכה איש עברי מאחיו, "torturing a Jewish man, one of his brothers." The Torah hints that the Egyptian was a former brother of Moses, i.e. a re-incarnation of Cain. In this instance the evil which had been part of Cain's character had re-surfaced in the character of this Egyptian. We have explained on another occasion that the נפש of Cain, i.e. his lowest spiritual part, was re-incarnated in the body of this Egyptian, whereas Cain's רוח, the superior part of his soul, was re-incarnated in the body of Yitro. The highest part of Cain's soul, i.e. the נשמה, was re-incarnated in the body of Korach. Korach made the mistake of quarrelling with Moses; this resulted in his גלגול failing to achieve its ultimate purpose. Yitro was of mixed feelings. When he became aware that he was wrong, had sinned, he converted to Judaism. At the end of the paragraph dealing with the cities of refuge the Torah writes: וזאת התורה אשר שם משה. This means that Moses determined the need to set aside these three cities of refuge at this time for his own sake.

Moses' teacher was the angel זגנזגל (=100+1 for the value of the word itself) whose name has a numerical value of 101. In other words, he was the source, or מאין, of Moses' wisdom, חכמה. We see that the verse "והחכמה מאין תמצא" is a hint referring to Moses, to whom the principle that once you possess the basics you will be endowed further was applied. The relationship between Moses and Yitro became possible after Moses had killed the נפש part of Cain's re-incarnation in the person of the Egyptian who had abused or killed a Jew (Exodus 2,11-12). Yitro had absorbed the "higher" soul, נשמה, of Cain, and as such could -"twin"- Moses who had absorbed the נשמה of Abel.