Comentario sobre Números 35:23

או בכל אבן אשר ימות בה OR WITH ANY STONE WHEREBY ONE MAY DIE, he smote him.

ויפל עליו, “he caused it to fall upon him.” This verse caused our sages (Makkot 7) to determine that if someone kills unintentionally by dropping something while lowering it he must go to the city of refuge, but if it occurred while lifting the object he does not go.

He struck him. Without the additional phrase, “He struck him,” we would understand “without seeing” is associated with “which can kill” as if to say that he did not see his death. However this is not so, rather it means to say that he did not see when he struck him. Furthermore, without the additional wording the phrase, “Or even with a stone” would obviously be missing [a verb], since it should have said, “Or even struck with a stone.” For if it referred back to [the verb] “threw” (v. 22), the verse should have said או כל אבן ["or even a stone"].

V. 23. עד שיפול דרך נפילה :ויפל עליו, es ist als eine גלות verschuldende Unvorsichtigkeit nur dann zu behandeln, wenn der tötende Gegenstand von ihm abwärts gerichtet war, nicht aber, wenn er von ihm aufwärts geführt gegen seinen Willen abwärts flog. Ebenso wohl, wenn er von einer Leiter abwärts steigend auf einen Untenstehenden gefallen, nicht aber, wenn er beim Hinaufsteigen hinunter gefallen und im Fall den Untenstehenden getötet. זה הכלל כל שבדרך ירידתו גולה ושלא כדרך ירידתו אינו גולה (Mackot 7b).

ויפל עליו “and he threw it down upon him;” from the wording of this verse the Rabbis concluded that killing by dropping something on the victim makes the killer subject to spending the rest of his life until the death of the High Priest in a city of refuge. If the killer had looked at what was below him he would have seen that dropping an object or throwing an object down was something dangerous. (Talmud tractate Makkot folio 7) On the other hand, if the victim was struck by the killer having thrown something up into the air, this is considered an accident, and the person who had thrown the object does not have to be confined to the city of refuge. The basic principle is that one has to look in front if there are obstacles, but not behind or above. Normal people do not look in all directions before throwing an object.

בלא ראות — i.e. that he (the slayer) did not see him (Not: without anyone having seen him, i.e. that there were no witnesses).

While descending. Such as where one was rolling a roller downward and it fell upon a person and killed him, or where one was lowering a bundle and it fell upon a person, or one was descending a ladder and fell upon a person and killed him, [in all these cases] he is exiled.

ויפל עליו AND HE CAST IT UPON HIM — From here (i.e. from these words) they (the Rabbis) said: he who kills inadvertently by way of a falling movement goes into exile (i.e. must escape to and reside in a city of refuge); he who kills by way of an upward movement does not go into exile (Makkot 7b; cf. our Note on Exodus 21:13).

While ascending is not exiled. If one was pushing a roller upward and it fell on a person and killed him, or one was raising a barrel and the rope broke and the barrel fell on a person and killed him, or where one was ascending a ladder and fell upon a person and killed him, he is not exiled. The reason is that because all of these [deaths] were as a result of moving upward and he was not obliged to be cautious.