Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 21:1: Sefer Yesodei HaTorah

And this, too, is the rationale for the mitzvah of eglah arufah (the heifer of the broken neck, Devarim 21:1-9) — not to uncover the murderer (as per Maimonides, Moreh III, Chapter 40), but for two reasons: 1) to strengthen this principle that all of Israel are responsible for each other and that "the land will not be atoned for the blood that has been spilled in it except by the blood of its spiller" (viz. Bamidbar 35:33) — wherefore, since the slayer is not known to them and they cannot bring him to justice, the heifer is broken instead of him and the elders wash their hands (over the heifer) as a sign that they and their senders are innocent and their palms were not sullied by the blood of the slain one, and 2) (in the strength of their conviction in the punishment adverting to the land for the blood spilt in it —) that they not come to kill an innocent man suspected of that murder without incontestable proof and clear testimony. For though they knew that all of the people were not responsible for one who slew his neighbor in secret, they might think that this was so only when the slain one was not known (i.e., when he has not been found), but in our instance, where the corpse has been found, they might think that all the congregation would be punished unless they exerted themselves to find the killer.