Комментарий к Бамидбар 35:6

ואת הערים…את שש ערי המקלט, "and the cities…the six cities of refuge, etc." From this verse we learn that these six cities were to serve primarily the involuntary murderers who had to be exiled there and not the Levites. Seeing that in verse 7 the Torah mentions that the grand total of the number of cities allocated to the Levites is 48, it is clear that the Levites were also entitled to live in the six cities of refuge. Apparently, the Torah wrote matters in such a way that we understand that the Levites and the inadvertent murderers (Israelites) had equal rights in the six cities of refuge. This is why the Torah stressed the rights of the inadvertent murderers in the first verse whereas in the second verse it appears to stress the rights of the Levites. From all this it is clear that the exiles do not have the right to charge rent to the Levites. All the opinions discussing this subject in Makkot 13 are agreed on this point. I may add that it is my view that in the event that there is a surfeit of exiles in any of the six cities of refuge, a Levite may be forced to leave in order to make room for an inadvertent murderer.

ועליהם תתנו ארבעים ושתים עיר, “In addition to them (the 6 cities designated for involuntary manslaughterers to take refuge) you will add another 42 cities for the Levites.” This would make a total of 48 cities in which the Levites would dwell. Three of the cities of refuge were to be situated in the territories of the two and a half tribes on the east bank of the Jordan, the remaining three in Eretz Yisrael proper.

V. 6. ואת הערים וגו׳ את שש ערי המקלט וגו׳. Diese wiederholte Akkusativkonstruktion soll wohl sagen, dass die sechs zuerst zu ערי מקלט bestimmten Städte (V. 13) zugleich den Leviten übergeben werden sollen. In erster Linie bleiben sie jedoch ערי מקלט, so dass die dorthin sich flüchtenden unabsichtlichen Totschläger den Leviten für ihren Aufenthalt keinerlei Abgaben zu zahlen hatten (Mackot 13a). Nach Raschi (daselbst) scheint ihnen sogar unentgeltliche Wohnung haben gewährt werden müssen. ועליהם תתנו וגו׳. Außer diesen sechs ערי מקלט wurden noch zweiundvierzig Städte den Leviten gegeben. Durch dieses ועליהם ist diesen zweiundvierzig Städten sekundär auch das מקלת-Recht erteilt. Allein ihre nächste Bestimmung ist: Levitenstadt zu sein. Daraus fließt ein zweifacher Unterschied zwischen ihnen und den sechs eigentlichen מקלט-Städten. Wenn in ihnen ein unabsichtlicher Totschläger seinen Aufenthalt nimmt, so hat er dafür Abgaben zu tragen, und ferner gewähren sie ihm nur Schutz, wenn er sie mit der ausgesprochenen Absicht des schutzsuchenden Aufenthalts betritt, während die sechs eigentlichen מקלט-Städte ihm diesen Schutz gewähren, selbst wenn er sich nur zufällig in ihnen befindet, ja selbst, wenn er von ihrer schützenden Kraft gar kein Bewusstsein hat (Mackot 10 a und 13 a).

Forty-two cities. Corresponding to the forty-two encampments in which Yisroel camped in the desert and where all of them were like strangers, so were the forty-two cities given to the Levites so that they would not have a portion in Eretz Yisroel. The Cities of Refuge were amongst the cities of the Levites, because whoever enters the City of Refuge has the status of a stranger, and we are concerned that the dwellers in the land might say to him: “You are a stranger in the land.” It was therefore commanded that the Cities of Refuge would be amongst the cities of the Levites, because the Levites are also strangers in the land and the person taking refuge can say: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

ועליהם תתנו ארבעים ושתים עיר, “and in addition you will add 42 towns” (which can also serve as cities of refuge). The difference between the six cities of refuge named and the cities of the Levites is that the former serve as such regardless of if the unintentional killer is aware of their function or not, whereas the 42 cities of the Levites serve as such only if specifically chosen by the unintentional killer for that purpose. Talmud tractate Makkot, folio 10.