מוסר אויף במדבר 35:33

The legislation of the עגלה ערופה, the apparently senseless killing of an innocent heifer which has not had a chance to perform a useful function in life (21,1-9), is also an act of true kindness, חסד. It is both an act of kindness towards the victim of the murder as well as towards the inhabitants of the town near which the foul deed was perpetrated. By performing the rite of breaking the neck of the heifer in question the chances of finding the murderer are enhanced, which in turn would lead to justice for the murdered person when his murderer is punished. Rabbi Menachem Habavli comments on this paragraph as follows: "The reason for this legislation is that the publicity surrounding the breaking of the neck of the heifer in a valley of virgin soil will lead to the unmasking of the murderer. The procedure bestows honour both on the deceased and on the living. The murderer attacked from behind, i.e. the neck of the victim. This is why the neck of the heifer is broken. The murderer committed his act secretly. Therefore the act of atonement is also performed in a spot which is not used by the public. During periods when the general public observed the laws of the Torah and murder was almost unknown, the worms which infested the carcass of the heifer would gradually travel in the direction of the home of the murderer and lead to his discovery. Although it would, of course, be impossible to make such a murderer stand trial on the basis of such "evidence" seeing there had not been reliable witnesses to his act, the murderer would be ashamed once he realised that the people all were certain in their hearts that he was the guilty person." Thus far the commentary of Rabbi Menachem. The "honour" this procedure provided for the living was that the implied suspicion is removed that someone from the nearest town to where the victim had been found might have committed the murder is removed. The Zohar (Rosenberg Montreal edidtion page 133 on Parshat Shoftim) quoting Rabbi Shimon, explains that when someone is murdered the victim's soul is not perceived as having been snatched by the angel of death but by the murderer instead. This means that the murdered person was not allowed to live out the span allocated to him on earth. This single act of murder set back the time of the coming of the Messiah by denying the angel of death his task of helping to rehabilitate mankind from the pollutant of the serpent (and therefore mortality brought about by Adam's sin) and thereby bringing closer the time of the ultimate redemption (which frees mankind from mortality). This crime is especially serious when it happens in ארץ ישראל, where the earth itself needs atonement for having accepted the blood of the victim. G–d took pity on us and legislated the procedure of עגלה ערופה so that we may compensate for any setback in the time-table of redemption due to the murder that has been committed on holy soil by a person or persons unknown. Thus far the Zohar.