Rabbi Lizz Goldstein
This week’s Torah portion is Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9.
This week’s Torah portion includes the commandments for sanctuary cities: “Thus blood of the innocent will not be shed” (Deuteronomy 19:10). Sanctuary cities were places where someone guilty of manslaughter might go to prevent being killed in revenge. It was a means of ensuring that true justice was served, not punishment based on personal vengeance.
There are many reasons a person might need sanctuary. For a modern-day equivalent of the sanctuary cities of the Torah, think of being able to post bond and go home while awaiting trial. Immigrants seeking asylum are looking for sanctuary. And many of us seek the sanctuary of Shabbat.
As American Jews, we understand the importance of sanctuary. The base of the Statue of Liberty tells the world to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
These words were written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish woman who had the privilege of being born here, but who assisted in bringing over and settling many Jewish refugees fleeing from the pogroms of Eastern Europe.
As a great-granddaughter of such refugees, I am grateful to all the Emma Lazaruses who gave our people sanctuary. It’s likely I, and many of us, would not be here without that aid and refuge.
The point of the cities of refuge in Parshat Shoftim is to prevent ongoing cycles of violence. There are many cycles of violence in our communities today, and all people will need some sanctuary at some point in their lives. More importantly, all people deserve sanctuary, a space to just be, a break from the horrors of the world, an opportunity to stop worrying about whether or not they will live through the night. All people deserve life, safety and peace. That safety includes being able to live authentically with dignity and freedom. ■
Rabbi Lizz Goldstein serves Congregation Ner Shalom in Woodbridge.
