"Upon the wings they will carry you least you strike your foot against the stone."

In this week parhsa it is reveal to us that Moshe recall the event in which three cities of refuge is being built within the land and command three more are to be built outside of the Land. ok this is great but what is a city of refuge i mean what does the person does there? as well what meaning does it have for us today?

The city of refuge is a place in which a person flee their blood averger who seek them. in which case they come to this place to find rest and study Torah from them and strive to live there in this community until the Kohen Godol dies or longer if they choose. nu, so what is the blood aveger is he is our Yetzar HaRa (evil inclination)

RamBam write in his Mishnah Torah that a shul belonging to a village can be sold if the people decide to sell it however a shul that is in a big city which should be clearly seen can never be sold by them for they do not own the shul but rather all of Israel own the shul.

and just like the city of refuge this shul should be known and clearly seen. in fact to this matter there a story which i wish to share with you

there was a Rasha (Wicked person) who did every thing that was wicked from time to time he would stop in and sit listen to the torah of the Chassidim and just be in their company. well this brought much concern among them because this man was such a Rasha they were concern since they live in Vilna which held the Vilna Goan. and so the told him to leave. this broke this poor man heart. knowing who their Rebbe was he wrote a letter telling the alter Rebbe saying: "I know I am a Rasha (wicked) and i do everything my evil inclination tells me however when a am among your chassidim for those few moment the evil inclination has no power over me..." with this the alter Rebbe greatly rebuke those Chassidim and told them to bring him back and show him Chaidust (love and kindness). later this Rasha became a holy rabbi.

so for us today our city of refuge is a shul in which we can began anew because of this it is no wonder that Israel who turn away, mostly return to judaism because they observe mourning and yershitz (sp) by attending services.

any thoughts comments or questions?