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By Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim, Kfar Chabad, Israel

This week’s parsha includes three interesting but seemingly impractical laws: to listen to prophets, to appoint a king and to make three ‘cities of refuge’ for unintentional murderers bringing the total to nine.

The Torah is the book of life-lessons and every idea and word in it is practical and vital. But here seems to be a big exception. Everyone knows that these three; kings, prophets and cities of refuge simply don’t exist anymore.

So what does it mean to us?

The simple answer is: Moshiach (the True Jewish Messiah).

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides – the “Rambam”) in his fourteen-volume masterpiece that explains all the laws of the Torah, states that the Moshiach will be a king (spiritually ruling the world), a prophet (who will never make a mistake) and finally, will add three cities of refuge in addition to the six already enumerated elsewhere.

In fact, when the Rambam brings three Torah proofs for the necessity of believing in and expecting Moshiach the third one he brings is that only he will add three ‘Cities of Refuge’ (Deut. 19: 8,9)

At first glance this is not understood;

Is Moshiach really so important? If so, why don’t we hear more about him? And what has he got to do with cities of refuge?

Here is a story that might help understand.

I met Yoron (fictitious name) a year ago at a Chassidic Farbringin in Tel Aviv. He was a young, Chassidic-looking fellow replete with beard, tzitzis and a positive look on his face. You could tell from a mile away that he was a Chabadnik.

But he told me that how he got that way was nothing short of a miracle.

Yoron had been a typical Israeli soldier; brought up on all the Zionist ideals and willing to do anything to succeed. And he did. Although he didn’t like to talk about it he finished at the rank of master sergeant with honors and a rosy future before him.

So he did what every red-blooded, young Israeli does. Like all his friends did after finishing the army. He packed his bags and bought a plane ticket to get as far from Israel as possible.

In his case it was Thailand.

There was no stopping him, his parents didn’t even try.

Of course, they didn’t want him to go; so many of his friends got lost out there. One was stuck somewhere in a cult in India, another got married to a gentile girl in Denmark, a third was in jail in Australia and they themselves had tens of friends and family ‘lost’ all over the world.

But they were powerless; they knew that Israel had nothing to offer him. In fact, in a way they sort of envied him; at least he had a dream.

So Yoron kissed them good bye, gave his brother a hug and flew into the horizon.

He called home from Thailand once a week or so but, as they feared, after a while he announced that he decided to cancel his return trip and stay ‘a bit’ longer. He found a job, had a lot of friends, was having a great time and he even knew the language a bit. He didn’t tell them about his Thailandi girlfriend but he intended to if they got serious.

Judaism meant nothing to him. It was pure bigotry and the reason everyone hates us. Except for being circumcised and putting on Tefillin at his bar Mitzva, he never had done anything Jewish and he never would. He would melt into the world.

But he didn’t take Chabad into account.

It seems that one of the pastimes on Passover for the tens of thousands of Israelis wandering aimlessly in the mountains of Nepal and Thailand is the Passover Seder that Chabad makes in Katmandu. (Today there are many more places as well).

Yoron didn’t join his friends the first year he heard about it, but this year when a bigger group of friends said they were going he decided to join … for ‘kicks’.

When he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised; there were hundreds of Israelis just like himself. Some were setting the tables, others were preparing the food, others were cleaning up the grounds; everyone was busy doing something to prepare for the big night and he joined in.

He even enjoyed the ‘Seder’ ceremony that came that evening. The Rabbis that led it were young and energetic and they explained each detail with fresh ideas from their ‘Lubavitcher Rebbe’.

Until their explanation of the Exodus.

They quoted the Rebbe as saying that G-d took the Jews from Egypt because the Jews are G-d’s chosen people and are ‘part’ of the Creator Himself (!) not part of the creation (like the Egyptians and the other nations).

This was too much!! In fact it made Yoron so angry that he stood up in the middle of the Seder and protested! He yelled that it was pure bigotry.

But the Rabbi answered, “You have a point! But I didn’t create the world. You have to remember that Judaism teaches that G-d creates everything including each and every gentile constantly! For free! From love! So in a way we are chosen to teach the gentiles how much G-d loves them!”

The answer calmed him down. However, he did like it when the rabbi said something about ‘spiritual auras’ and the only way Jews can activate theirs is by putting on Tefillin,

He liked it because he just so happened to have packed his Bar Mitzva Tefillin in his knapsack before he left. He really didn’t know why he did it but they didn’t take much space and were a memento of his past etc.

So a few days after the Passover with Chabad he put them on, just to try it, and …. he felt something different. Maybe it was the aura?

He found himself putting them on whenever he had a quiet moment, and just bask in the spiritual light etc. But nothing major changed in his life. In fact he became more and more determined to stay in Thailand.

It was on one of his climbs in the Himalayas that all this changed.

He was hiking at the head of a group of ten or so of the locals. It was the third day, about two thousand feet up, when they climbed to a ridge and a fantastic, panoramic sunset spread before their eyes. It was awesome, a once in a lifetime view … a perfect moment to put on his Tefillin.

He motioned for his entourage to stop, took off his pack, took out the Tefillin, put them on, closed his eyes and just imagined the vibrations passing through his body.

But when he turned back to see where the rest of the group was, no one was there! They had disappeared! He was confused. They were there a minute ago. Where had they gone?

He called out a few times but there was no answer. He was alone high above the world with only the wind whistling over the mountains, his Tefillin on his arm and head a beautiful view before him …. and no entourage! It was too weird!!

Then suddenly he got the shock of his life. They all peeked out from behind the big boulders where they were hiding!!

It seems that when they saw the Tefillin on him they ran for cover!

These people knew that he was their friend and all he did was put on two black boxes! Why did they hide??

The only thing that made sense was the Rebbe’s explanation he heard at the Passover Seder. He was part of the Creator…..and they were part of the creation.

A few days later Yoron was back in the Chabad House in Thailand asking questions and a few weeks afterward he had returned to Israel and was learning Torah and Chassidut in the Chabad Yeshiva in Ramat Aviv.

This answers our questions about the relevance of prophets, the King and sanctuary cities to Moshiach today.

Moshiach will be a king: a direct descendent of King David, the representative of the King of the Universe. He will the most important person ever to walk the face of the earth. Only through him will be realized the goal of Judaism; revealing the potential for good in all humanity and returning all the Jews to Judaism.

And he will be a prophet directing and explaining how to serve G-d and improve the world.

Just like the Lubavitcher Rebbe did to Yoron and his gentile friends.

That is why Moshiach will add three Cities of Refuge to the six already mentioned in the Torah and why it is a proof of his coming.

Because establishing these cities can only be done when all the Jews will be so devoted to truth that even the smallest personality flaws will be considered unintentional ‘murder’. That will happen only after Moshiach arrives.

But not much is lacking to make it happen. We are standing on the merits of thousand of years of Jewish self-sacrifice and it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can tilt the scales and bring…

Moshiach NOW!

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