You shall set out for yourselves towns, towns of asylum you shall have, and a murderer may flee there, one who strikes down a person in errance…The consequence of involuntary manslaughter is exile into a town of asylum and the punishment parallels the crime. In a case of involuntary manslaughter there was a disconnect between

At the end of Chapter 27, we read about the appointment of Joshua as Moses’ successor and Chapters 28 and 29 lists the sacrifices brought daily, on Shabbat, and the Festivals. Rashi points out that the daily sacrifice was already taught in the book of Exodus (Parashat Tetzave) so its repetition here is redundant. Ralbag

Moab dreaded the Israelites, and Moab said to the elders of Midian…Why did Moab turn for help to Midian? A midrash suggests that they were hoping to understand the man leading Israel. Because Moses had spent time in Midian and married a Midianite, they turned to Midian for insight. This perspective reduced Israel’s success to

Chapter 20 opens with the people gathering against Moses and Aaron to clamor for water. There is a sharp exchange and then a few days later Aaron passes away: And all the community saw that Aaron had died, and all the house of Israel cried for Aaron thirty days. R. Hirsch points out that the