Masei - Commandments

Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 2 positive and 4 negative commandments in the parshah:

  • To give the Levites cities to inhabit and their surrounding fields (Numbers 35:2.)
  • Not to kill the murderer before he stands trial (Numbers 35:12)
  • The court must send the accidental murderer to a city of refuge (Numbers 35:25.)
  • That a witness in a trial for a capital crime should not speak in judgment (Numbers 35:30.)
  • Not to accept monetary restitution to atone for the murderer (Numbers 35:31.)
  • Not to accept monetary restitution instead of being sent to a city of refuge (Numbers 35:32.)

(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Positive Commandments 183, 225; Negative Commandments 291, 292, 295, 296. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 1:196, 239; 2:271–72, 275–76. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 4:216–35. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-457-7.)

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