Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
What's going on here? מַה זֶה?
The עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה (eglah arufah) ritual was a ceremony for when a person was killed mysteriously in the middle of nowhere (Devarim 21:1-9).
- When a dead body was found, elders and judges would measure to find the closest town.
- The elders of that town would take a calf that had never performed work and bring it down to the water. There, they would kill it by chopping its neck.
- The town elders would wash their hands over the calf, and say, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.”
- They would ask for forgiveness from God.
What was the purpose of this ceremony?
- Ramban explains that an eglah arufah was a special קָרְבָּן (korban, sacrifice) to get forgiveness, similar to the goat that is pushed off a cliff on Yom Kippur.
- Rambam explains that this ceremony was a practical way to draw attention to what had happened. The publicity could help the authorities solve the murder case, by encouraging witnesses to come forward.
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