The Torah in Parashat Shoftim (Debarim 21:1-9) presents the Misva of Egla Arufa, requiring that a special ceremony be conducted in a situation where a murder victim is discovered, and the killer is still at large. The nation’s religious leaders are to measure from the corpse to the nearby cities in order to determine which city is closest to the scene of crime. The leaders of that city must then take an Egla – young calf – and bring it to a stream of water, where the calf is hacked to death at the back of its neck, and the leaders make a special proclamation.
The purpose of this Misva, the Sefer Ha’hinuch explains, is so that the dramatic response to the murder will cause a stir and alert people to the severity of the crime. This might motivate them to inquire and find the killer’s identity so he can be punished. The Egla Arufa ceremony, then, helps the leaders find the murderer and thus eliminate crime. Secondly, the Sefer Ha’hinuch adds, this ceremony is necessary so that people see that the Rabbis are taking the crime seriously and doing something about it. People often voice complaints that Rabbis are indifferent to society’s problems, and it is thus imperative for the religious leaders to respond in dramatic fashion to the discovery of a murder victim, to show that they are truly concerned and getting involved to improve the society.
The city of Jerusalem does not require an Egla Arufa if a murder victim is found near the city. The Torah here speaks of the discovery of a murder victim “upon the land which Hashem your G-d is giving you,” and Jerusalem was not given to any particular tribe, as it remained the property of the entire nation (“Yerushalayim Lo Nitchaleka Li’shbatim”). Therefore, it is not subject to the command of Egla Arufa.
If the city nearest to the corpse had a smaller population than the further city, the city with the higher population conducts the Egla Arufa ceremony, despite its being further. Since there is a higher probability that the murderer came from the more populated city, that city bears the Egla Arufa obligation despite not being the city nearest the scene of the crime. If the corpse was discovered near the border of a city populated by gentiles, then it is assumed that a non-Jewish resident of that city committed the crime, and so the nearest Jewish city does not perform an Egla Arufa ceremony.
The Gemara rules that the measurements from the corpse are made specifically from the nostrils.
This law applies in the Land of Israel, and also in Eber Ha’Yarden – the territory east of the Jordan River which was settled by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Menashe. The obligation is borne specifically by the leaders.
In this section at the end of Parashat Shoftim, the Torah says about the area where the Egla Arufa ceremony is held, “Lo Ye’abed Bo Ve’lo Yizare’a” – that it may never be tilled. The Sefer Ha’hinuch lists this command as a separate Biblical prohibition, forbidding agricultural work in the area where the Egla Arufa ceremony was held.
The Torah requires conducting the ceremony in a “Nahal Etan,” which the Sefer Ha’hinuch interprets as a reference to a stream of water with a strong current. In his view, this is where the Egla Arufa ceremony is to take place.
The reason for this prohibition, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes, is to help publicize the murder. When people see a tract of land that lies fallow, remaining forever undeveloped, they will realize that an Egla Arufa ceremony was held at this site because of a murder that occurred. This will serve to impress upon the people the unique severity of murder and how seriously the Torah approaches such a crime.
The Torah forbids working the land itself – such as plowing and sowing – but not performing work on the land. Thus, for example, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that it is permissible to comb flax on the ground where an Egla Arufa ceremony took place, because this does not involve tilling the land.
Interestingly enough, the Sefer Ha’hinuch writes that hypothetically, this prohibition applies even nowadays. If we would know of a certain piece of land upon which an Egla Arufa ceremony was held, it would be forbidden to work that piece of land, even today.
This Misva is binding upon both men and women. One who violates this prohibition by tilling the land where an Egla Arufa ceremony took place is liable to Malkut