פרשת מסעי

(2) Instruct the Israelite people to assign, out of the holdings apportioned to them, towns for the Levites to dwell in; you shall also assign to the Levites pasture land around their towns. (3) The towns shall be theirs to dwell in, and the pasture shall be for the cattle they own and all their other beasts.

. צו את בני ישראל ונתנו ללוים מנחלת אחוזתם ערים לשבת ומגרש לערים סביבותיהם, “instruct the Children of Israel to allocate (give) to the Levites from the heritage of their possessions, cities for dwelling and an open space around their cities.” The expression מגרש describes an empty space outside the city for decorative purposes extending around the walls of a city 1,000 cubits all around that city. This area must not be used to build houses on, nor must it be used to plant trees or perform any agricultural activities. It is reserved for use by the livestock of the Levites and their free-roaming animals.

And according to the opinion of the Rabbis as well, who say that one may not convert a field into an open area, nor convert an open area into a field, one can say that this matter applies only to seeds, i.e., one may not plant seeds in a city’s open area and thereby turn it into a field. But with regard to trees, we do plant them in an open area. But here we do not plant trees, due to the beauty of the city.

You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

V’LO TACHANIPHU’ (AND YE SHALL NOT POLLUTE) THE LAND. Because He had said at the beginning: And these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your habitations, meaning that these judgments apply also outside the Land [of Israel], therefore He mentioned additional stringencies applying to the inhabitants of the Land [of Israel], in honor of the Divine Presence which is [especially] present there, and He warned us not to pollute it and not to defile it.
And the meaning of the term chanuphah [mentioned here, which literally means: “flattery,” or “pollution”] is that which is said with reference to the imprecations: Thou shalt carry out much into the field, and shalt gather in little; Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine; Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust make bare, for all expressions of chanuphah indicate doing the opposite of that which is seen by or appears to the eyes. This is the punishment [which will come] to the Land because of idolatry, bloodshed, and immorality, just as it is said, will not the Land ‘chanoph techenaph’ (become polluted)?; the earth also ‘chanepha’ (is polluted) under the inhabitants thereof; ‘vatachniphi’ (and thou hast polluted) the Land with thy harlotries. And the meaning of the term “defilement” [used in the next verse — And thou shalt not ‘defile’ the Land] is that the Land will become defiled so that the Glory of G-d will not dwell therein if there is innocent blood [shed] in it which has not been atoned for by the blood of him that shed it. Thus the Rabbis have said in the Sifre: “‘V’lo tachaniphu’ the Land — this is an admonition against flatterers.” For at first [in Verses 31-32] He warned us against taking a bribe from murderers, and then [in Verse 33 here] He warned us against flattering them because of their high position or their power, or the honor of their family, even without taking a bribe, because if we flatter them, we will thereby cause the Land to “betray” its inhabitants [as explained above].

They set out from Marah and came to Elim. There were twelve springs in Elim and seventy palm trees, so they encamped there.