The Parshah of Maasei begins by listing all of the 42 stops that the Jews made on their travels through the desert. After that long list, we read what the borders of Israel are according to the Torah.
The Torah portion discusses a very interesting mitzvah for the people living in the Land of Israel (we do not fulfill this mitzvah nowadays). They are commanded to build six “cities of refuge” throughout the land of Israel. The cities served as a safe place for anyone who accidentally killed someone else. For example if “Benny” was chopping down a tree and it fell on someone and killed him, he would run to one of the cities of refuge. Once there, none of the relatives of the man who was killed were allowed to harm “Benny” in any way. There, he would be safe.
This is the last portion in the fourth book of the Torah. Next week we begin the fifth, and last book, Devarim.
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