 One of the more interesting laws in the Torah is found in the book of Numbers chapter 35 and the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 where we learn about the Are Nikvlat, the cities of refuge. If someone kills unintentionally they had to flee to one of these cities and were told there were six of them, three on one side of the Jordan River, three on the other side of the Jordan River, and in these cities of refuge the person who killed unintentionally would be safe from any relative of the victim that might be seeking revenge. What's strange is that later on in the Torah in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19 verse 9 we're told that at some point in Jewish history we're going to add three additional cities of refuge and the question is why? Why will there be at some future point nine cities of refuge rather than six? So the passage in Deuteronomy chapter 19 is introduced by telling us that it's speaking about a time when God will expand our borders because all of the people of Israel are observing and obeying the commandments of the Torah. My mononies and many others suggest that this chapter Deuteronomy 19 is speaking about what will be taking place in the Messianic age. It will be in the Messianic age when we will add three additional cities of refuge. Now this is actually very perplexing because we would assume that at a time when, as the prophet Isaiah describes in chapter 11, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb and we're told there will be world peace, why at a time like that will we have additional cities of refuge? We would have thought that perhaps at a time when the whole world will be living at peace and there'll be not more killing going on but probably less killing going on so we would assume maybe there should be fewer cities of refuge. Maybe eliminate them altogether. But why go from six to nine? Why add three additional cities of refuge at a time that we are describing as the Messianic age, a time of world peace? This problem is similar to a problem that we have with the Yom Kippur liturgy. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement in the Jewish calendar, takes place at the end of 40 days of intense spiritual work and preparation. 10 days before Yom Kippur is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. And this 10-day period of time is called the Aserikim Echuva, the 10 days of repentance where Jewish people do tremendous introspection, moral stock-taking and they work on repenting and changing, getting rid of their negative behaviors, returning to God, improving their behaviors. And this entire 10-day period of time is preceded by the entire month of Elul, 30 days of preparation. So we have here a 40-day period of time when in the Jewish world there is intense introspection and stock-taking and working to improve ourselves. Yom Kippur is the last of these days. And what happens toward the end of Yom Kippur, we have the afternoon prayer service called Mincha and the Torah is read. Now this is the very end of this 40-day period of intense spiritual work and improvement. What is it that the rabbis decided we should read in the synagogue on Yom Kippur at the end of the day, at the end of this 40-day period of spiritual work and repentance? Strikingly, the rabbis ask us to read Leviticus chapter 18, which is a long chapter describing sexual prohibitions ranging from not having sexual relations with our parents or with animals and everything in between. Now we would have thought that on this incredibly spiritual day, at the end of 40 days of intense spiritual work, this is not the kind of message we would need. We would think that maybe a more sublime, a more spiritual message would be more appropriate. Why do we need to hear at the end of this 40 days, at the very end of Yom Kippur, that you know what, it's important to remember you shouldn't sleep with your mother. Don't sleep with your cow. I believe that these problems are very similar. Why is it that during the Messianic age, when humanity has reached a very high level, we're living in peace with each other? Why do we have to have additional cities of refuge for people who might kill accidentally? And why on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur? Do we have to read about these incredibly perverse sexual prohibitions that we wouldn't consider doing on our worst day of the year? I believe the answer to these questions is similar. Both situations are discussing what happens when you are on a very high level. And the problem when you're on a high level is how do you stay there? How do you stay on the high ground once you're there already? And one of the great problems is if people that have reached a high level convince themselves that they've arrived, they've finished the race, and now they can relax and take it easy, they are setting themselves up for a fall. The great danger of reaching a high level is that you can become complacent and assume that you are such a high person now, you're in such a high level, that you could never imagine doing something terrible. We know that physically, if someone is on a high place, let's say we've always seen the movie, someone who's at the edge of the 88th floor of a building, and there's a big crowd down on the street below, and everyone is looking up at this person at the ledge. And in order to make sure that the person doesn't fall off the ledge, they're going to start screaming at him, don't look down, don't look down, because if someone's on a high level physically, and you want to ensure they don't fall, you tell them don't look down. But if someone's on a high place spiritually, and you want to make sure that they stay there and they don't fall, you tell them look down, look down, and think, and realize what can happen if you don't stay vigilant, if you don't work hard, and if you realize that you still have free will, you can still do the wrong thing. If you convince yourself that you're unable to fall down, you will fall down. So during the Messianic Age, we're not going to have more cities of refuge because they're going to be actually more killings going on, but they will be a sign for us in order to let everyone remember that if we're not careful in the Messianic Age, even then it would be possible to take a life, God forbid. And the same thing happens at the end of Yom Kippur, at the end of these 40 days of intense spiritual work, in order to just let us leave realizing that we're not going to be stuck on that high level we've reached. We need to be vigilant, we need to work hard to stay there. And one of the things that Arturo teaches us in order to help us stay on the high level once we've climbed up for so many, so many days is to look down and to realize, God forbid, if we're not careful, we're capable of committing the most terrible sins.