Man plans and G-d has better plans and we discovered this once again on Wednesday morning as we headed out to Manchester Airport to take one of our shluchos to their flight back to the USA. As mazal would have it, we had only just gotten on to the M621 when we heard a loud pop. On a previous occasion when we had broken down at the side of the motorway, my children, waiting in the dark, cold and wet for over three hours, had coined the name Reckless and Careless for the recovery team. This time they had no complaints and within half an hour a friendly fellow called Jordan had found the problem – a corroded clasp that had allowed a pipe to pop out of the engine – fixed it, and we were back on our way.

While we waited to get back on our way, in keeping with advised procedure, we climbed over the barrier of the hard shoulder and waited. Never wanting to miss a teachable moment, we talked about the cities of refuge that are discussed in this week’s parsha and how fortunate we were that we were able to safely pull over to the side of the motorway and wait in pleasant weather behind the barrier.

The Cities of Refuge in this week's parshah were for someone who kills inadvertently. Until the destruction of the Temple, death by involuntary manslaughter required the murderer to flee to a City of Refuge and to remain there indefinitely, separated from the rest of society, atoning for their conduct. This was the only case in Jewish law where a person's freedom of movement is curtailed as a punishment for their acts, as in general Judaism does not operate a jail system.

In Chassidic thought it explains that every offence of the G-d's will is a subtle form of “inadvertent murder.” “Inadvertent,” because a sinful deed is always contrary to the real will of the transgressor, who has been misled by their evil inclination and “murder,” because it disrupts the flow of energy from G-d - the Source of Life - to the soul of the offender.

What is the solution for this?

The Torah includes six hundred and thirteen mitzvot. Not all of these are applicable to every person - the number of mitzvot that every Jew is obligated in is two hundred and seventy and even some of these, are binding only on certain days of the year, or at certain times of the day.

There are six mitzvot whose obligation is constant on every Jew at every moment. These are: to believe in G‑d, to believe in His Oneness, to renounce idolatry, to love G‑d, to fear Him, and to avoid temptation to sin. They are symbolised by the verse, “six cities of refuge there should be for you."

For one who spiritually “slays a soul unawares,” there have been set aside six spiritual "cities of refuge." These are the “six constant mitzvot” that apply to every Jew, at all times and in all circumstances, so that they are readily accessible when we try to seek refuge from our faults and failings.