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I understand from the Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 410, that a person who kills accidentally has a mitzvah to go to a city of refuge. I would like to know if that person is allowed to leave the city of refuge should she choose to do so? Meaning, is there a mitzvah to remain in the city of refuge, or is staying there just a good idea because leaving would enable the blood avenger to kill her?

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  • possible dupe judaism.stackexchange.com/q/991/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 21:17
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    @DoubleAA, that asks whether the avenger can attack him if he must leave. This asks whether he may leave. They seem like two very different questions to me.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 22:27
  • @msh210 I remember learning a shiur that he may not leave. I do not recall the source right now. It is not that the goel hadam may kill the murderer, but that bais din will deliver him to the goel hadam.
    – sabbahillel
    Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 23:40
  • You use the pronouns of "she" and "her," but I'm not sure if this mitzvah applies to women.
    – ezra
    Commented Feb 16, 2017 at 15:48
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    This is a great question. Hypothetically, someone who has sought refuge might think, "Hey, I've heard through a few sources that I consider reliable that the Goel HaDam from my case has sailed to Spain to study at a university there. It is probably safe for me to start taking day trips outside the city. The Goel probably won't pick up word of this for several months, if he ever does, and even then, travel is expensive and he will probably be too busy studying for exams to bother to come back and kill me. Yay!".
    – Robert Columbia
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 14:58

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Based on the Maharsha in makos 10b seen here http://dafyomi.co.il/makos/insites/ma-dt-010.htm, it's a mitzvah to remain in the city.

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