Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To behead the calf in the riverbed: That we were commanded to behead the calf in a mighty (the understanding of mighty is that its waters rage — Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murderer and the Preservation of Life 9:2) riverbed. And the matter of the commandment [applies] if we find a dead person in the field or on a path and we do not know who slew him, as it comes explicitly in Scripture. And about this is it stated (Deuteronomy 21:1), “If a slain person, etc.” until the end of the section. And this is the matter of the beheaded calf that is mentioned in the Gemara (Sotah, Chapter 9).

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] in order that the heart of the people be aroused in their seeing this great procedure — the gathering of the elders of the city and its great men: And they take a cow, which is a large animal, and they go outside of the city in assembly, and with the masses — since everyone wants to see these things. And all of the listeners will tremble at the sound of its beheading, and their thoughts about the thing will be stimulated. And immediately the heart of anyone who knows about the [murder] will be astounded and his thinking will be aroused to say that which he knows in front of the elders. And through this, the evil ones and the murderers will be destroyed from among them. And besides [this] knowledge, there is much benefit in this great procedure — to show and to publicize among the masses with great publicity that the desire of the elders and intelligent people is to find the murderer, to exact vengeance from him for the vengeance of the murdered. And so did I find in Rambam (Guide for the Perplexed 3:40).

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 45b) that Jerusalem does not bring a beheaded calf; as it is stated about this, “on the land that the Lord, your God, gives to you” — and Jerusalem was not divided [by] the tribes. And likewise we do not bring a calf if it is found near the border or [near] a town the majority of which are gentiles, as the assumption is that the gentiles killed him. [If] there were two towns there, one of which was closer and one of which was not closer but there is a greater multitude of people there than in the closer one, we go after the further one that has many [people] — as so did they, may their memory be blessed, say in the Gemara (Bava Batra 23b), “[In a case where one can decide based on] majority or proximity, one goes after majority.” And even though majority and proximity are both from Torah writ — meaning that the Torah commanded us to consider proximity and majority — majority is preferred. And from where we measure, from the nostrils of the killed; the law of its beheading, which is with a kofits (a large knife) from behind it; the law of the washing of the hands; the law of [when] the body is found in one place and the head is found in another place; the law of that which they said (Sotah 44b-45a), “‘Slain person’ and not strangled person, ‘on the land’ and not covered by a pile of stones, ‘fallen’ and not hanging on a tree, ‘in the field’ and not floating on top of the water”; and the rest of its details are [all] elucidated in the last chapter of Tractate Sotah. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murderer and the Preservation of Life 6.)

And this commandment is practiced in the Land of Israel at the time when it is in its inhabitation, and also in Transjordan. And its obligation is upon the males and especially upon the great men of the city; and like the matter that is written (Deuteronomy 21:3), “and the elders of that city.” And that which Scripture states first (Deuteronomy 21:2), “And your elders and your judges will go out,” is speaking about the elders of Jerusalem. As so did they, may their memory be blessed, say (Sotah 44b) that five elders of the Great Court in Jerusalem would go out and measure. And upon them is the commandment of measurement; but upon the elders of the city is the commandment of the calf, of the washing of the hands and of the reciting of those verses, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 21:2), “Our hands did not spill this blood, and our eyes did not see” — meaning to say, the one killed did not come to “our hands” and we dispatched him without provisions; and “our eyes did not see him” leave our city and we dispatched him without escort (Sotah 45b).