balancer." In an echo of the requirement in that the Israelites could execute a manslayer only with the evidence of two or more witnesses, Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution provides that the government may convict a person of treason only with the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or a confession in open court. A then-recent precursor of the Constitution's provision appeared in 1776 in the Laws of Virginia, which provided that defendants be "convicted of open deed by the evidence of two sufficient and lawful witnesses, or their own voluntary confession." At the Constitutional Convention, the requirement for two witnesses first appeared in the first draft of the Constitution presented on August 6, 1787. During debate on August 20, 1787, John Dickinson of Delaware questioned what was meant by the "testimony of two witnesses" and whether they were to be witnesses to the same overt act or to different overt acts. The Convention consequently voted to insert the words "to the same overt act" after "two witnesses." Benjamin Franklin supported the amendment, arguing that prosecutions for treason were virulent and perjury too easily made use of against innocent defendants. In The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton cited the requirement for two witnesses to establish treason as one of several provisions in the Constitution that enumerate rights that, taken together, amounted to a bill of rights. Commandments According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 2 positive and 4 negative commandments in the parashah: To give the Levites cities to inhabit and their surrounding fields Not to kill the murderer before he stands trial The court must send the accidental murderer to a city of refuge That a witness in a trial for a capital crime should not speak in judgment Not to accept monetary restitution to atone for the murderer Not to accept monetary restitution instead of being sent to a city of refuge Haftarah The haftarah for the parashah is: for Ashkenazi Jews: and 3:4. for Sephardi Jews: and 4:1–2. When parashah Masei is combined with parashah Matot (as it will be until 2035), the haftarah is the haftarah for parashah Masei. When the parashah coincides with Shabbat Rosh Chodesh (as it did in 2008), and are added to the haftarah. Notes Further reading The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these sources: Biblical (place of refuge). (Zelophehad's daughters). (Cities of