DEUT1027 There is a ruling in the Torah (Deuteronomy 21:1-8) that if a corpse was found in a field, the leaders of the nearest community as well as national representatives were obligated to bring a heifer and to make a confession that they were in no way involved in the shedding of this blood. The rabbis ask in astonishment, “Can we imagine that the leadership of the Jewish community was responsible for the shedding of this blood?” So the discussion perforce centers around the community's responsibility for the social infrastructure that made possible such a terrible crime as murder. Communal leadership is responsible because it did not, in the words of the Talmud, provide for the stranger, thus forcing him to have to go out and attempt to steal in order to survive, such attempted theft leading either to his own death or to the death of the potential victim. However, it is possible that the murderer was a member of the community. Since he was not given a proper education and preparation for a productive life he turned to brigandage, and it was this brigandage that resulted in the murder of the corpse before them-- and for this the leaders were responsible. Mishnah, Sota, chapter 6, chapter 9; Talmud Bavli, Sota 45b. See also Rashi on Sota 46b; Talmud Yerushalmi, Sota, chapter 9. Such a notion, along with the attitude toward full employment discussed in a previous section of this chapter, would seem to indicate the necessity of public financing for secular and vocational training. The absence of a definite halachic ruling, however, leaves the issue of public financing, in a Jewish state, for universities and technical schools an area still to be resolved.