Torah Study Blog

Murder is a terrible, terrible crime which has always been a part of the human condition. According to the Bible, it was just the 2^nd generation of mankind when there was the first murder – the fratricide by Cain of Abel.

Cain is the oldest son of Adam and Eve. The name Cain means, “acquired” which is reflected in Genesis 4:1 when Eve says, “I have gained a male child with the help of the Lord.” Cain’s younger brother, Abel, is presented in verse 2 and his name means “fleeting” which is also reflected in the Bible because Abel was is dead by verse 8!

Cain was a “tiller of the soil,” or a farmer. Abel was a “keeper of the sheep.” As such, when it was time to make offerings to God, each brother brought the yield of his labors: Cain brought the “fruit of the soil” and Abel brought “the choicest of the firstlings of his flock.” Although the Torah does not detail exactly how God reacted, we are told that God clearly preferred Abel’s offering to Cain’s.

Understandably, Cain felt rebuffed and “his face fell.” God said to Cain:

Why are you distressed,

And why is your face fallen?

Surely if you do right,

There is uplift.

But if you do not do right

Sin couches at the door;

Its urge is toward you,

Yet you can be its master.”

These are the words Reform Jews read at Yom Kippur and Rabbi Jaech used this week’s Torah Study to look at why that might be. Yom Kippur is a time of atonement. We are expected to recognize the wrong we have done, and then ask the wronged party – either God or another person – to accept our repentance.

It is interesting that Abel, the fleeting and soon to be dead brother, never speaks in the story, whereas Cain has conversations directly with God. And God watched closely what the brothers did because God saw that Cain’s face fell, showing that Cain felt slighted. Maybe this is not a story about murder. Maybe this is a story about how humans have choices to make, and sin that lurks at our door, and that we must learn to master our emotions. In the lines that God says to Cain, God admonishes Cain to “do right.” And he says that, “sin couches at the door.” “Couch” in this sense means lurking or waiting in ambush.

After Cain has killed Abel in verse 8, God asks Cain in verse 9, “Where is your brother Abel?” And Cain famously answers, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain lied to God. Another of the requirements of Yom Kippur is that we confess our sins, and this is yet another thing that Cain failed to do.

Perhaps these were tests for Cain, which Cain failed miserably because he killed his brother Abel and then lied about it. In other parts of the Torah we are told that the punishment for murder is death. But Cain does not die here. The punishment for Cain is that he is banished from his home and he must “become a ceaseless wanderer on earth.” (Genesis 4:12)

Cain is afraid to wander the earth because he believes he may be killed. It is noteworthy that, according to the Bible, there were no other people on earth yet so we are not sure who would have killed Cain! Nevertheless, in order to keep Cain safe, God “put a mark on Cain.” (Genesis 4:15) It is unclear exactly what the “mark” is, and if it is a physical thing or something known that somehow sets the person apart. However, this is part of the story that has held up over time to the great detriment of the Jews.

Augustine was an early Christian theologian who lived in 4 CE. The writings of Augustine, who was sainted by the Catholic Church, have had an enormous impact on Christianity. In his Contra Faustum, Augustine says that the “mark” for the Jews is “their law, by which they are distinguished from all other nations and peoples.” Augustine goes on to say that God wants the Jews in the world and they are marked as different by the laws they follow so that Christians can see how wrong-headed the Jews are and cleave even tighter to their Christianity.

The “mark of Cain” was also used to the detriment of black people. As early as the 5^th century there are writings that black skin is the “mark of Cain.” After the Civil War, the Southern Baptist church used this notion to justify the horrific treatment of African Americans.

Rabbi Jaech believes that the Cain story is ultimately a hopeful story. Although Cain had committed a horrible crime it does not mean that his life is over. Cain goes on to live and, more than that, Cain thrives! Cain helps to populate the Earth and becomes the first of the Kenite clan. Scholars believe it is possible that the Kenites were the tribe that first introduced the worship of the god Yahweh to the Israelites. This story could also be an origin story for why the Kenites were a wandering tribe of people.

misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter