קין -דיוקנו של רוצח

And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain, and said: ‘I have agotten a man with the help of the LORD.’ And again she bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain: ‘Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it.’ And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain: ‘Where is Abel thy brother?’ And he said: ‘I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And He said: ‘What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.’ And Cain said unto the LORD: ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the land; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whosoever findeth me will slay me.’ And the LORD said unto him: ‘Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the LORD set a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should smite him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

If thou doest thy work well, will not thy guilt be forgiven thee? But if thou doest not thy work well in this world, thy sin is retained unto the day of the great judgment, and at the doors of thy heart lieth thy sin. And into thy hand have I delivered the power over evil passion, and unto thee shall be the inclination thereof, that thou mayest have authority over it to become righteous, or to sin.

לפתח חטאת רובץ SIN CROUCHETH AT THE ENTRANCE — Right up to the door of your grave (until your death) your sin will be preserved. ואליך תשוקתו AND UNTO THEE IS ITS LONGING — The longing of sin; it refers to the evil inclination. This is continually longing and desiring to make you sin. ואתה תמשול בו NEVERTHELESS THOU MAYEST RULE OVER IT — If you desire to, you can gain the victory over it (Kiddushin 30b).

If you improve, there is forgiveness. Alternatively, “If you improve you will rise [i.e. above your brother].” And after all, it was only jealousy of him that caused you to be angry in the first place. But if you do not improve. Not only will you suffer on account of your brother, but the evil inclination will lead you astray in everything you do. Its desire is unto you. It wishes to cling to you, but you can overcome it. In this passage Hashem teaches Kayin that a person can repent whenever he chooses to.

The Sages taught: “And you shall place [vesamtem] these words of Mine in your hearts” (Deuteronomy 11:18). Read this as though it stated sam tam, a perfect elixir. The Torah is compared to an elixir of life. There is a parable that illustrates this: A person hit his son with a strong blow and placed a bandage on his wound. And he said to him: My son, as long as this bandage is on your wound and is healing you, eat what you enjoy and drink what you enjoy, and bathe in either hot water or cold water, and you do not need to be afraid, as it will heal your wound. But if you take it off, the wound will become gangrenous. So too the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, I created an evil inclination, which is the wound, and I created Torah as its antidote. If you are engaged in Torah study you will not be given over into the hand of the evil inclination, as it is stated: “If you do well, shall it not be lifted up?” (Genesis 4:7). One who engages in Torah study lifts himself above the evil inclination. And if you do not engage in Torah study, you are given over to its power, as it is stated: “Sin crouches at the door” (Genesis 4:7). Moreover, all of the evil inclination’s deliberations will be concerning you, as it is stated in the same verse: “And to you is its desire.” And if you wish you shall rule over it, as it is stated in the conclusion of the verse: “But you may rule over it” (Genesis 4:7).

ויאמר קין אל הבל AND CAIN SPAKE TO ABEL — He began an argument, striving and contending with him, to seek a pretext to kill him. There are Midrashic explanations of these words, but this is the plain sense of the text.

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו, “Kayin said to his brother Hevel;” seeing that the Torah does not elaborate on the content of Kayin’s words, we must assume that he told his brother about what G–d had said to him. (verse 6-7) He made it plain to his brother that he was very upset that G–d had not seen fit to accept his offering as He had done with Hevel’s offering. Hevel reacted to G–d having criticised Kayin with joy. When Kayin saw that his brother had been glad that he had been criticised by G–d, he arose with the intent of killing him. (second half of this verse). His motive was plain jealousy. Our author cites an additional or different interpretation of the incomplete sentence: “Kayin said to his brother Hevel,” which he had heard in the name of Rabbi Joseph Kara (turn of 11th century, not to be confused with Joseph Karo author of Shulchan Aruch, of Safed who lived during the most of the 16th century). that initially Hevel, having heard from Kayin what G–d had said to him, was afraid of him seeing that his brother was so angry, and remained on guard against him. When Kayin told him that G–d had held out hope for him by promising that He would relate to him with fondness if he changed his ways, Hevel dropped his guard feeling certain that Kayin would indeed change his ways. When Kayin spoke to him in a friendly mien, i.e. ויאמר, he thought that this was proof that Kayin had changed. He therefore dropped his guard with fatal consequences for himself.

(7) “And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field…” (Genesis 4:8) What were they arguing about? They said: come let’s divide up the world, one will take the land and one will take the moveable property. This one said: the ground you are standing on is mine. The other one said: what you are wearing is mine. This one said: take it off! The other one said: fly! Because of this “…Cain rose against his brother Abel and killed him.” (ibid.) R’ Yehoshua of Sakhnin said in the name of R’ Levi: they both took the land and the moveable property. What were they arguing about? One said: the Holy Temple will be built in my boundary. The other said: the Holy Temple will be built in my boundary. As it says “…when they were in the field…” (ibid.) and the field only refers to the Holy Temple. This is what it says “…Zion shall be plowed as a field…” (Micah 3:12) Because of this “…Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.” Yehudah bar Ami said: they were arguing about the first Eve. R’ Ibo said: the first Eve returned to the dust. Then what were they arguing about? R’ Huna said: an extra twin sister was born with Abel. This one said: I will take her because I am the first born. The other one said: I will take her because she was born with me. Because of this “…Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.”

... The voice of your brother’s bloods [are] screaming to me from [the surface of] the ground” [Gn 4:10]—[this means that] she (the voice of Hevel’s blood) could not go up above/l’ma`lah, for as yet no soul/n’shamah had gone up to there; and below/l’matah she could not stand (i.e., stay or sink into the ground), for as yet no adam had been buried there, and [so] “his blood was cast upon the trees and the stones.