Rabbi Joseph Albo - The Forgotten Philosopher: Reevaluating Cain's sin

The incident between Cain and Abel [Sefer Ha-Ikkarim 3:15]

Traditional reasons for why Cain’s offering was rejected, and Abel’s was accepted

Cain’s offering was from inferior portions of the crop, whilst Abel chose only the finest of the flock. Hence Cain’s was rejected, and Abel’s accepted. [e.g., Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1167)/David Kimhi/Radak (1160-1235)]

Albo’s problem with traditional explanations and questions he poses:

1. What was Cain’s sin?

• Was it because he didn’t bring the finest of the flock as Abel did? But this is not a sin. If his occupation was the tilling of the ground and he prospered therein and brought of its produce a present to God to thank Him for His benefits.
• So why did God refuse to have respect unto him or his offering? Maybe it was because he did not bring of the fruit of the tree but only vegetables from the ground? [But this in itself] doesn’t justify [his offering being rejected] [as is expressed in the verse Genesis 4:7].

2. Since God favoured Abel as well as his present, why was he killed? Why didn’t an angel of God protect this God-fearing man and save him from death?

3. Why is it that we read about Seth [i.e., Eve’s son after the death of Abel], “And [Adam] begot a son in his own likeness, after his image,” [Genesis 5:3] while there is no such expression in reference to Abel, though God favoured his present?

4. Why was Noah and his descendants after the flood permitted to eat meat?

5. Why were the Israelites after the Torah was given at Sinai, restricted as to the meat that they could eat?

The prohibition of eating meat

Why did Cain bring a gift of vegetables?

ALBO: Cain mistakenly believed that there is no distinction between man and animals. That being so, man cannot hurt animals any more than he could hurt his fellow man even in the service of God through a sacrifice. So as animals could only eat food from the earth (vegetables) so could man. Hence, he brought an offering from the vegetables of the earth.

Why did God reject Cain's gift?

ALBO: God felt that he failed to appreciate His greatness, nor the fact that man and animal are not alike and should have brought choice fruit of the tree rather than vegetables from the ground.

What explanation did God give Cain?

ALBO: He explained to Cain that though man at birth is indeed no better than the animals, unlike them, you have a divine soul and thus the capacity, through good deeds, to realize your potential, recognize the greatness of God and rise above them, but if you don’t you will descend to being lower than animals. [In essence, God gave Cain a lesson in mussar (i.e., character improvement)].

So, what went wrong?

ALBO: Cain misunderstood what God had told him, and, still believing that man is not superior to animals, envy took hold of him, and he killed Abel, saying to himself “Since God favours Abel and his present, it is clear that it is permitted to kill animals, and hence it is just as lawful to kill Abel as any other animal.”

So, in his mindset, Man = Animal. Abel = Animal. Abel killed an animal. It is permitted to kill an animal. Cain is therefore permitted to kill Abel.

What was the consequence of Cain’s actions?

ALBO: Cain was sent into exile.

What about Abel?

ALBO Abel thought that man is indeed superior to animals in that he could utilize them to cultivate the fields, and in the direct service of God, in which case they could be offered as a sacrifice. But, like Cain, still believed that man and animal were essentially the same and didn’t recognize the divine nature of the human soul.

Why then was his offering accepted?

ALBO: Abel recognised the greatness of God and brought the choicest of his flock [unlike Cain who brought vegetables rather than fruit]. For that reason, God respected Abel and his offering because it was nearer the truth than the opinion of Cain.

But why didn’t God protect Abel from Cain?

ALBO: Because Abel's position was even more dangerous than Cain’s. Why? Because it failed to distinguish the divine essence inherent in man as opposed to animals and was therefore more likely to mislead others [i.e., Maris Ayin – how his actions could be perceived] who would think it was permissible to sacrifice a man as it was to sacrifice a sheep to honour God. Therefore, since Abel’s opinion was not altogether correct, he was not protected by God from Cain’s violence.

Where does Seth come into this?

ALBO: Whereas those before him did not understand the dignity of the human form within them, Seth, like his father before him, was born in the image of God, understanding the superiority of man over the animals. The prohibition from eating meat at this point remains.

Is this the end of story? No

Returning to Cain

ALBO: Cain once again misunderstood what God has told him. Believing that [his exile] was a punishment simply for killing an animal - Abel – as his father [Adam] had been prohibited to kill animals, and not because the shedding the blood of a human being is a more serious matter than shedding the blood of an animal.

What was the consequences of Cain's misunderstanding?

ALBO: Cain’s erroneous opinion remained amongst his descendants who followed in the same vein; hence the earth was filled with violence on their account, they were corrupt and lived like animals. For this reason, it was decreed that their name should be wiped out from the earth in the flood.

Why was Noah permitted to eat Meat? What bothered God?

ALBO: When they were all destroyed and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained, God wanted to eradicate Cain’s opinion. Hence when Noah, after leaving the ark, brought an animal offering to God because he knew that man is superior by virtue of his reason and can know his Creator and serve Him better than the animals and can be thankful to God for this privilege, his offering was accepted.

However, unless God explained what was and wasn’t acceptable, the Noahites might deviate in the direction of Abel’s idea and assume that God accepted their father’s offering as he accepted Abel’s offering, thus going back to the former errors and wrongdoing.

What did God do?

ALBO: As a result, immediately after the offering, He hastened to permit the killing of animals and the eating of their flesh, but prohibited the shedding of human blood, giving as a reason that the spirit of man is not like the spirit of the animal, for in the image of God He made man, i.e., man has a rational form which is nobler than the spirit of the animal. For this reason, it was necessary to permit all animals without distinction, which He did, so as to eradicate the former opinion and wipe out its memory.

Why did God restrict what the Israelites could eat?

ALBO: When the Torah was given to Israel, and the opinion in question had been wiped out, God prohibited certain animals which produce coarseness and ugliness of soul – but even the animals that were permitted were merely a concession to human lust and desire... Thus, the Rabbis say, commenting on the verse, “because your soul desires to eat flesh,”, that there is a moral lesson in this expression, namely that one should not eat flesh unless he has an appetite for it. …This shows clearly that the eating of flesh was permitted only because of necessity. For this reason, it was forbidden at the time of creation, though it is good for food.

Returning to the initial prohibition of eating meat, the first murder and the eating of meat

ALBO: In the killing of animals there is cruelty, rage, and the accustoming oneself to the bad habit of shedding innocent blood, but the eating of the flesh of some animals [prohibited by Torah] produces besides, mental coarseness, ugliness, and stupidity [in Leviticus 11:43] …

…This is the reason why, though the flesh of certain animals is good food and suitable for man, God chose to deprive him of the slight good of eating the meat, so as to prevent the much greater evil which might result therefrom.

Therefore, he forbade Adam from eating meat. He made up for this loss of good food by assigning to Adam vegetable food which was very good and nourishing, like wheat, barley, and the other seed-bearing plants that can be sown, also all those trees which bear fruit having seed in them. To other animals he gave for food all green grass that has no seed that may be planted. The purpose of this was to show the superiority of the human species to the other animals.

…The rabbis thus make clear [citing Deuteronomy 12:20, “because your soul desires to eat flesh”] that God does not desire sacrifices. You do not honour God by performing for Him those services which the idolaters did for their gods, for far from being agreeable to Him, they are an abomination to Him [as shown in Deuteronomy 12:31].

Returning to our questions:

1. What was Cain’s sin? Believing there to be no distinction between animals and man he brought an offering from the vegetables of the earth, which is what animals eat, rather than appreciating that man is created in the image of God and so should have brought choice fruit of the tree.

1. Since God favoured Abel as well as his present, why was he killed? Why didn’t an angel of God protect this God-fearing man and save him from death? Because, like Cain, he also believed that man and animal were essentially the same and didn’t recognize the divine nature of the human soul, and so, though he brought the choicest of his flock, his position was even more likely to mislead others into thinking that it was permissible to sacrifice a man as it was to sacrifice a sheep to honour God.

1. Why is it that we read about Seth “And [Adam] begot a son in his own likeness, after his image,” [Genesis 5:3] while there is no such expression in reference to Abel, though God favoured his present? Because Seth, like his father [Adam] before him, was born in the image of God, understanding the superiority of man over the animals.

1. Why was Noah and his descendants after the flood permitted to eat meat? Even though the generation of Cain was eliminated in the flood, God was nonetheless concerned that without some concession mankind would revert to the error of Abel, thus Noah was permitted to kill animals and eat of their flesh but prohibited the killing of man to remind him that he was created in the image of God.

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1. Why were the Israelites after the Torah was given at Sinai, restricted as to the meat that they could eat? The eating of animals was, and remains, a concession to human lust and desire [see Deuteronomy 12:20]. Nonetheless, by restricting certain animals which produced ‘coarseness and ugliness of soul’, mankind was taught a moral lesson i.e., that the eating of flesh though seemingly a human necessity, it would ideally be better not to do so.