Parashat of the week: Bereshit - The Jewish Chronicle

The first murder. Brother kills brother. If the foundational stories of Parashat Bereshit tell us what it means to be human, here we confront the origins of violence. We might ask, what caused this devastating crime?

The text points to sibling rivalry. Cain, the eldest, had his sacrifice rejected by God while the sacrifice of his younger brother, Abel, was accepted. But was there a problem with Cain or with his sacrifice? What caused God’s disapproval?

The commentaries offer various explanations, yet none fully satisfies. The Torah tells us simply that Cain was crestfallen – “his face fell”. We can understand his shame before God, his sense of humiliation before his brother.

And here, God talks to Cain: “Why are you upset? Why is your face downcast?” God wants Cain to talk. Cain remains silent. God continues: “Surely, if you do right, there is uplift. But if you do not do right, sin crouches at the door. It tempts you, yet you can be its master” (Genesis 4:7). These words are notoriously difficult. What do they mean?

Perhaps this: the story of humanity’s first murder begins with life’s essential unfairness. It isn’t fair that Cain’s sacrifice was rejected. He feels the sting of his brother’s superiority. Life is indeed unfair. Some are born with advantages others lack – beauty or plainness, health or disability, loving parents or absent ones.

But our response to life’s inequities – that is in our hands. Do we let resentment consume us? Do we nurse our grievances until they poison everything we touch?

Consider a child born into deprivation – a mother struggling with addiction, a father who disappeared before his birth. That child faces a choice. He can allow bitterness to define him, falling into a cycle of anger, and channelling that anger into crime, into violence. Or he can transcend his circumstances, he can let his misfortune fuel a life of effort, of betterment. He can work, grow, build a good life, and become for his own children the parent he never had.

That is what God tells Cain: “If you do right, there will be uplift” – it is in your power to turn this situation to good; “but if not, sin crouches at the door” – jealousy, resentment, rage, is alluring - “It tempts you. Yet you can be its master” – you can take your fallen face and raise it. It depends on your attitude and your actions.

Cain chooses not to do right. Instead, he invites his brother to an empty field and murders him. He eliminates the source of his indignity, his hurt. He takes his shame, his anger, and kills his brother. He surrendered to temptation rather than mastering it.

And the rest is a long history of painful violence.

Image: Cain and Abel by Titian (Wikimedia Commons)

The sidrah columnists for 5786 are:

Rabbi Alex Israel, who teaches Tanach and Jewish thought at Midreshet Lindenbaum and Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi, Israel

Joanne Greenaway, chief executive, London School of Jewish Studies

Rabbi Dr Michael Marmur, associate professor of Jewish theology, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem

Rabbi Dr Yoni Birnbaum, senior rabbi, Finchley (United) Synagogue

Rabbi Hannah Kingston, North Western Reform Synagogue (Alyth)

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Sidrah