Bereshit

 So last shabbat we started reading the Torah from the beginning again, from Bereshit. I read it at home, as I do not go to synagogues these days, and was so bothered by everything that was told there. 

As I was reading about Adam, Eve and the apple (it wasn't an apple, you know) I was thinking - first, how did the snake know that G-d told Adam not to eat from that tree, the Tree of Knowledge? What was the snake that gave him such knowledge, and why did he abuse that knowledge?

Second, I think it's the first time I realize that Eve never heard G-d's command not to eat of that tree directly. She only heard it from second hand from Adam. This fact in itself can be a cause for confusion. But I do not think it's a good enough excuse to get her off the hook. As I was reading the words in the Torah telling how she looked at the apple (let's call it an apple from now on just for simplicity's sake), and how she used her own judgement to decide whether it's good or bad, contrary to G-d's judgement of it as a fruit that is not good for her and Adam to eat - I felt furious. How could she?! What Hutzpah! And not only that, she also suggested it to stupid Adam, who heard that prohibition directly from G-d Himself. I know, yes, I know that we are all doing it in so many ways in different areas of our lives and I think that modern society does it big time (saying that certain things are legitimate and good when in fact G-d said they are not), but if only she were more humble, knowing that G-d's judgement is and forever will be far superior to her own, or to the snake's. And then how they diverted the blame from themselves, 'it was the woman YOU GAVE Me'. Adam doesn't only blame the woman, he blames G-d for giving him that woman. My gosh. 

And then the story with Cain and Abel - and the mystery of what Cain told Abel in the field. Readers of translations miss something very dramatic that appears only in the Hebrew text: when the Torah says that Cain spoke to Abel, the text says: "And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother", and then there is a big empty space before the next verse. It's like the Torah omits the words spoken by Cain, but does not obliterate the space they take. The space is there, but the words are missing. This is very mysterious and I was wondering to myself, first - why didn't the Torah tell us what were the words spoken by Cain, and second, why did it make it a point to leave a blank space in place of those words? A mystery. I still have to think about it, I'm not sure I have a good enough suggestion for this mystery. 

And then for the first time in my life I realized that Cain was not all bad - he actually repented for his sin, he acknowledged the gravity of his sin and regretted it, so much so that G-d put a special protecting sign on him, to make sure no one will kill him in retaliation. This shows that if we repent, no matter how grave our sins are, G-d accepts us and loves us. Anyway, it is also interesting to note that the seed of Cain, all his descendants, died eventually in the flood. How do I know it? Because the only people surviving the flood were Noah and his family, and Noah came from Cain's younger brother, Seth. But who knows, perhaps Noah's wife came from the seed of Cain? G-d knows. 

Anyway, one more interesting insight, not sure it's mine, I think I read it somewhere, is that Lemech, one of the descendants of Cain, called his sons with names that are with the same root letters as Abel. Yaval, Yuval, Tuval Cain. Interesting. I think this in itself also shows how deep Cain's regret and repentance were, if even his descendants call their children by names reminiscent of Abel. 

Today, back then, it was Succot.