GEN481 The first step in learning how to restrain our [anger] is to acknowledge that we are able to control our temper and not be controlled by it.  That human beings have control over their anger is underscored by a statement God makes near the beginning of Genesis.  Aware of Cain’s fury at his brother Abel, the Lord says to him, [this verse].  Disregarding God’s words, Cain makes no effort to control his anger, and kills Abel, thus becoming the first murderer in history.  However, God’s words, “you can be its master,” remain as an admonition to all of us who are tempted to act cruelly or violently when angry.  A psychiatrist told me of a patient whose wife claimed that she was incapable of controlling her temper, and who used to scream hysterically at him and even slap him.  Yet she never expressed such anger in public.  The patient learned that when she was screaming at him in their car, if he opened the windows, she would immediately desist for fear of being overheard.  Her calmer behavior in public proved, of course, that she could control herself if she wanted to.  TELVOL 1:263

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN483 While acknowledging that the lure of sin is powerful, the Torah insists that free will endows people with the strength to resist it.  When God sees the enormous hostility Cain feels toward his brother Abel, whom he later murders, He says to him [this verse].  (Even after issuing this warning, God does not deprive Cain of his free will by preventing him from killing Abel).  Although we all give in to sin sometimes Ecclesiastes 7:20, we can ultimately be its master.  TELVOL 1:29-30

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN484 Antoninus asked Rabbi [i.e., Judah HaNasi, 2nd century C.E. redactor of the Mishnah - AJL], “When does the yetser ha’ra gain control of a person—at the time of its creation or at the time it exits [the womb]?” He replied, “At the time of its creation [in the womb].” Antoninus said, “If that is so, it would disdain its mother’s womb and come out [right away]. Rather, [the answer is] from the time it exits [the womb].” Rabbi replied, “I learned this from Antoninus and there is a verse which supports him as it says, ‘sin lies at the opening’” [this verse].  [Talmud, Sanhedrin 91a.]  COMMENT: The question, here, is whether sin, in rabbinic thought, is an existential condition or only a potentiality of real human existence. Rabbi [Judah, the Prince] first argues that it is existential while Antoninus, the pagan emperor, argues that it is only a potentiality of real human existence.  In the end, Rabbi Judah accepts the view of the pagan emperor that the yetser ha-ra is not “genetic” or existential but only that it is a real part of human existence. He concludes, therefore, that yetser ha-ra asserts its influence only at birth. This may be a midrash intended to counter the doctrine of original sin as it was emerging in Christian midrash and theology. BANAL 189-90

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN485 Know that Cain was evil and of the serpent, [R. Eleazar said: ‘When the serpent injected his impurity into Eve, she absorbed it, and so when Adam had intercourse with her she bore two sons—one from the impure side and one from the side of Adam, and Abel bore a resemblance to the higher form and Cain to the lower.  Hence it was that their ways in life were different. It was natural, too, that Cain, coming from the side of the angel of death, should kill his brother. He also adhered to his own side, and from him originate all the evil habitations and demons and goblins and evil spirits in the world.’ R. Jose said: ‘Cain was the nest (Kina, a play on the word Cain) of the evil habitations which came into the world from the impure side’ Zohar I, 54a, Soncino trans., Vol. I, p. 172) yet it was said to him: ‘If thou doest well [this verse], shall it not be lifted up.” Do not think that there is no hope for you because you belong to the evil side. This is false. Behold, if you do well you can root yourself in the secret of Repentance, removing yourself to that place, according to the secret of the good that is rooted there. For the root of every Supernal bitterness is sweet and he could have entered by way of the root to become good.  Consequently, man turns his evil deeds themselves into good so that his intentional sins become good deeds. [In Rabbinic teaching repentance out of love has the effect of converting even premeditated sins into merits, v. Yoma 86b].  For behold, the sinful deeds which he committed were prosecutors from the Left Side. When he returns in perfect repentance he causes those deeds to enter and be rooted above. Now all those prosecutors are not annihilated but they become better and rooted in the holy just as Cain was told he could be good. Behold, if Cain had repented and rectified his sins then the sin of Adam by which Cain (the unclean nest) was born, would have been accounted to him for merit, according to the secret of ‘the son brings merit to the father.’ However, he did not desire to repent. Therefore, all the Left Side draws its sustenance from there. But all its branches are destined to become sweet and they will be perfect once again. This is for the reason we have given: that man roots himself in the secret of evil and renders it sweet and brings it into the good. Therefore, man purifies the evil inclination and brings it into the good so that it becomes rooted above in the holy. This is the high degree of repentance which he who follows should ponder on each day and repent in some measure each day so that all of his days will be spent in repentance.  CORDOVERO 88-9

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN486 This should be explained as follows: [Hashem said to Kayin,] “Why are you downcast? If you improve your deeds and return to Me, then you will raise up,” which means you will raise up your face [from being downcast], the same language as Job 11:15, “then you will raise up your face without blemish. (Another understanding of Rabbeinu Yonah’s meaning here is that “raise up your face” means “[be able to] show your face,” i.e., you will regain your self-respect (see Ibn Ezra on Bereishis, ad loc.). This can further be interpreted as an expression of forgiveness. (i.e. the word שאת is an expression of forgiveness: “If you improve, you will be forgiven.”  [The verse continues] “But if you do not improve, then sin crouches [in wait] at the entrance” – if you do not repent from your sin, that is not the only iniquity that will remain with you.  For the yetzer crouches by the entrance, ready to cause you to sin in all that you do – once it is victorious, it will continue to be so.  It will lay obstacles in your path and you will find yourself ensnared Jeremiah 50:24, bereft of repentance. “Its longing is towards you” – to lead you astray, and it lies in wait for you, at all times.  GATES 67

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN487 Why do human beings, uniquely equipped to do good, also do so much and such awful evil? We are badly conflicted: our angelic good impulse, our yetzer ha-tov, constantly tempted by a lusty urge to do evil, yetzer ha-ra.  Our spiritual sages reject a make-believe, everything-is-beautiful faith, insisting on a realistic understanding of human nature when they discuss the real traumas that people face. Yet as our hopeful … text [this verse] teaches, Jewish realism convinces us that God’s help makes our good inclination supreme.  Historically, few themes in Jewish belief have seen such extreme shifts of emphasis as this notion of the two inner urges. In some eras Jewish teachers verged on total pessimism; in other they enthusiastically embraced an optimistic view of human potential. In our time, with its terrible examples of social and individual perversity, we struggle to comprehend why some of our “best and brightest” also show a clear talent formalevolence. Some of us despair of the future, while others remain hopeful. Let us survey historical Jewish highlights that explore how our two yetzarim have influenced Jewish character.  The early chapters of Genesis deal with humanity’s formative experiences, laying the background for later biblical texts presenting the same theological viewpoint.  Cain discovers that merely offering a sacrifice will not assure him of God’s favor: “… if you do not do right, sin couches at the door; its urge is toward you…” Genesis 4:7.  We might think that this somewhat stern admonition from God would resolve the good-versus-evil struggle so blatant in Cain.  But what does Adam and Eve’s oldest child do next? He suggests to his brother Abel that they go into the fields together, where “Cain rose up against his brother and killed Abel” Genesis 4:8.  At first Cain’s conscience must bother him, since he tries to evade God’s inquiry about Abel’s whereabouts.  Yet his evil urge immediately reasserts itself, so that he actually “sasses” the Eternal through his infamous taunt: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9  Thus, sin triumphantly drives in human history after Eden.  God does not punish Cain with death, but holds open the possibility that he may yet freely learn to control “that beast crouching at the door.”  What surprises us in this and other Genesis texts is that God, as well as humanity, needs to learn about freedom. The Torah dramatizes what God “discovers”: how we, God’s last created beings, will use our extraordinary potentials of self-consciousness and free will. Here are the “divine musings” imagined by biblical authors to explain the story of the flood: “Adonai saw how great was man’s wickedness on the earth and how every plan he devised… was nothing but evil all the time. So Adonai regretted creating humankind on the earth, and was sad at heart” Genesis 6:5-6 When the flood is over, God promises there will be no more catastrophes that destroy almost everyone and everything on earth.  For what would be the point, since “from a man’s youth all he does is think up evil” Genesis 8:21? BOROJMV 173-4

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN488 According to Rabbeinu Bechaye, the second sin in the Torah, that of Cain, was based on his greed.  He worked the land and brought a sacrifice to God from that land, only because he desired to take the entire planet from his brother Abel.  He was cursed and forced to till the land in great labor as a punishment for this greediness.   AMJV 337

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN489 The Holy One, blessed by He, said to Israel: “My children, I have created the yetser ha-ra and I have created the Torah as a cure [for it].  If you occupy yourselves with Torah, you will not be delivered into its hands as it says ‘Surely if you do good, there is uplift’ [this verse]. But if you do not occupy yourselves with Torah, you will be delivered into its hands as it says, ‘But if you do not do good, sin crouches at the opening’ [this verse]. Not only that, but all its dealings will be against you as it says, ‘its desire shall be for you’ [this verse]. But if you will it, you will rule over it as it says, ‘and you shall rule over it’ [this verse]. The rabbis taught: “The yetser ha-ra’ is so tough that even its Creator called it “evil” as it says, ‘for the yetser of the heart of humanity is evil (ra’) from its youth’” Genesis 8:21. Talmud, Kiddushin 30b   COMMENT: This is a phrase-by-phrase interpretation of God’s words to Cain just before he kills Abel; that is; this midrash represents God’s warning to humanity just before evil takes over … To this is appended an interpretation of God's rumination on the innate sinfulness of humanity right after the flood (Gen. 8:21). The point is that, on the one hand, God is optimistic and teaches that humankind is sinful but can master sinfulness while, on the other hand, God is pessimistic and notes that sinfulness is naturally, if not existentially, innate to humanness. Interestingly, God’s optimism is expressed before the first murder while God’s pessimism is expressed after God’s failed attempt to “correct” the human evil which prompted the flood. BANAL 189

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN492 The very first man-to-man sin in the world was the act of murder caused by anger.  Both Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to God. When God favored Abel’s over Cain’s, Cain became very angry, so much so that he killed his brother.  This set the pattern for anger and angry reactions until today.  Therefore, we see from the very beginning of history how pernicious this character trait is.  It causes man to say and do things that are irrational and for which he may later be sorry but cannot undo.  Genesis Rabbah 31:2 states that it was the anger between people in the time of Noah that caused bitter fighting between them, which led to the ever-present stealing that sealed the fate of all mankind and resulted in God’s destruction of all people in the world (except for Noah’s family).  Thus, like in Noah’s time, sometimes anger that starts small can grow into something very big and dangerous with unimaginable negative consequences.   AMJV 30

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

GEN490 In discussing the roots of war and human beings’ reflections upon killing in war, the seminal contributions of René Girard and Walter Burkert should be taken into consideration. Girard and Burkert seek to explain the “formative antecedents” (Burkert, 1987:212) of central aspects of human culture, which they perceive to be rooted in the act of killing, an act that is later ritualized, centralized, and repeated. For Burkert, the formative “dark event” (Burkert’s comments in Hammerton-Kelly: 120) is set in the hunt for animal meat. Burkert suggests that the drive to obtain meat in order to live is a basic and fundamental aspect of primitive humankind’s emergence as a species, a view for which he has been strongly criticized [See Burkert’s own comments (1987: 167) and Jonathan Z. Smith’s cogent critique (Hammerton– Kelly, 179, 202 –5)]. Humans, he suggests, suffer shock and guilt from shedding the blood of living beings (Burkert, 1983: 15 – 19, 21).  This guilt is resolved by the ritualization of the kill. Girard’s thesis suggests that the fundamental founding myth of human civilization is not grounded in the theme of breaching divine territoriality, played out in a narrative pattern of interdiction and disobedience as found in the tale of Adam and Eve (Genesis three) but in the theme of “mimetic violence” played out in the fratricidal pattern found in the tale of Cain and Abel (Genesis four). Girard writes that humans by their very nature desire to be like those they admire. The need to imitate entails desiring that which belongs to the other. This rivalry results in killing the other to obtain what is his or to supplant him. The victim’s relatives in turn kill the killer in vengeance, whose relatives then must take vengeance for him-all of which plants a chaotic and ceaselessly violent picture of what it is to be human. Girard suggests that, subconsciously, in order to break this cycle of deadly violence, the first humans found the alternative of scapegoating. (Girard; 1987: 121 – 29) He writes “men can never share peacefully the object they desire, but can share hatred.” The scapegoated victim destroyed by collective violence provides the outlet for and the escape from mimetically induced perpetual violence. (1987:128). NIDITCH 24

SHOW FULL EXCERPT