GEN502 (Continued from [[GEN387]] Genesis 3:9 where WAGS 118-9). Rashi explains that Hashem called to Adam to engage him in conversation in order that he should not feel consternation at being punished unexpectedly.  Before giving instructions (or punishment), one should first make some introductory conversation.  By employing this technique, one can rest assured that his words will be heeded.  (Continued at [[LEV2]] Leviticus 1:1 called WAGS 119-120) WAGS 118-119

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GEN507 See [[GEN681]] Genesis 9:4 life-blood AGTJL 522

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GEN504 After Kayin killed Hevel, God told Kayin that the guilt of the blood of all of Hevel’s potential descendants would devolve upon him (Rashi). The Chofetz Chayim commented that if a person can be punished for the negative effects of his actions on future generations, then surely he will be rewarded for the positive effects.  If you teach someone Torah and influence him to become a God fearing person, well versed in Torah, he will raise his children accordingly.  As subsequent generations continue in this fashion, you will be rewarded for being the original impetus. (Toras Habayis – Elbonah shel Torah).  PLYN 34

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GEN508 See [[NUM416]] Numbers 35:28 refuse SACKS 269

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GEN503 Know where you come from … Pirkei Avot III:1  At any given time a person exists in a certain situation with specific conditions and possibilities.  In your specific circumstances, with your specific background and temperament, you have a number of possibilities for decision and action.  You will be judged, will be held responsible not merely for your deeds, but also for your “appointments:” what you could well have achieved in your situation, given your chances and abilities.  You will have to give an accounting as to whether you fulfilled the entire potential for good in every situation. True, we have given to charity; but perhaps it was possible to give much more and to raise much more.  True, we support our Yeshivoth, but perhaps with a bit more effort we could have created many, many more Yeshivoth.  Have we fully developed our “appointments”? A doctor may save many lives; but there may have been one telephone call which he neglected, and a child died as a result. There is din, the overall account, but there is also heshbon, a reckoning of unfulfilled possibilities.  And once again we begin to consider the full range of ultimate possibilities, the vast stretches of the infinite future must be included.  When Cain slew Abel, the Almighty told him: “The voice of your brother’s bloods cry to me from the ground.” [this verse]. The “bloods cry”: the Hebrew is in the plural, to denote, according to the Midrash, that Cain was condemned not for the death of Abel alone, but for the untold generations that would never come to life. Midrash Tanhuma, B’reshit 9; Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan, A31 What a great lesson lies in this Midrash: Consequences may spread out from our action or failure to act; and like ripples spreading from a pebble dropped into a pond, the consequences may accelerate in speed and increase in strength and pressure as they move outward. SINAI1 225-6

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GEN506 Repentance for murder is inevitably incomplete, because reconciling with one’s victim is impossible.  Furthermore, murder is often a sin that extends even beyond the victim’s life span.  Thus, after Cain murders Abel, God says to him [this verse]. The word used for blood, d’mei, is plural, so the verse literally reads, “the bloods of your brother.”  From this plural usage, the Talmud deduces that what cries out is not only Abel’s blood, but also that of all his future, never-to-be-born descendants (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5).  This is an additional reason why it is impossible to fully atone for murder.  TELVOL I:184-5

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GEN505 Not “your brother’s blood,” but “your brother’s bloods” – his blood and the blood of his children.  This teaches us that the laws involving murder are not like the laws involving monetary violations.  In the latter instance, one makes financial restitution and he is forgiven, but in the former, he is responsible for the blood of his victim and the blood of his unborn descendants until the end of time.  Sanhedrin 37a TEMIMAH-GEN 28

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GEN509 The central theme of the second creation myth, in Genesis 2-3, as well as the dominant motif in other myths concerning the antediluvian period, is the moral behavior of humanity.  When Cain murders his brother Abel, God reprimands Cain with the words, [this verse]. Clearly, without having received any prior moral instruction, the exchange (and Cain’s subsequent punishment) assumes that Cain should have known that his behavior was immoral.   PASTIMP 124

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GEN510 The initial question that must be asked of any criminal justice system is: What give us the right to punish?” After all, in the early biblical stories, it is God who metes out punishment. God expels Adam and Eve; God curses Cain. One could argue that God acts as a model for the authority in any society; what God can do, so can the controlling powers of a community. But Judaism does not rely on the power model for justice. Rather, justice derives from covenant-the social contract individuals have with God and with each other. … The goal is to control aberrant behavior and provide a society where accountability is based upon reason and moral imperatives, not just emotional reaction. The right to punish derives from the natural right of members of a community to protect their community. (By Laurie L. Levenson, "Judaism and CriminalJustice" OXFORD 473-4

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GEN511 See [[NUM416]] Numbers 35:28 refuse SACKS 269

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