Cain und Abel (Hevel)

B"H

Someone once asked me why G – d accepted Abel's sacrifice and refused Cain's.


The two characters of Cain and Abel (Hebrew: Hevel) are not easy to understand. There are already different opinions about their origin. The kabbalistic ZOHAR (Book of Splendor) says that Eve (Chava) had sexual relations with the snake. This happened when she ate from the "Tree of Knowledge – Etz HaDa'at Tov veRah".

It goes without saying that no human being has ever been able to explain the real meaning of what it means to eat from this tree. And what or whom does the snake represent ? What exactly was the tree and what does it mean having sexual relations with the snake ?
As we know, many times the Torah uses a symbolic kind of language. Let's stick to the ZOHAR where it says that the snake wasn't really a living animal but rather an inner voice convincing Chava to eat from the tree. The "Yetzer Harah – one's evil inclination", our own negative disposition trying us to persuade following our own desires instead of our intellect. When we do something wrong we know exactly that something negative is due to follow but we still keep on sinning.

The snake represents a inner persuasion to act against G – d's will. "Well, it won't be too bad", Chava may have thought.
At the moment, she and her husband Adam ate from the tree, both awakened the "Yetzer HaRah" in humanity. The difference between good and evil came into existence. Until then, there was only Good although the two of them always had the Yetzer inside of themselves. It was G – d Himself who had created the "Yetzer HaRah" in order to bring the concept of "Free Will" into this world. Without "Free Will" we would be puppets and couldn't do any Tikunim (soul rectifications). When Adam and Chava finally ate, they awakened the Yetzer and since, we are commanded to fight the Yetzer. An act, Adam and Chava regretted later on in life. Kabbalistic literature tells us that Avraham rectified Adam's act and did a Tikun for his soul, as Adam's Nefesh (lowest soul level / animal soul) was reincarnated in Avraham.

After the sin with the tree, the first child was conceived and born with an exposed Yetzer. And this was Cain, as he was the oldest of the two brothers. And as Cain was the first one, he received the full doses of the new Yetzer and Abel (Hevel) received a little less. Thus, both of them had very different character traits and didn't get along too well.

We usually see Cain as the evil brother and Hevel as his victim. But not only Cain got the Yetzer Harah but also Hevel. And, therefore, Hevel was not such as great guy as we seem to believe. He was not that innocent at all. The Midrashim "Sefer Adam HaRishon" as well as "Sefer Seder HaDorot" teach that Cain was the first bringing his sacrifice. According to the "Midrash Tanchuma" he did so at the same spot where once Adam HaRishon had brought his sacrifice after he was thrown out of Gan Eden (Paradise). The famous spot was the Temple Mount (Har HaMoriah) in Jerusalem.

The Torah describes Cain as someone working the fields and therefore, he sacrificed fruit or vegetables. According to Rashi, Cain only sacrificed fruit which fell of the tree or was of a bad quality anyway. Cain simply didn't care although G – d deserves only the best. Hevel saw his brother bringing the sacrifices and became jealous. "What he can do, I can do much better ". And thus, Hevel brought his own sacrifice. As he worked with animals, he took one of his animals and sacrificed it. An animal of good quality and this is why his sacrifice was accepted; at least according to most commentaries. But what about Hevel's envy ? Didn't he just bring the sacrifice because he saw Cain ?

The commentator Kli Yakar makes an amazing statement which is widely accepted. When Hevel became jealous, it was in a positive way of being jealous.
And what is "positive jealousy" ?
Everything negative in this world can be turned around into something positive and this also concerns the envy of a person. Let's assume that I am too lazy to walk to the Synagogue but see someone else running there. Then it can happen that I become jealous in a positive sense. Envy showing that I have the desire to serve G – d. Why only someone else and not me ?

This is exactly what happened to Hevel when he saw his brother bringing his sacrifice. Cain didn't care that much but he sacrificed. That's very nice. But Hevel, first of all, sacrificed a great quality animal and secondly, Cain had aroused his positive envy. Therefore, Hevel had the greatest Kavanah (intention). And these are the reasons why his sacrifice was accepted by G – d.

Onkelos has the same opinion.
But why is it still hard to understand that everything depended on the envy ?
Because both brothers were equipped with extremely high souls from their father Adam and, therefore, should have been able to act differently. Hevel shouldn't have waited until he becomes envious but instead brought his sacrifice without the passive help of his brother.
And why did Hevel have to die ?
The easiest solution would be to say that Cain was jealous and upset. However, there are also different statements in the Midrashim. The Midrash Tanchuma states that both brothers had been already fighting for a long time and Cain just finally lost his temper. In kabbalistic literature we find a further reason:
The two brothers were born with twin sisters. Cain had one sister and Hevel had two. And this is the actual reason why Cain was jealous. He wanted Hevel's second twin sister but his brother didn't want to give her to him. And this is why Cain killed his brother. But the Kabbalah goes much further. The souls of the two participants in this incident as well as the soul of the twin sister in question were reincarnated. Later on, Moshe included a part of Hevel and when he killed the Egyptian taskmaster, he actually killed Cain. Again the reason was a woman. The Egyptian had a affair with a Jewish woman and Kabbalah sees a connection between the struggle between Cain and Hevel who were originally fighting about Hevel's second twin sister. First, Hevel lost and now, due to Moshe, Cain lost. Thus, Hevel's soul underwent a Tikun. One could also sarcastically call it "revenge".

Some generations later, after Cain had killed Hevel, his descendants killed him with an arrow. The incident was actually an accident and not at all intended. Cain was shot when he went out hunting and some parts of his family mistakenly thought that he is an animal. He was shot and died.

It is said that all his descendants were of bad character traits and that all of them died in Noach's Flood. This is why Cain has no descendants. However, there are claims on the Internet that the descendants of Cain once built Atlantis which was eventually destroyed because the people were only evil. This is just a theory and nothing has been proven but it does sound like an interesting idea.

Moreover, the Midrashim state that neither Cain nor Hevel really looked like a human being. At least not the way their father Adam did. Only Adam's third son Seth (Shet) was born according to Adam and only Shet became the father of humankind.