“IN THE BEGINNING” GOD WARNED US, HAVE WE TAKEN HEED?

IN THE BEGINNING, GOD WARNED US.

After the Jewish Community celebrates the High Holy Days we begin again reading the Torah. Last week was the first chapter of Genesis. I believe one of the most important lines in all of Torah is found in Ch:4 Vs:10.

Permit me to set the scene. Cain and Abel each make independent offerings to God as an expression of their loyalty. God accepts the gift offering of Abel with greater enthusiasm and Cain takes Abel’s life.  God ask’s Cain, “Were is your brother Able? (vs: 9)” Cain foolishly responds, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

With contempt for Cain’s behavior, God confronts Cain; “What have you done?  The blood of your brother cries out to me from the earth” This verse speaks volumes to people about people.

In my almost 40 year as a pulpit rabbi, I had opportunities to experience people up close and personal. As a student of Psychology, I was fascinated by human behavior.  A rabbi, as I am sure do all clergy, one gets to see the best and the worst of people. The generosity of people is absolutely amazing especially when someone is challenged with tragedy. The general rule is that human suffering bring out the best in people and contempt brings out the worst.

Couples who begin their relationship with love, passion, affection, joy respect and forgiveness, can, and often do, become so contaminated with revulsion that after a few years of marriage, what was love morphs into contempt. When contempt is the prevailing spirit at home the family notion of love is distorted.  These families teach that deceitfulness, emotional abuse and disrespect is a reasonable negotiating tactic in relationships.

The stories are unending. I knew a man who asked his wife to allow him to have her engagement ring cleaned.  While in his possession, he had the diamond removed and replaced it with Cubic Zirconia.  Their home insurance required updating and the wife took her prized engagement ring to have it appraised and learned of the switch.

In another family, a spouse who suffered from mental illness was regularly insulted publicly while children watched. This coupled tortured one another as they engaged in a code of behavior reminiscent of covert war rather than family.

Rashi (1040-1104), the famous rabbinic scholar points out that when God speaks to Cain, God uses the plural, “the blood of your brother cries out, rather than the singular cry out and he sees this as having a central message. Rashi say's the plural cries is because there were multiple wounds inflicted to cause Abel’s death and each wound cried out. God was therefore bombarded by the cries that came from the wounds on Abel's body and soul. 

Usually when people cause others harm there are multiples of wounds. Each wound cries out to God and each wound demands God's intervention. “In the beginning”, God warned us, treat your neighbor with respect and friendship for in the event of harm “the blood of your brother cries out to God.”