PIKESVILLE, Maryland — Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel’s books are superb. He reveals much that many people do not know and does so in a clear, easy-to-read fashion. He gives us deep and broad insights. He examines the Torah text from Jewish and non-Jewish sources. He follows the rational view that Maimonides (1138-1204) taught in his introduction to his Guide of the Perplexed: that the truth is the truth no matter its source.
Maimonides had no scruple against accepting the philosophy of the pagan Greek Aristotle (384-322 BCE), one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western thought.
This was the thinking of not only rational philosophers but even mystics. The famed kabbalist Rabbi Haim Attar (1696-1743) asked in his book Or Ha-Haim, in his commentary to Exodus 18:21, why the Bible tells us the story of the Midianite pagan priest Jethro offering advice to the law-giver Moses and add that Moses implemented the priest’s advice? Isn’t there enough knowledge among Jews? Why go to non-Jews for advice? Rabbi Attar answered that the Bible teaches that there are non-Jews in all generations with more excellent knowledge than Jews. Rabbi Attar states this teaching is also found in classical Jewish sources such as Midrash Rabba Eikha 2:13 and the Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 39b.
Rabbi Samuel follows this good advice to give readers brilliant ideas and lessons in Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis 1-11. The quantity and quality of what is contained in this book about Genesis one through eleven can be seen in his treatment of the story of Cain and Abel. The tale is in Genesis 4 and is told in only 26 verses. Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel focuses on Cain in 1,436 places. Some of his insightful discussions focus on the following.
–What is the relationship between piety, the sacrifices the brothers brought, and bloodshed, Cain’s murder of Abel? Didn’t people and nations in the past kill people because their enemy did not practice their religion? Is there a natural human disconnect between the love that religions teach and the hatred it creates?
–Are the lives told of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and others intended to be role models for readers today? Do we learn to act appropriately by seeing how others misbehave?
–In an ancient Sumerian myth, a shepherd-god combats a farmer-god for the love of a goddess. The goddess chooses the farmer-god as a suitable mate. Why does she decide to do something contrary to what happens in the Cain and Abel tale?
–Does God have some blame for Cain’s murder of Abel? Should God have foreseen the event and acted differently?
–Is violence sometimes necessary for survival?
–Why are so many biblical men and women unable to share their accomplishments and blessings with other people? Is this part of human nature?
–The fruit Adam and Eve ate is not identified as an apple in the Bible. Yet many think it was an apple. Why do they think so?
–What prompted the apple to be used frequently in world literature, such as by Shakespeare, Chaucer, William Blake, Snow White, and many more?
–Why do Adam and Eve and Cain try to hide their misdeeds from God? Are they convinced that God will never know what they did wrong if they do not reveal what they did? Why does the Bible tell us this?
–Did God act appropriately in giving Cain, a murderer, a chance to improve his behavior? Is this how humans should act?
–Is the tale of Cain and Abel the most enduring depiction of evil in this world and of widespread family violence?
–What does the Bible emphasize by calling Abel “Cain’s brother” seven times?
–Was Cain born in the Garden of Eden, as Rashi contends? What are the implications of this?
–Is the Cain and Abel rivalry a myth about humans fighting over natural resources, a fight still fought today? Is there a solution in the story?
–Why doesn’t the Bible reveal why the brothers offered God a sacrifice?
–Why did Cain choose the fruit of the ground and Abel, an animal?
–Did Abel offer a superior sacrifice to compensate for his inferiority to his older and stronger brother? Is the offering of an animal superior to the offering of the first fruits?
–Why did God like Abel’s sacrifice?
–The Jewish philosopher Philo noted that Cain brought his sacrifice “after some days.” Is he correct in suggesting that Cain erred because he expressed long-overdue gratitude?
–Does Cain personify the person who greedily plunders the earth for its natural resources?
–Is Kahlil Gibran right when he states, “You give but little when you give of your possessions; it is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
–Maimonides stated that Cain’s offering reveals how spiritual worship can degenerate into a self-serving, perfunctory act. Is this an accurate interpretation of the events?
–How did Cain come to know his sacrifice was rejected?
–Is Philo correct that Cain immediately felt something wrong while Abel felt elated?
–Why did the ancients want to offer sacrifices? Was it “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours,” a bribe, or gratitude?
–Why did Cain blame Abel for God’s rejection of his present?
–Marcus Kalisch suggested that Cain was jealous of Abel’s easy life watching animals while he was squeezing scanty subsistence out of the womb of resisting soil. He was mulling over these feelings when he approached the altar. God rejected the fruits because his jealous feelings contaminated the gift. Is this what the Bible is saying?
–Did Cain kill Abel as revenge against God, whom he could not kill?
–Was the murder premeditated or accidental manslaughter?
–Does the story of the brothers’ rivalry teach readers to control rage, learn self-discipline, and the danger of jealousy and envy?
–Ayn Rand describes our age as “The Age of Envy.” People do not want to own your fortunes. They want you to lose it. Does this describe Cain?
–Cain justifies himself by saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper.” Are humans supposed to be their brothers’ “keepers”? What is a keeper? Does it require people to watch and protect others, as Thomas Mann, Emmanuel Levinas, and others maintain? Is Cain saying to God, “This is not my job? It is yours”?
–God tells Cain that Abel’s blood cries out from out of the ground. What does this mean? Why did Cain bury Abel?
–The Christian scholar Jerome saw Cain’s punishment as seven generations of suffering and tribulation. Killing, he wrote, would have been a kindness. Is this justice? Is he correct?
–Did Cain regret his murder?
–What was the “mark” that God placed on Cain? Why was a “mark” needed? How did it protect him?
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and the author of more than 50 books.