Sin

Jewish thoughts on Cain and Abel are far more extensive than you’d think, given how short the story is. Thanks to Midrash, creative ways the ancient Rabbis explained, understood, and expanded on various biblical themes, we can see stories like Cain and Abel through new eyes and discover a lot of different morals that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen. Cain v. Abel is a fantastic book on this subject written by Rabbi Dan Ornstein and it combines many Midrashic views with his own modern Midrashic spin as well. It’s worth noting that the story he presents is not meant to be taken literally. Jews tend to read the Bible both through surface level reading and by finding the hidden meanings and morals of the stories. As far as midrashic works go, accuracy is far less relevant than the moral teachings underlying them. Another great source for understanding Cain and Abel is the book Messengers of God by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor who wrote extensively about Judaism.  The Story of … [Read more...] about Cain and Abel