Torah - Cain and Abel Choose Professions - Sheet 4

Abruptly, within the space of one verse, we move from the birth of the two sons to their choice of profession. From this compression of time – and from the fact that their professions share a verse with the record of Abel’s birth – it seems that their vocational choices are meant to be seen as part of the basic character sketch being drawn by the text.

We begin with Abel: What does his choice of shepherding reveal about his character? Rashi addresses this question with the following cryptic comment: “Because the earth was cursed, he (Abel) discontinued working it.”

Maharal, the sixteenth-century philosopher and author of Gur Aryeh, a super-commentary on Rashi, deciphers Rashi’s meaning by reminding the reader that at this point in biblical history, human beings were vegetarian. In fact, they were permitted to eat meat only after the great flood, as seen in Genesis 9:3. Hence, Rashi’s difficulty – unstated, but implied in his remarks – relates to the apparent illogic in Abel’s vocational choice. Given the prohibition of eating meat, why would one of two able-bodied young men on earth choose the seemingly non-essential profession of herding sheep? A shepherd could, at most, offer humanity milk, and perhaps some shearings. Surely, a more vital undertaking for human survival would have been to work the ground.

With Maharal’s commentary, Rashi’s words are clarified. Abel chose the life of the shepherd – a luxury in a world struggling for survival – as a deliberate rejection of farming, an occupation rife with the difficulties of working a cursed earth. (Logic, Context, Character Analysis)

But what of Cain?

With no less awareness of the cursed nature of the earth, and with all vocational options open to him, Cain, the conscientious firstborn, chooses agriculture. To fully appreciate the dutiful nature of Cain’s choice, Maharal notes the subject-verb construction used to record Cain’s profession: ve-Kayin haya oved adammah. In line with the grammatical rule presented by Rashi in verse 1, Maharal reads these words as pluperfect: Kayin had become a tiller of the soil, before Abel made his choice. Thus, concludes Maharal, despite Cain’s advantage in having the first choice of profession, he made the most difficult, yet most necessary, selection.

This firstborn child, presented as Eve’s primary son, the son laden with the weight of his mother’s sentiments and attitudes, begins his story by taking responsibility for the world around him. We may argue that beyond this, Cain’s choice is an expression of the creative potential alluded to by Eve in her birthing speech. Surely, extracting edible produce from a blighted earth would have demanded supreme creative efforts.

In contrast to the creative, responsible Cain is “his brother,” the boy with the ephemeral name, Hevel. Abel begins his story by conforming to the low expectations invested in him. (Grammar, Character Analysis)

But the situation begins to change in verse 3.