Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis Sermons

Why do people hate? Why do they kill? Why do they steal? Why do they murder?

The Bible records the first murder, which is fratricide — the killing of one brother of another. And it tells the story in very few words. "And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."

Here is the first murder mystery. No one was on the scene and all we know is that the two of them were in the field and that Cain spoke to Abel. What did they so to each other? What motivated the murder? The rabbinic sages in their commentary ask the same question. What were the brothers arguing about? And they offer several theories.

The first is that Cain and Abel possessed the whole world. They had it all. And they decided "Let us divide the world between us. So one took the entire land and the other took all the movables. Having divided the world in this fashion one said to the other 'The land on which you are standing is mine. 'Prach'  – get off. The other responded 'The clothes you are wearing are mine. 'Chalotz' –  take them off.'" In the course of the argument, one brother arose to kill the other.

Rabbi Joshua offered another explanation. Both brothers owned the land and the movables. But one insisted, "We will build the temple in my domain." The term "field" refers to the temple. And each insisted that the Holy Place should be on his sacred ground. They fought over that. One brother rose and killed the other.

Rabbi Judah offered another explanation. "They were arguing over Eve, their mother." Eve was the only woman for each of the sons; shades of Freud's Oedipus complex. Eve had fled from Adam and was hiding in the fields. And so one brother rose and killed the other.

So we have three motivation for the murder: economic, religious, and sexual.

But if we ourselves look at the text. we might find another explanation, another motivation for the murder. It was jealousy that consumed Cain. Cain doesn't hate Abel but he hates God for showing favoritism. Cain feels disrespected, rejected, abandoned and he transfers his rejection to Abel. And he arose and slew him.

We will hear this often throughout the Bible, this jealousy between siblings. And in a few weeks we will reading of the brothers of Joseph who sell him and would kill him, not because they dislike Joseph, but because they have been hurt by their father Jacob who gave to Joseph a coat of many colors and humiliated the other sons. They felt that they were rejected.

Jealousy is the worm in the apple in the Garden of Eden. And it is the serpent who tempts Eve and seduces her, and creates a terrible envy between man and God.

Jealousy is kindled by favoritism. In the Bible, the parents play a very important role in avoiding that hatred. It requires of them tact, empathy, a sense of fairness to avoid the terrible wrath of jealousy. It is clear in the text of this Sabbath that Esau and Jacob hate each other and that one of the reasons is the callousness and foolishness of the parents. "And the boys grew. And Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field and Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents." Verse 28: "Now Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison; and Rebecca loved Jacob." The commentators may rationalize and explain the why of the favoritism. It could be suggested that Isaac, the father, still brooded over the trauma on the mountain when his father sought to sacrifice him to God. He may have regretted his weakness as a son. His lack of courage to run away from the knife that his father held. He may have regretted his weakness, his passivity, his own fearfulness and therefore admired Esau; rugged, powerful, independent, a man of the field. And it may be that Rebecca saw the softness of Jacob and felt that even though he was not the firstborn it was Jacob who was more suitable to receive the birthright of leadership of the family. But in any event, favoritism led to violence and to a terrible hate killed in the heart of both sons. So Rebecca urged that Jacob her son deceive the blind Isaac, her husband. And he fooled him by dressing himself as a hairy man. Jacob knew that this was wrong but Rebecca insisted "Upon me be thy curse my son. Only hearken to my voice and go fetch me then."

What results is clear on page 100, verse 37 to 39: "And Isaac answered and said unto Esau 'Behold I have made him thy lord and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. And with corn and wine have I sustained him. And what then shall I do for thee my son?' " And in the following verse 38 we hear Esau's reply " 'Hast thou but one blessing my father? Bless me, even me also my father.' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept." What a terrible cry that is, a cry of injustice, a cry of betrayal, a cry against favoritism. "When Esau heard the words of his father he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry." Hundreds upon hundreds of years later the sages are conscience-stricken by that cry. Says Rabbi Haninah, "Whoever maintains that God is lax in dispensing justice blasphemes. God is long-suffering but because Jacob made Esau break out into a cry but once, the people of Israel were punished for it in Shushan where it says in the Book of Esther "Mordecai cried out a loud and bitter cry."

There are consequences for favoritism. And we see that brothers and peoples are pursued because of favoritism, because of the need for approval from the father, whether it is the father on earth or God the Father in heaven. And it is jealousy that consumes us, both as individuals within the families and as members of a people within the families of mankind.

Of all my teachers, it was only Mordecai M. Kaplan who recognized the gravity of favoritism and saw its theological implications. It was Mordecai Kaplan who rejected the idea of God's choosing Israel among all the peoples of the world. It was Mordecai M. Kaplan who sensed the bitter consequences of such a claim. For he understood that if you claim that God chose your religion, your faith, your people, over all the others, that the others will feel this as rejection.  And it will create a bitter hostility between religions, faiths and peoples. Theology must be responsible, Kaplan was arguing. And God must not be made into a callous, unfeeling and unwise Father. For you see what has happened again and again in history. Yes, you may be called "chosen and elected" and so it is written in your book. But I have a book which says that you were chosen in the past but you have forfeited your favored position and now you are rejected. So the church speaks. And later Islam speaks against both Judaism and Christianity and claims that Judaism and Christianity has been superseded by the last word of God in Islam. Kaplan was very strong and very unpopular because of his rejection of this notion of a God who chooses one over the other. He argued for another way of thinking of God. God, not as playing favorite but as the loving Father of all the nations and all the peoples and all the faiths. "Have we not one Father? Has not one God created us all?"

What then is to happen to this idea of chosenness? It is to be reconstructed, reinterpreted and retranslated. It is to be argued as a vocation not a chosenness. We Jews are not chosen but we are a choosing people. And you who come from other faiths are not chosen and we rejected. We and you are choosing faiths. May we choose wisely and morally the one God who has chosen each of us to choose Him. You chose to share what gifts and talents you have with others and to recognize their talents and their gifts. You are an instrument of harmony and of love and a believer in a God who embraces us all.

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