Cain v. Abel: A Jewish Courtroom Drama, Rabbi Dan Ornstein, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, ©2020, ISBN 978-0-8276146-7-2, p. 162, plus notes, bibliography, and discussion and activity guide, $23.95.
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
WINCHESTER, California – Abel is dead, killed by his brother Cain, who confesses to God soon after the murder (Gen. 4:1-16). The proximate cause, God accepting Abel’s sacrifice, but rejecting Cain’s. Yet are these sixteen lines of biblical text the whole story?
To find out, Rabbi Dan Ornstein, Rabbi of Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany, New York, for over 25 years, convenes a heavenly tribunal in Cain v. Able to determine Cain’s real motivation and why God, in the end, spares his life. The angel Truth presents for the prosecution, depicting Cain as arrogant and amoral, and one who believes he is entitled to supremacy over his brother. Lovingkindness for the defense paints Cain as a hardworking farmer, scraping out a meager living from the earth cursed by God after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden, and beaten up by life’s injustices, killing his brother from outrage and deeply hurt feelings that God unfairly favored Abel.
Since no trial can begin without a crime report and in the case of murder, a psychological profile to determine if the accused is capable of standing trial, Ornstein produces and dissects both for the reader. Cain’s trial takes place over four days and numerous witnesses are called, including God, Sin (known as the Yetzer Ha-Ra, the evil inclination), Adam and Eve, and a host of expert rabbinic scholars from the mishnaic period to the present day. Cain is also called as a witness, but refuses to give testimony. On the final day of the trial Abel’s blood testifies, and the courtroom is electrified at its accusations against God. And God responds as only God can.
Between testimonies and at day’s end, Ornstein comments on key issues advanced by the witnesses and raises questions still needing to be answered, particularly facts-in-dispute. For instance, during day one of the trial, Ornstein, clarifying the position of the two sides, points out the prosecution sees no relevance in Cain’s emotional state of mind, “All we need to know in judging Cain is that God warned him about wrongdoing and that he chose to commit bloodshed regardless.” The defense argues “God never directly warned Cain against doing Abel harm…. Cain was never served any kind of legitimate notice about the consequences of harming his brother.”
Cain v. Able is a modern-day midrash, an imaginative story filling in the implicit and unrepresented parts of the terse language found in the Hebrew Bible. Ornstein, calling on mystical and traditional elements of Judaism, examines the mental and emotional states of the story’s named and unnamed characters to ascertain their degree of culpability. He also explores Judaism’s balance between justice and mercy, giving ultimate voice to God, who delineates mitigating factors for the defendant along a continuum from “light” to “great” before pronouncing sentence. Yet, standing above these is the midrash’s exploration of Cain’s immortal words: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
In the end, neither Truth nor Lovingkindness are happy with the outcome, which means God made the right decision.
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Fred Reiss, Ed.D. is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator, and the author of The Jewish Calendar: History and Inner Workings and The Comprehensive Jewish and Civil Calendars, 2001 to 2240. He may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.