And Cain said to Abel...

This week, we read parsha Bereishit, the beginning of the Torah. We could spend an entire year just unpacking everything in this one portion of the Torah from Genesis 1:1-6:8, but this week I want to focus on Cain and Abel.

After God created the world and Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel both made offerings to God, but Abel offered the best of what he had and Cain did not, so God favored Abel, and Cain became jealous.

In his jealousy, Cain said to Abel "..." and then killed him (Genesis 4:8). It is the first murder in the Torah, in human history, and the Torah does not record what Cain said to Abel. We can guess, of course. When the Greeks translated the Torah, they added "And Cain said to Abel, 'Come, let us go into the field,'" which makes sense given that the very next line says that Cain killed Abel in the field. But any guess that we make about the exchange is ultimately just that - a guess. So let's look at it as it was written, without dialogue.

I look at the story of Cain and Abel as a tale of the things we leave unsaid. In the blank space of those ellipses, I am left wondering if Cain even understood himself in the moment, or if his inability to speak to Abel mirrored his own internal struggle at self-reflection. Did Cain think through his emotions? Did he say to himself, "Come, let me try to understand what made me so upset?" Or did he fly into a blind rage and refuse to admit, even to himself, what he was about to do? Maybe he didn't say anything and just let his feelings of inadequacy fester. Midrash teaches that in the space of those ellipses, Cain started an argument with Abel and used it as a pretext to kill him. Whatever the case, it is clear that there was no honest, open conversation.

When words fail us, when communication breaks down, when we find ourselves unable to share our feelings with others, it harms our relationships and limits our possibilities in the world. So, even when it is hard, when we are overwhelmed by emotion and words seem meaningless or inadequate to the situation, it is important to name it. Earlier in this portion, God speaks the whole world into being, showing us the power of words. Don't take that power for granted. Don't leave ellipses in your life.

Shabbat Shalom.