Dog Days

By Rabbi Joshua (loyally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In our parsha we read of the heinous crime of Kayin, who murdered his brother Hevel. After God confronts him and asks where his brother is, kayin answers, " Am I my brother's keeper?' God tells Him that he killed his brother, and will suffer pinishment for this horrendous act. Hevel then says, ' my sin is too great to bear."( Bereishis, 4:13). Rashi explains that, actually, this remark should be undwerstood as a question, with Hevel asking God if his sin is really so terrible. In other words, Kayin denied culpability, not recognizing how terrible what he did really was. Ramban, on the other hand, sasa that the sentence should be understood in the decklarative, as a confession by Hevel that he sinned, and that his sin was too great to bear. Hevel then went on to say, explains the Ramban, that God, in his mercy, did not punish him with death,as he deserved, and he therefore asked that he not end up dying through the consequences of his punishment, which required him to wander from place to place, and left him open to be killed by wild anmals who may find him. If this happened, said kayin, his punishment would exceed what God had decreed. God then told Kayin that whoever killed him would receive a severe punishment, and we are then told that God placed a sign on Kayin. What was this sign, and how do both Rashi and Ramban understand it , each according to his respective opinionas to whether kayin confessed to his crime, as the Ramban says, or did not confess, as Rashi says? The Ramban mentions a midrash Rabbah, which says that God gave a dog to Kayin. He says that the simple meaning of the midrash is that a dog is a lowly kind of animal, and the rabbis felt tatKkayin was a disgracweful person becuase of his deed, and deserved having a dog as his constant companion. The Ramban himself, however, following his opinion that Hevel did actually acknowledge his sin, says that the dog was to serve as a guide for Kayin, so that he would not venture into dangerous areas where he may be killed.The famed Rav Shimon Sofer, son of the Kesav sofer, and grandson of the Chasam Sofer, writes, in his Shir Maon, that,actually, the trait that ultimately led to Kayin's killing of Hevel was that of ingratitude. The midrash says that hevel at rirst overcame Kayin and was on top of him, ready to kill him. Kayin pleaded for his ilfe, and Hevel released him.Iinstead of being grateful for this act, kayin then went and killed Hevel. The sign of ther dog, says Rav Shimon Sofer, was meant to teach Kayin the trait of gratitude,, which dogs, awlays loyal to their master, are known for.This explaantion would seem to comply with the opinion of the Ramban, who says that Kayin confessed,and was thus on the road to teshuvah.The sign of the dog was meant to help him along this road. For Rashi, however, who says that Kayin did not confess his sin, the explanation of Rav Sofer wouklld not seem to hold true, because Kayin was not trying in any way to atone foer what he did or improve himsellf in any way.

Rashi explains, based on a midrash, that the sign given Kayin was a letter of God's name that was engraved upon his forehead. The Netziv explains that anyone who kills a human being, even inadvertantly, loses his 'tzeelem Elokim," the image of God that he had from birth. Becasue of that, Kayin was expoed to attack by animals, and, so , God engraved a letter of His name on Kayin's forehead, because animals can perceive hiddem things and mesages that hunan beings cannot. There is another opionion in the Midrash Rabbah, cited by Rav Sofer,a although not by either Rashi or the Ramban, which says that symptoms of tzara'as appeared on Kayin's forehead. This midrash would seem to be in accord with Rashi's stance that Kayin did not acknowledge his sin. The lack of humanity involved in refusing to acknowledge the horrific act of taking another human being's life indicated that there was not any semblance of hum\nity left in the killer, so that he was, in fact, he is dead inside. This is exactly what the rabbis meant when they said that a metzora, a person afflicted with tzora'as, is considered as being dead. We know that the main sin for which tzara'as comes is that of leshon hora, or speaking evil, and the Talmud says that speaking leshon hora involves the killing of three people, the one who speaks it, the omne who hears it, and the one of whom it is said., so that a person who speaks leshon hora is likened to a killer. This sign, then was not meant to protect Kayin from attack by animals, but was, rather , a divine message to him, in respones to the callousmness that he displayed in his respose to God's admonition for killing his brother.

The people at Netvort Interantional and Affliates wish a Piska Tava ( good final judgment) and Yom Tov toall those in its radius.