21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Qain and Hevel: the setup

Genesis 4:1-4

 

א וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ וַתַּ֨הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהוָֹֽה:

ב וַתֹּ֣סֶף לָלֶ֔דֶת אֶת־אָחִ֖יו אֶת־הָ֑בֶל וַֽיְהִי־הֶ֨בֶל֙ רֹ֣עֵה צֹ֔אן וְקַ֕יִן הָיָ֖ה עֹבֵ֥ד אֲדָמָֽה:

ג וַיְהִ֖י מִקֵּ֣ץ יָמִ֑ים וַיָּבֵ֨א קַ֜יִן מִפְּרִ֧י הָֽאֲדָמָ֛ה מִנְחָ֖ה לַֽיהוָֹֽה:

ד וְהֶ֨בֶל הֵבִ֥יא גַם־ה֛וּא מִבְּכֹר֥וֹת צֹאנ֖וֹ וּמֵֽחֶלְבֵהֶ֑ן וַיִּ֣שַׁע יְהֹוָ֔ה אֶל־הֶ֖בֶל וְאֶל־מִנְחָתֽוֹ:

 

Translation:     The man had known Chavvah his wife; she got pregnant and birthed Qain and she said: I have acquired a man with ****.

She added for birthing, his brother, Hevel; Hevel must have been a herder of sheep, but Qain was a worker of the earth.

It must have been at the end of a year; Qain brought from the fruit of the ground a minchah to ****.

Heveh brought, he from the firstlings of his sheep and their chelev; **** turned to Hevel and his minchah.

 

Now, I want to go back and re-discuss et. Notice that when Chavvah gives birth to Qain there’s one distinctive et and then there are the two for Hevel. Now, it’s pretty obvious that there’s a distinction between the two brothers, all the more so as it’s obvious they aren’t twins.

 

But why does it emphasize that they are brothers? It doesn’t do that with Yaaqov’s sons later on.

 

Well, it’s a distinctive et for et achiv et Hevel. Hevel acted in distinction from how Qain’s brother would act. Qain followed in Adam’s footsteps, tilling the soil. Hevel did not. He raised sheep.

 

Yamim: I think I said this before but in case I didn’t… When yamim has a number with it, it’s that many days. If not, it’s a year of days – a solar year.

 

A minchah is a grain offering. It’s also the afternoon prayer because in the daily whole offering, after the animal has started burning on the altar, there is an offering of fine flour mixed with oil and salt and with pieces of frankincense on top. The afternoon prayer commemorates this sacrifice and took on its name.

 

There are cases when the normal sacrifice for a given purpose is too expensive so a poor person can bring a flour offering of some kind to meet that purpose. The minchah is also acceptable in itself for various things.

 

Qain openly brings a minchah of what he has cultivated, following in his father’s footsteps. Hevel’s offering is also called a minchah.

 

But Hevel’s offering is chelev. If your favorite translation calls this “fat”, it’s wrong. The rest of Torah shows that chelev is something designated for Gd and no mortal can eat it. With an animal, it’s the fat on the lower GI organs and the inside of that cavity.

 

Animals also have fat mingled with muscle, and this fat is allowed for human consumption. Thus you don’t have to render the fat out of second cut brisket before you corn it, and you don’t have to cut the fat off a rib steak before you eat it. The fat that you render out of poultry skin is allowed for food, that’s why our great-grandmothers’ recipes had schmaltz in them and they made gribenes for a snack. The ancients recognized the likeness between this fat and shemen, olive oil, and they called animal fat shuman in Hebrew. Shmaltz is Yiddish.

 

When verse 4 calls Hevel’s chelev a minchah and says Gd yisha it, that’s a cliff-hanger.