Bereishis: (How) Did Hashem Speak to Kayin?

In lieu of an article on Chayei Sarah, I've decided to publish an article on Bereishis which is a sequel to last week's article on Vayeira. If you thought that Radak was controversial, check this out!

The Torah content for the remainder of November has been sponsored by Ed Zack. When I asked him for a sponsorship message, he replied, "MAGA." While I appreciate the support, I told him I'd prefer to keep things less politically divisive. After some discussion, we settled on something we can all agree with: Make America Think Again.

I realize that this week’s parashah is Chayei Sarah, but I’ve chosen to write my Friday article on Bereishis instead. This decision stems from several factors: (a) I didn’t have the opportunity to write about Bereishis this year because of how Shabbos Bereishis fell out, (b) I was out of town all week and didn’t have time to begin an article on Chayei Sarah, (c) the Word file from November 2022 containing all the sources for the article I planned to write this week is corrupt and inaccessible, and (d) this article serves as a sequel to last week’s article, Vayeira: Vox Intellectus Vox Dei (The Voice of the Intellect is the Voice of God). Although this can be read as a standalone, I encourage you to read last week’s first.

Lastly, I’m not sure whether the final paragraph should be made public, so I’m keeping that paragraph behind a paywall and not including it in the audio version. Paid subscribers will have access to a PDF which displays the full article. Those who read the last paragraph and have thoughts to share can contact me privately.

If you’re a free subscriber and you want to listen to the audio, you’ll have to listen to it on my Machshavah Lab podcast, which you can access by clicking here.

Click here for a printer-friendly version of the FREE version of this article (i.e. everything but the final paragraph).

Adobe Firefly 3.0’s response to the prompt: “impressionist painting of Cain in Eden with his hands on his head, wracked with guilt”

Bereishis: (How) Did Hashem Speak to Kayin?

According to the pshat (straightforward meaning of the text), Hashem addresses Kayin three times: “Hashem said to Kayin, ‘Why are you angry etc.’” (Bereishis 4:6-7); “Hashem said to Kayin, ‘Where is Hevel, your brother?’ etc.” (ibid. 4:9-12); and “Hashem said to him, ‘Therefore, anyone who kills Kayin etc.’” (ibid. 4:15).

This raises a fundamental question: How did Hashem speak to Kayin? According to the Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei ha’Torah Chapter 7), Hashem grants nevuah (prophecy) only to individuals who have attained the highest levels of perfection. Kayin clearly falls short of this standard. His rejected korban and his responses to that rejection—anger, dejection, fratricide, and denial of culpability—demonstrate his ethical imperfection. Regarding his intellectual perfection, some commentators interpret Kayin’s act of murder and subsequent denial as evidence of false beliefs about Divine Omniscience, with midrashic sources ascribing additional heretical beliefs to him. In short, Kayin does not meet the Rambam’s criteria for nevuah.

Radak wrote a full commentary on Sefer Bereishis which, unfortunately, is not very well-known because it is not included in the standard Mikraos Gedolos (published compendiums of medieval commentaries). Even less known is his peirush ha’nistar (esoteric commentary) on Bereishis 2:7 through 5:1, available on AlHaTorah.org. In this esoteric commentary (ibid. 4:6-7), Radak proposes a radical answer to our question:

“Hashem said to Kayin” [means that] the will of God—namely, the human intellect—responded to [Kayin’s] wrath and anger by saying to him, "Why did you get angry and why did you become crestfallen? Isn’t it true that if you improve”; [in other words,] his intellect taught him the path of teshuvah.

At face value, it seems Radak holds that Hashem did not speak to Kayin directly. Instead, it was Kayin’s own intellect—which conveys the will of God—that rebuked him for his anger and enlightened him about teshuvah. This interpretation echoes the Rambam’s second explanation (Hilchos Teshuvah 6:5) of what David ha’Melech meant when he said: “Good and upright is Hashem; therefore, He instructs sinners on the path” (Tehilim 25:8):

[This means that] He implanted within them (i.e. sinners) the capacity to learn and to understand, for this tendency is within every human being, namely, that as long as he is drawn on the paths of chochmah (wisdom) and tzedek (righteousness), he will desire them and pursue them. This is what the Sages meant by, “One who comes to be purified will be assisted”—meaning he will find himself assisted in the matter.

Can we take Radak’s explanation at face value? Does he deny the literal meaning of the verses recounting the dialogue between Hashem and Kayin? The answer can be found in Radak’s esoteric commentary on Bereishis 2:7:

The “adam” mentioned in the pasuk ["Hashem-Elokim formed the adam" (ibid. 2:7)] refers in the nigleh (exoteric reading) to Adam ha'Rishon, but in the nistar (esoteric reading) it refers to the name of the species. Both are true, but the nigleh is for the masses, while the nistar is for the individuals who are the excellent among the masses.

Radak does not deny the literal truth of the pshat, according to which Hashem did speak with Kayin. Unfortunately, this means that Radak’s esoteric commentary ultimately does not entirely resolve our original question.