Behar - Shemita and Yovel: A Rectification of Kayin and Hevel

2:19 In order to do this, I saw again some of this is my own, but much of this I saw from Rabbi David Forman, who did an excellent job here. And he connects the story of Yovel to the story of Cain and Abel. And so, first, let's establish that there is such a connection. You'll find many halachas. You can go back to the story of Adam and Chava. I'm sure you had this for those of you that taken my wife's year. There's all these different connections in halacha. Let's say in Afra's Chala to the sin of Chava. There's a lot of very deep connections. So first, let's see if it works. I think it does. So we know that Cain killed Abel, and we know that Cain has a descendant whose name is Lamech. Oh. You know? Good. So that you're familiar with. Good. Let's look at the names of Lamech's children. If you look here. Page two Bereishis chapter four, verses twenty through twenty-two. You'll see that Lamech has four children, three boys and two girls. Let's look at the boys' names for a second.

3:27 Vateled Ada as Yaval. What does Yaval sound like? Sounds like Yovav. Hu ha Ya'avi Yoshev Ola Mikan. We're not going to get into the depth of this now. We will return to it later. V'shem Achiv Yuvav And he had a brother whose name was Yuvav, which also sounds like Yovav. So far we have two sons. Yaval and Yuval. Take a look at the third pasuk. Vitzila, his second wife, Gamhi Yolda, as Tuval, kind. So we see here that Lamech has three children: Yaval, Yuval, and Tuval. So it could be a coincidence. Could be a coincidence, but they certainly sound like the word Yaval. Let's go a little bit deeper. Let's see if there's another connection. Take a look on page three, Herodotus, chapter four. Verses thirteen through fifteen. Cain has killed Abel, and Cain says, "My sin is too great to bear." You banished me from the earth, and I'm now going to be wandering around the entire planet. Anyone who meets me is going to kill me.

4:37 What does Hashem say? Vayomalo Hashem lachen kol horeg kaim shavasayim. Anyone who kills Cain is going to get a sevenfold vengeance. What does seven remind us of? Shmita. Seven reminds us of Shmita. Maybe that's a coincidence. So now we've seen that Lamech had three children whose names were Yavol, Yuval, and Tuvol. Now we see that the number seven is associated with this story. But still, you might say that's a coincidence. Let's look at what happens. Chapter four, verses 23 and 24. Lamech comes home and tells his wife or wives about something that happened that day. Shiman koli, listen to my voice. Neshel lemech, wives of melek. What happened? He said, I killed a man and I killed a child. This is what Lemech came home and told his wives. I killed a man and I killed a child. What will happen to me? Kishiv asayim yu kam kain v'lemech shivim v'shiva.

5:50 Is that if Kain killed Hevel and the vengeance was sevenfold I killed a man and a child. The vengeance for me will be seventy-sevenfold. So we see not only the idea of seven when it comes to Kain. We see seven repeated, seventy-seven, when it comes to the story of Lamech, whose three children seem to be named after Yovel. When he commits a murder, he's going to be seventy-seven times avenged. Again, we'll see what all these things mean, but I think it's safe for us to establish at this point that there is some connection between Yovel Shmita. The story of Cain and Abel, which ultimately becomes the story of Lamech and his children, and ultimately the murder that Lamech commits, the same way that Cain committed a murder towards Abel. In order to understand the nature of our The nature of the connection between Shmita and Yovel and Cain and Abel We're going to go all the way back in time and go in depth.

7:00 Study the story of Cain and Abel. I imagine in a way that you never heard it before. Let's go back and look at it again. Vayomer Cain al Hashem, God al Avoni min haSoil. My sin is too great to bear. Then what does he say? You've banished me from the soil. I'm going to be wandering around. I'm not the Nad ba'Aratz. Anyone who sees me or finds me will know. Is gonna kill me. Let's stop here for a second. Let's stop here for a second. Remember, we're only asking questions at this point. Is that Hashem's problem? No. It's not Hashem's problem. Cain kills Abel. He's forced to ban. He's banished. He's wandering around the earth. He says, "I'm vulnerable." Is that a complaint he can have against Hashem? No. This is the natural consequence for your action. Imagine your mother did this to you. Imagine you came home and you violated curfew, and your mother says, 'Since you violated curfew, you have an early curfew.' You go, 'But if I have an early curfew, I'm not going to be able to be with my friends.' What's the answer to that question? Exactly. Cain seems to have some sort of argument here that is relevant to the conversation that he says to Hashem. One second, I'm going to be killed.

8:26 And what does Hashem say? Very strange thing. Hashem says, 'Kal horig kain shavasaym yakan.' Anyone who kills Cain, there will be a sevenfold vengeance. And then it continues, and it says, 'One second, vayasam Hashem lekain osi lebiltiakos osa kol motzoh.' So Hashem says, 'I'm going to put a special mark. We'll see what that mark is later. I'm going to put a special mark on Cain' And anyone who lest anyone who meets him should kill him. So I have here four questions, three questions that I'd like to ask. The first question is as follows: a very simple question. Why does Cain feel vulnerable just because he's a wanderer? What is the nature of that vulnerability? Just because you wander means you're vulnerable. People wander; it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get killed. Cain seems here to have a very specific dread. What exactly is the nature of this dread?

9:19 If Cain is afraid of being killed. What does it matter that he will be avenged seven times over? Let's think about that for a second. If I'm afraid of being killed and I go to God, God, I'm going to be killed, and Hashem says, 'Well, if you're killed, there'll be vengeance seven times worth.' Yes, that's very nice, but I'll still be dead. So Cain comes to Hashem and he goes, 'Hashem, they're going to kill me.' Hashem says, 'Yes, and if they do, there'll be a seven times vengeance.' There'll be a sevenfold vengeance. How does that help Cain? He's still going to be dead. That's question number two. And question number three is: we've mentioned already this idea of seven seems to be significant. What is the significance of the fact that Cain will be avenged seven times worth? Those are the three questions at this point of the story we're going to ask. Just to review real quickly: Cain is afraid because he's a wanderer. He's afraid of being killed.

10:18 Why? That's question number one. Question number two: How does Hashem's vengeance help him? It doesn't seem to help him. Either way, he'll be dead. And question number three is: What's the significance of the seven? I'm sorry. Last question. There is a fourth question. I apologize. I was right. Last fourth question is: Does Cain deserve this? Deserve what? Does Cain deserve that Hashem says your blood will be avenged sevenfold? Does Cain deserve that? I don't think so. Let's start off like this. Cain kills Abel. Does Abel get a sevenfold vengeance? No. What did Cain do to deserve this? Hashem says, 'I will avenge you sevenfold.' This is what the simple pshat of the pasuk means. I will avenge you sevenfold if somebody kills you. Why? What did Cain do to deserve that? Cain, in fact, himself doesn't seem to make any argument that he deserves that. What does Cain say?

11:16 Since I'm wandering, I could be killed. So Hashem says, "Don't worry. I'll give you this amazing thing. If you're killed, I'll avenge your blood sevenfold." Why? Where did that come from? What does Kayin have that Hashem is going to avenge his blood seven times? Those are the four questions. Wasn't there a thing that Kayin? Don't don't. I'll tell you what. Don't do that. Don't do. Wasn't there a thing? Let's see if the thing comes up. Patient. Let's see. Let's start with our first question. Why was Cain afraid? What was Cain afraid of? So there's a Rashi. Rashi says an unbelievable thing. There's a lot to say in this Rashi, but I'm just going to. You can look inside if you want to see the Rashi. This is what Rashi says. Rashi says. That the animals naturally feared a human being. The animals of the time naturally feared a human being.

12:24 But now, this is what Rashi says. Now that I killed The animals will no longer fear me. That's what Rashi says. You want to see it inside real quickly? Rashi says, 'Kal mozzi yargeni.' Anyone who finds me who's going to kill me, who is he worried about? He's not worried about people. He's worried about habehemos vachayos. Avamei Adam adayin lo ha'yishiyur mehem. Rakav v'imo u'mehem lo ha'yiyarei shiargunu. Elo amarad achshav ha'yapachaditi al kolachayos. And now the achshav shviel avon zel lo yirimi many achayos v'arguni. He said he wasn't worried about other people killing him because who was alive at the time? There was Adam, Chava, Cain, Hevel, and Cain killed Hevel. Who's left? Adam and Chava. Was Cain afraid of Adam and Chava? They were his parents. So he said. The animals are going to kill me. Half an hour ago, before you killed Cain, before you killed Hevel, the animals wouldn't kill you.

13:22 And now that you killed Hevel, the animals will kill you. Do you girls understand what Rashi is saying? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Rashi is saying, what was Cain afraid of? Cain was afraid of the animals. Why? Because he killed Hevel. What's the obvious question on Rashi? What happened? Half an hour ago, you didn't kill Habbel. You weren't afraid of the animals. Now that you killed Habbel, you're afraid of the animals. What changed? Where does Cain see that just because he was killed means just because he killed now all of a sudden the animals won't fear him anymore? Where does Cain know that from? It doesn't even seem to make any sense. Another part of the story. We're just asking a lot of questions. Soon we're going to get to an answer. It's an unbelievable answer. I hate to do this. I don't want to stop in the middle, but I see that some of you are suffering from the heat in this room.

14:19 So let's blast it real cold, because those girls that are fanning themselves, I want you to know I feel bad for you. I want you to feel comfortable in the room. I know the warmth in the room, coupled with the fire of Taira, is too much to bear. I don't know what that means, but I'm with you. Now Kayan has killed Heaven. Now Cain has killed Abel and he's afraid the animals are going to kill him. What comes next in the story? Take a look. Bereshis, Dalid Yud Zayin. Cain has a child and who does he name the child? Chanoch. And he builds a city and what does he name the city? Chanoch. Chanoch. Fascinating. Rashi says, why does he name the child? Why does he name the city Chanoch? Lezeicher b'no Chanoch. In other words, he had a son. The son died, and he named the city that he built after his son.

15:16 So girls, just very simply. First of all, every name has significance. Number one, question number one: If Kayin names his son Chanoch right on the heels of Kayin killing Havel What should we ask ourselves? Why is that name appropriate for this story? It's like if you read the story, you have to know that everything connects to each other. Cain kills Abel. Cain is afraid he's going to be killed by the animals. Hashem says, "Don't worry, I'll avenge you sevenfold." We discussed that already. Next thing in the story, what happens? He has a child. He names the child Hanokh. What's that name got to do with anything? What's that name got to do with anything? Just trying to make sure you're all with me. I made the HD. I get distracted very easily. I want to make sure that you're at least as distracted as I am. Question number one. Question number two.

16:14 Question number two. Why does Cain build a city? You killed someone, and now your response is to build a city. And question number three, the obvious question is, what's the significance of naming the city that you built after your son who passed away? We have more questions on the story. Let's travel forward in time a little bit. What happens next? Now we know beforehand. We mentioned it. Now we're going to revisit it. That Hevel, I'm sorry, that Lamech Who's all these generations after Cain, Lamech has three kids. But is that all the Torah says? Let's look at what the Torah says. Vateled Ada es Yaval, Hu ha Ya'avi Yoshev Ol Mikna. What's the first thing we know? Anybody? Bueller? What's the first thing we know about Yaval? He was what? What was his profession? Shepherd. He was a shepherd. Good. So we have a shepherd here. Then he has another son, Vesei Machiv Yuval, who Avi called Tofes Kinar Veugav, and he was what?

17:20 He made instruments. So what was he? A musician. Then we have another kid. Vetsila Gamhiyelda is Tuval Kayin, Lo Teish Kol Chores Nechosu Barza, and he makes implements of copper and iron. And then finally, va'achos tuv alkayin Nama. And then there was a girl whose name was Nama. So we have three professions here in the pasuk. Three professions here in the pasuk. Profession number one, we have what? A shepherd, a musician, and someone who's good with copper and iron. Does that enhance the knowledge of the story in any way? Doesn't seem to enhance our knowledge of the story. Anytime the Torah tells you a detail, if the detail is important, then it makes us understand the story better. Are these details important? Yes. Obviously, they must be, but we do not know why they're important. Very good. Last one. I think it's the last one. It's not the last one. I lied.

18:20 Last one for now. We mentioned before that Lamech comes home and tells his wife, 'I killed a man and I killed a child.' And I'm going to be avenged 77 times fold. So what's our first question? Why 77? That's not our first question. Who did he kill? The Torah comes in and says, I killed a man and a child. What critical information is the Torah leaving out? Who? Who we killed? It was obviously going to be him because who else is going to kill and have that avenged? It was obviously going to be who? It was. Lamech killed a man and a child. Who did he kill? Why is that obvious? It doesn't. Let's put it this way: the Torah certainly doesn't say it. And even if you want to suggest that Lamech killed Cain, who's the kid? His son. Girls. His inner child. His own child.

19:16 Girls, can I ask a question? Are we guessing here? Is there a reason we're guessing? What's the reason we're guessing? We don't know. So rather than guess, what should we do? We don't know. Let's see. We learned. There's no we learned. We didn't learn nothing. I'm just reading plukin. We learned. Some other teacher told us there was a medrash. We shall see. We learned is the enemy of learning. We learned is the enemy of learning. Another question. Why is Lemek telling this to his wives? Girls, imagine you come home and your husband's there, and you go, "How was your day?" He goes, "Killed a man and a kid." First of all That's the type of thing that you don't tell your wife. And if you do tell your wife There must be a reason. Why is Lemek telling his wives? That's the second question. Third question: In what way does this have anything to do with Cain?

20:19 Because we see that what is Lemek saying? Lemek says, 'If Cain was avenged sevenfold because he killed his brother, I'm going to be avenged seventy-sevenfold.' Because I killed a man and a child. We don't know what this story has to do with the story that happened previously at this point. So we just have simple technical questions. What does seventy-seven have to do with seven? Let's look at the logic. Cain kills his brother So he is avenged sevenfold. I killed a man and a child. What would you expect if you didn't know the pasuk? Fourteen. Fourteen, and yet there seems to be this like seventy-seven, like something about the number seven here is very intense. We need if he was seven, I'm seventy-seven. Where does that come from? Let's go back in time for a minute to something you may have learned. Perhaps. There's a Rashi.

21:27 I'm sorry, there's not Rashi. There's a Medrash Rabbah, Bereshis Rabbah 22: 12. Medrashim Bereshis Rabbah says as follows: Cain says this is super important. Cain says, Hashem, the animals are going to kill me. There are different opinions about what exactly Hashem did to protect him. We saw in Rashi earlier that he put the shame of Hashem on his forehead. But there's two more things that Chazal suggest. The first thing, take a look. Rav Amr Kelav Masarlo. What he got? He got a dog. Fascinating. That means, by the way, even if we have heard this before, we may not know what it means. Keep your minds open. He got a dog. It's like one of these guys walking around with a German Shepherd. Now, if a wolf attacks me, I have this huge, imposing dog to guard me. That's one possibility. But the midrash suggests another possibility.

22:24 Abiyosi ben Kesarim Amar, keren hitzmiachlo. He sprouted a horn. In other words, what was Cain? He was a unicorn. So the Medrash says he was a man walking around with a giant horn. Why would that protect him? Because when the animals see him now, what will they see? They'll see a rhinoceros. They'll see a man with a giant horn. Stay with me. This seems already to make a lot of sense because what happened before him? He said to Hashem, Hashem, the animals are going to kill me. What does Hashem give him? Either an animal to protect him, or Hashem does what? Hashem says, the animals won't be afraid of you anymore because you're a human. What do I do? I'll make you an animal. I'll make you an animal. Seems very strange, though. Like of all the things to do, Hashem makes him an animal.

23:22 Let's look a little bit deeper at the story. Here we find the Medrash Tanhuma, and this is, I believe, what at least some people learnt beforehand. How does Cain die? So the Medrash tells us you could see it inside over here. I quoted it inside. The Medrash tells us that Lamech, who's the great, great grandson of Cain He's blind. And what does he do? Even though he's blind, he's a hunter. So Lamech Who's this hunter, takes out his son Tuval Kayin. Remember we said before, and what was Tuval Kayin's job? We had a shepherd, a musician, and a somebody who was good with copper and iron. It turns out the Medrash says, what does it mean to be good with copper and iron? It means that he made weapons. So this is what the Medrash says. Lamech took out his son to go hunting. Which son? The one who made weapons.

24:20 And he says, "When you see an animal, point me in the right direction. I'll fire my weapon and kill whoever is in front of me." So imagine they're out in the field And Tuvalkaiyan sees in the distance this one-horned animal walking around. He says, "Lemek, go east." There's an animal. He picks up the weapon that Tuvalkaiyan makes, swings it around in that direction, fires, and kills the animal. They go to find out which animal they killed, and who do they find? It's none other than his great grandfather Cain. He killed his own grandfather, and the Medrash tells us that he was so upset that he went like this and he smacked his hands together, but he was blind. Who was standing in front of him? Twoval Cain, and he killed his own son. This is the story of Lamech. This is the story. This is what the Medrash says. Don't trust me. I quoted it inside so you could check it for yourself. You don't have to trust me.

25:25 What happened? Cain was walking in the field. He looks like an animal. Lamech is a hunter, but he's blind. Tuval Cain thinks it's an animal. He points Lamech in that direction. Lamech fires his weapon and kills Cain. When they go over to see who it is and what they killed, they find that it's Cain. He's struck by his grief. He claps his hands together, but he's blind. He doesn't know that his son is standing in front of him and kills his son with the clap. This is the story of Lamech's bad day. Now we know. We understand. He comes home and he tells his wife, "What did I do?" I killed my great grandfather and our son. Whoa, that's a crazy day. So now let's look at perhaps some of the deeper meaning here. We're not going to get to all of it now, but let's look at some of the deeper meaning.

26:18 What's the significance of the fact that Hashem gave him a dog? What's the significance of the fact that Hashem gave him a horn? And just as importantly, remember we asked a minute ago Why did the animals no longer fear him? So there's a beautiful answer, and it goes like this: It used to be. That an animal saw a human being in those times. And what did it see? Something that was created in the image of God Tzelam elokim. And the animal naturally understood. We don't mess with its tzelam elokim. What does an animal mess with? Only another animal. What happened on the day that Cain killed Abel? He lost his tzelam elokim. Now all of a sudden Cain seems to be somewhere between two worlds. He's not an animal exactly. But you can't say he's a godly being anymore. So if you think about the punishment that Cain gets, what's the nature of it? It's a beautiful word. Hold on to this. The nature of what it means to be a godly person is you belong somewhere.

27:33 That's what you have. You have a place of belonging. A girl who doesn't have a place of belonging, what does she feel like? She feels like a loser. I have nowhere. Nowhere in this world wants me. I have nowhere to be. I remember a dear friend of mine lost his mother. And then a couple of years later, he lost his father. And when I went to pay him a shiv'ikol, what he said to me was: I have no one in the world who cares about me anymore, just because I'm me. I lost my mom. I lost my dad. You lose one or the other. You still have somebody whose entire life is dedicated to you. I have no more a place of belonging. This is what Cain lost. It's not a punishment that Cain becomes a wanderer. What is it? It's a consequence. You killed someone. You lose your godliness. That's what happens when you commit savage atrocities like murder.

28:25 You killed the peace of yourself. There's nowhere in the world now that the world will just sprout for you. Used to be that's what happened. But now to get things out of the earth would be very difficult for him because he doesn't really have a place here anymore. Now Cain understands. One second, Hashem, if you're telling me that my act of murder means that I lose my tzelam elokim, what danger am I in now? Now the animals are going to come for me because up until now the only reason the animals didn't come for me was that I was betzelam elokim. But if I lost my tzelamelokim and I'm just another one of the animals Then I'm going to be killed by the animals. Unbelievable thing. So what does Hashem do for him? Hashem says I will. One of three things we've seen so far. Number one I'll put my name on your forehead.

29:16 Number two I'll give you a dog. Number three, I'll give you a horn. Let's just look at two of them for a second. If Hashem gives him a dog, or Hashem gives him a horn. What's the message that Hashem is saying to him now? You're somewhere between the animal world and the physical world, and the godly world. If he has a dog, it's like you're a human being. But I'll give you an animal to protect yourself. If Hashem gives him a horn, what's he saying? You're part human. Part animal. But everyone agrees that what did Cain lose when he killed his brother? He lost a bit of his soul. It's like where did we see this in modern literature? It's Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Horcruxes. When you kill, you split your soul. It's true. It's this idea being expressed in modern literature. If you kill, you lose a little bit of yourself. Terrible thing to do.

30:14 So we see that this is exactly what the Medrash says. What did Tuval Kain see in the field? What did he see? It says he saw kemin behema. He saw something that was like an animal, and he assumed that what was it was Tuval Kain wrong. He wasn't wrong. When he saw Kain walking in the field, he didn't see a human being. What did he see? He saw something that looked like an animal. It appeared to be an animal. Because when you commit savage acts of atrocity, you lose a bit of your godliness. And this is what the story is really about. Now we're still left with some questions here. Why is Lemek a hunter? Especially if he's blind? That's not good. That's not a good activity. If you're blind, what do they tell you? You can't drive a car. That makes sense because if you drive a car and you're blind, what are you likely to do?

31:10 So if you're a blind man, what would we tell you to do in those times? Sit at home Weave. You could weave with your hands. But the last thing we would want you to do is carry a weapon. And he's not just carrying any weapon. What is he carrying? He's carrying the first weapons that were ever created by his son, who specializes in making weapons. This is a really bad thing to do if you're blind. Why is Lamech involved in this activity at all? Even if you learned this before, you didn't learn this. That's why we always need to go deeper. Another question. Is there significance? You girls know what it means, irony. There's an irony in this story. What's the irony in the story? That Cain is killed by who? By his own progeny. By his own relative, he's killed. What's the significance here of the fact that Cain is ultimately killed by himself?

32:11 Okay. Did we get to the seventh? We didn't answer so many things yet. God willing, we're going to answer them soon. Sorry, I'm having trouble keeping track of everything. Ah, okay. There's a Rashi. There's a Rashi. A very important Rashi here. Rashi tells us the significance of the fact. That each one of Lamech's children had a profession. Look what Rashi says. Where are we up to? You girls have the same sheet. I want to make sure we're on the same page. Where are we up to? I'm up to. No. The Rashi abbreviation. Aviachelohel that one. We're on the page. There's no page numbers. That's the Rashi we're up to. Rashi says all three children. Were involved in avodah zarah. What does it mean that Yaval was a roe vehemos bemedbaros? What does it mean that he was a tent dweller and that he was a shepherd?

33:33 So look what Rashi says. Ube medrash agada boneh batim laavodah zarah. Rashi brings two pshatim here. But Rashi says that he built houses of idol worship. And then, what about the brother that plays music? Rashi says he played music for what? For idol worship. So it's fascinating. Now we start to see something developing over here. The last brother, Tuval Cain, what does he build? Weapons. The musician plays music for what? For avodah zarah. The shepherd, the tent dweller, what does he build? Houses of avodah zarah. What's going on over here? And look at the next Rashi. Rashi says Tuval Kain Tovel umanuso Shel kain, tuval lashon tavlin. Rashi says Tuval Kain is named Tuval Kain after who? After Kain. Why is he called Tuval Kain? Because he's like the ultimate Kain. Kain was a murderer. He killed tovel. What's tuval kain? The ultimate murderer. Why is he the ultimate murderer? What does he make? He makes weapons.

34:50 Okay. Originally, we asked some questions about the name Hanoch, the building of the city, and the city being named in memory of Hanoch. I want to start answering those questions. This is an unbelievable shot. Listen to this. Does Cain deserve to be protected after he killed Hevel? No. But did Hashem say that He would protect him? He didn't. What did Hashem say? He said, "If you're killed" Your blood will be avenged sevenfold. In other words, what is Hashem saying to him? You're afraid. You should be. You know why? Because violence creates more violence. You brought death into the world And when you bring violence into the world, you know what's sure to come for you at some point. More violence. What happens after that? More violence. Isn't that what we see? We see in the world, Reuven hurts Shimon. So what does Shimon do? He hurts Reuven. So what does Reuven do back? He hurts him more. It's called the escalation of violence.

36:03 You know what Hashem is saying to him? He's saying, "You're afraid. You've lost your godly dignity. You're right. Violence always creates more violence. So who's going to kill you, Cain? As we look into the future, who will kill you? You Your own progeny, your own violence will ultimately kill you. Because many years later, you're going to have a great-great-great grandson whose name is Lamech. And his kid is going to be named after who? You. After you. Except, what's he going to be? He's going to be even a better version of you. He's going to be Tuval Cain. You killed. He creates weapons of mass destruction. So it makes sense that Cain is killed not just ironically But it makes logical sense. What kills Cain? Himself. Cain is responsible for his own murder since he brought murder into the world. Eventually, it will be that same expression of him that kills him.

37:05 Girls, it reminds me. You girls probably haven't read much literature, but there's a character in literature called Sir Thomas More. And Sir Thomas More, for those of you who did learn this, Sir Thomas More famously said And when you're done cutting down all the trees in the forest, what will be left to protect you? Right? Laws are there for a reason. If you cut down the laws to hurt others, what will end up happening? The lack of those laws will ultimately kill who? Will kill you. Cain, you brought murder into the world. What will kill you? The very murder that you created will ultimately end up killing you. So Cain has in front of him a problem. How do I stop the cycle of violence? The Torah tells us the answer. He has a son. And he names him Chanoch. What does Chanoch mean, girls?

37:59 Chanoch. It means education. The way to stop the cycle of violence is through education. But what's the education? It has to be the right education. For example, let's say you're living in the Gaza Strip. And you are being raised in these 'quote-unquote' UNRWA schools, which are really hotbeds of terrorism, training the next generation of kids to be terrorists. What's that education going to do? It's going to teach them. It's going to teach them to be murderers. How do we stop violence from occurring? We have to teach our children that the dangers of violence are that when you kill another, a part of you dies along with it, and ultimately you will be killed by the very violence that you were a part of. That's the message of this story. Cain says, 'I'm in danger now. I created violence. What's going to kill me? Violence. What's the answer? Education. I have a kid. I teach him this lesson, but the kid died.'

39:03 So what does Cain do? He says, "I'll build a city." We educate our own children. What else do we do? We educate our people. We create societies that are peaceful societies. Cain is trying to rectify the mistake that he made. He said the only way that I will live is with what? If I teach this lesson to others, so that they don't make the same mistake that I made. Cain did his very best to stop the violence from occurring. Does that make sense? The problem is It didn't work. Problem is that it didn't work. What does seven mean in the Torah? Seven always means complete. Now it's seven generations later, which means that Cain has now come full circle. The Cain story is complete. And now let's start to look at Lamech's children. Something unbelievable comes out of this, and I wrote it right here. You don't even have to work hard for it.

40:07 What was Hevel? A shepherd. What was Cain? A farmer. Let's see, girls. Seven years of shmita. We're gonna get to seven years of shmita first. The first child that we have is Yavval. What does Yavval sound like? Cain and Hevel. Yavval is Hevel, right? Yavval is Hevel. And what does he do? He is a. He's exactly like Hevel, because what was Hevel? Hevel was a shepherd. So Yavol is a shepherd. The next child is Yuvah. He plays the musical instruments, which we already said were for Abod Zara. The next kid is Tuval Kain. We already said he makes implements of copper and iron, weaponry for murder. So it's obvious that Lamech's children are what? Replaying the story of who? Kain and Hevel, because Tuval Kain is literally named after Kain. Remember we said he was the perfected version of Cain. He makes murder. And what's Yavvall? Yavvall is Hevel.

41:06 Yavvall and Yuval are Hevel. So we have the story of Cain and Hevel that is literally happening again. But you know what happens? You know what they say. History repeats itself. Sometimes you're not in control of how the story ends. Cain kills Hevel. What does he say? I got to stop this thing in its tracks. I got to educate my children, my society. The problem is the cat's already out of the bag. You already brought murder into this world So you may think that you can fix it. But when you bring barbarism into the world It's already snowballing downhill. So the story of Cain and Abel, what does it do? It repeats itself. Cain killed Abel, and now when we have Cain and Abel again, what happens? Once again, Tuval Cain kills Cain. So seven generations later Who becomes a murderer? Lamech. Seven. Remember, Hashem said it's going to get you sevenfold. What did Hashem mean?

42:09 Eventually, when this story comes full circle It's your murder that will ultimately kill you. Makes sense. Who's Lamech? Lamech is a blind hunter. Think about that for a second. If you're blind, why are you hunting? What's the answer? If you're a hunter, you're a hunter. If you're a hunter, you're a hunter. There's a story that somebody became a bal tshuva. And they asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They said, "Can I still be an artist even though now I'm frum?" So the Rebbe wrote back. He goes, "If you're an artist, how could you not be an artist?" Like an artist is an artist. Just because you became frum doesn't mean you could stop being an artist. If you could stop being an artist, girls, then what are you? You're not an artist. If you're an artist, you can't stop being an artist. You know what lemach is?

42:59 He's a murderer, just like Cain. Can a murderer stop murdering? A murderer cannot stop murdering any more than an artist can stop being an artist. It's impossible. So LeMech doesn't matter that he's blind. He's a murderer. That's why he walks around with his own kid. Why is the old casket open? Because his kid is the awesome murderer. His kid is the one who creates weapons. He says, 'Just point me in the right direction.' He's a murderer, and ultimately, who does he kill? He kills Cain and Abel, and that's what we discussed before. Lamech killed Cain, and he killed who? Tuval Cain. Why does he come out and tell his wives? Because it's their kid. It's relevant to them. What does any of this have to do with Cain? What's the answer to that question? It's all Cain. If Cain would never have killed Abel, then Cain himself never would have died from Tuval Cain and from Lamech.

43:53 And now we understand a big yeshod here. Cain killed Abel, and Hashem says, "In seven generations, you're going to pay the price, sevenfold." What does Lamech now know? He says If Cain was killed seven generations later Then what's going to happen to me? Seven generations. The cycle of violence grows. It never just continues, does it? What always happens to the cycle of violence? It grows. It doesn't just increase. It doesn't just double. What happens? It increases as far as it could increase So it's not seven becomes fourteen. What does it become? Seven becomes seventy-seven. He said, "I've completed." This is what LeMek is saying. He says, "I completed the first round of violence." But do you know what's going to come from me? What's going to come from me is the demise of all of humanity. Seventy-sevenfold because of my action. I killed Cain and my son on this day, as we're going to see in a moment.

44:59 Everything will be destroyed. All of humanity is destroyed because Lamech killed Cain and Tuval Cain. And you know what's amazing about this, girls? It's two psukim in Chumash. And how many of these? How many of us, when we're reading Chumash, just gloss over these two psukim? These two psukim that Lamech comes home to his wives and he says, 'I killed my father Cain and I killed my son today.' These two psukim are going to link us, as we'll see in a moment. To the Mahb, to the ultimate destruction of all of humanity. I'll show you in one minute. Because remember, what did Cain lose? Cain lost his godly dignity. He lost his tzelam elokim. What happens now? Lamech says "If my great grandfather started the job, I just finished the job. All of society is going to descend into the animalistic." And once a society falls into the animalistic, what happens? The society needs to be destroyed.

46:01 Take a look at what Lemek's wives respond to him. We only have a couple minutes left. I'm going to try to move a little bit quickly. You could see it inside in the Medrash. Lemek's wives were treated horrifically. Remember, we said a moment ago he had two wives. Take a look in the Medrash. I put it in bold. You could read it inside. It says, "Kach hoy amshei dar ha'mabul osim." Girls, what are we talking about? We're talking about lemech. Why does the medrash call them dar hamabul? What's the answer? Because this is the generation that was going to be killed in the flood. Meaning, who? Who are we talking about now? We're talking about the society that ultimately brought us down to the very descent of all of creation. How did they treat their wives? There's a difference if you're tzelam alokim and if you're an animal. If you're tzelam alokim, how do you treat your wife? You want to marry a bentaira. Why do you want to marry a bentaira? Because you'll be treated with dignity. You know what they did in the Dara Mabul? You know what Lamech did? He married two wives. One was for having children. The other was for pleasure. The Medrash describes that the one that was for pleasure, he would give her some sort of potion to make sure that she couldn't have children. In Lamech's case, it didn't work. It's not always perfect.

47:09 Sometimes people get pregnant anyway. So the first wife went ahead. She has Yavol and Yuval. The second one, the one who wasn't meant for procreation, she has Tuval Kayin and she has Nama. And this is the way he treated them. You see the descent. You see how it's not an accident that Lamech treats his wives this way. It's not an accident that Lamech kills Cain and his own son. It's the behavior of an animal. Look at the next medrash. Cain comes. Lamech comes home and he goes, 'I killed Cain and Tuval Cain.' " You know what he says to his wives? I'd like to be intimate with you. And you know what the wives respond? Unbelievable! Look what the wives respond. Amrlo, they said to him Le'machar hamabul ba. Why should we be intimate with you? Why should we have children with you? You know what's happening tomorrow.

48:05 Tomorrow, meaning not literally tomorrow, but soon. Tomorrow, the flood is going to come. Do you realize the genius of Lemek's wives? According to the Medrash, Lemek's wives were intelligent women. Cain to Lamech comes home. He goes, I killed Cain and two of Cain. You know what they say? And he says, I'm going to be avenged seventy-sevenfold. This is the end of the world. They said, You're right. It is the end of the world. Girls, did the world know that the flood was coming? I don't know if the world knew, but two wise women knew. They know what happens when society devolves into being a bunch of animals. When intimacy Girls, I hope you're listening carefully. When the world of intimacy becomes corrupted What starts to happen to the society? The society is on the brink of collapse. This should be a message for anybody who's listening today.

48:53 Look around in the world. Look at the murder rates. Look at the way we look at sexuality. We're losing morality. We're descending into the animal. Any time that happens in society, the society is on the verge of falling apart. So Lamach says to his wives? Let's find a mediator. Let's find someone who will guide us. Who will guide us? Who can Lemek turn to? He turns to Adamarishon. They go and journey to Adamarishon. The Medrash says And Adamarishon says this very powerful words. He says to Lemek and his wives Whatever Hashem is going to do, Hashem is going to do. You have to do what's right. Go have children. Lemek's wives, these are smart women. These are brilliant women. You know what they said back to Adam? Doctor Take your own medicine. Because after all, Adam and Chava sinned They separated from each other for 130 years. So they already had Cain and Abel.

49:51 But they didn't have another child until after this conversation. After this conversation, when Avraham Rishon said, "I didn't want to bring more kids into the world because look what I did. I brought Cain and Abel into the world, and Cain brought murder into the world. I'm not bringing in any more kids." Lamech's wives said the same thing. Why should we bring kids into the world? They're just going to continue the cycle of violence. The world is going to be destroyed. Avraham Rishon said, "You can't do that. You have to do the right thing." They said, "You too." Ultimate drop the mic moment. Which is why the very next pasuk in the Torah tells us what happened. Goes through this whole thing. Vayeda, you see how it says here the story of Lamech told his wives that he killed Cain and two of Cain. Pasuk 25, Vayeda Adam odis isto And what happens? Adam and Rishon got back together with Chava.

50:47 If you were just reading these sukkim and you didn't know the midrash, it would seem to be out of the blue. Why in the world are we talking about Adam and Chava again? Adam and Chava, that story was over a long time ago. That story continues right now. Because Adam says we have to do what's right. So now they have a kid, and what's his name? They had a child, a son, and his name was Shest. What did he have? A son. What is that son? A replacement for Hevel. He has a son who is now going to replace Hevel. He has Cain. He lost Hevel. What does he have? Shes. So the Cain and Hevel story continued, but this time with who? Cain and Shes. And if you take a look, chapter five, verse one, when it gives us the lineage of Shes, how does it start off telling us the lineage of Shes? Zeh Seif Ber told us Adam.

51:44 This who? Not Cain. This is going to be the lineage of Adam Arishon. You know why? Why isn't all the children of Cain the lineage of Adam and Meshiam? Because they all died in the flood. They all died in the flood. Who survives Adam? Where are we all from? We're all from Sheis, because Cain descended into the animal. So what does Adam and Meshiam do? We have Sheis. Sheis Hevel. Sheis are not the animalistic people. And if you take a look here, this is an unbelievable piece. Take a look. I wrote it down. You can just follow it inside. Unbelievable piece. We're almost done. Literally, we're almost done. It's the last year of the decade. The descendants of Sheiz are very connected to the descendants of Kayin. Kayin has a descendant whose name is Misu Shail. Sheiz had a descendant whose name is Misu Shelach.

52:39 Kayin has a child whose name is Chanoch. Sheiz has a descendant. Whose Chanoch. I'm sorry, I didn't write that in. Sheiz has a descendant whose name is Canaan, which seems to be exactly like what? Kayin. And ultimately, Cain has a descendant whose name is Lamech. I'm sorry, not Cain. Sorry, Cain has a descendant whose name is Lamech who kills Cain. But Shem also has a descendant whose name is Lamech. And do you know how many generations it is from Shem to Lamech the second? It's seven generations, and Lamech lives 777 years. Of course he does, because the story repeats itself. And in the seventh generation, both stories come to their climax. For Cain, seven generations later, what happens? He's killed. His violence ultimately destroys him. But for Shes, seven generations later, what does he have? Noah. Seven generations later, his child brings life to the world. When everyone is going to die, and it's interesting, who's Noah's wife? Nama. Who is that Nama? This is different. So it's a machlokus in the medrash. If you look inside, I quoted it right here. Some say it was the Nama that came from Kayin.

54:00 Which would mean that Nama, pleasantness, she's that spark of godliness that's still within Kayin. Remember, all the way back in the day, in the very beginning of the Shire. Do you remember we said that what was on the mark of Cain's forehead? We said it could be a horn, but maybe it was Hashem's name. Because maybe one pshat that we could say is even within the evil of Cain It still means he still has some godliness to him, and maybe that represented Nama, and maybe Nama was the one who ultimately marries Noah and saves the world. Alternatively, the Medrash suggests it's somebody else, and she was also a Balavodazar. What happens? Now it comes full circle. Now it comes full circle. Noach saves the world. He comes out of the teva. Vayachal Noach isha adamah veitakaren. Noach is a man of the soil, and he plants a vineyard.

54:55 And what happens? We all know how that story happens. He gets drunk, and ultimately, Chum. The Gemara says either he was sarso aravo, either he castrated him or he sodomized him. Why? Why such a tragic ending to the story? The Medrash says that Noach was the person who invented the plow. Who does that sound like? In the entire story of what we've been talking about now, Noach, the descendant of Sheis, who's the replacement for Hevel, Noach creates what? A plow. Who does that sound like? That doesn't sound like a shepherd. What does that sound like? Who was the farmer in our story before? Cain was the farmer. It means that when Noach got out of the teva, he, as the descendant of Sheis, should have been what? He should have been a shepherd. But instead, what does he do? He's a farmer. He perfects the plot. He plants a vineyard. Some want to suggest why does he plant a vineyard? But you know what the Eitz Hadass was? As many sheep, this about what the Eitz Hadass was. One thing we know for sure it wasn't was an apple. But some suggest that it was a grapevine.

55:56 So he plants the Eitz Hadass again. And just like before, because he enters into the world of Kayin, what happens? He descends into the world of the animal. Remember what we say, girls? You create violence. That violence ultimately kills you. If you become an animal, the world of morality, the world of intimacy, becomes corrupted. What happens to Noach? History repeats itself. When Noach becomes like Cain and he becomes a farmer, builds a plow, gets drunk He's unfortunately taken advantage of by his own children. And what year did that happen? The seventh year. It'd be cool, but it wasn't the seventh year. It was 1656, the flood after the creation of the world, which means that Noah came out of the teva and planted the vineyard in the 650 1657th year of the world. Which was a shemitah. I said shemitah. Which means that what was Noah's mistake? Something connected to the world of shemitah.

57:01 This whole story is about shemitah and Yovel. Remember, what did we say Shemitah and Yovel was about? Shemitah You don't plow your land. Shemitah, all the loans are canceled. Yovel, you return to your ancestral land. All slaves are freed. In other words, what is Shemitah and Yovel really about? It's returning to your godliness. A godly person says Hashem runs the world. I don't have to plant this year. In the seventh year, at the apex of a Jew's life, remember, seventh is the full completion. Hashem is in the world. And that's what creates more godliness in our life. Loans? We don't want to feel. We don't want you to feel like a slave. You don't have any loans. Your loans are canceled. And in Yovel Cain didn't have a place where he belonged. What happens in Yovel? Your ancestral land is returned. And in Yovel, what happens to all the slaves? All the slaves are freed. Shmita and Yovel are to counteract what happened with Cain and Hevel. Cain loses his godly dignity, becomes a unicorn. Shmita and Yovel return us to our godly dignity. That is the soul of the body of this halacha.