Kayin and Hevel in Art/0/he

קין והבל באמנות

סקירה

סיפור קין והבל, הרצח הראשון בהיסטוריה, עורר את סקרנותם של אמנים לאורך כל הדורות.¹ שלושת היצירות המוצגות כאן, המיניאטורה מתנ"ך אלבה (1430 לספירה),² לוח שנהב מקתדרלת סלרנו (1084 לספירה),³ ואת תחריט העץ של יוליוס שנור פון קרולספלד (1860 לספירה),⁴ מציגות חלקים שונים מן הסיפור, מקורבנותיהם של קין והבל, ועד לגירושו של קין. האמנים מציגים תפיסות שונות של האחים, קורבנותיהם, והרצח עצמו, ומאפשרים פרשנויות שונות לעמימויות ולפערים בסיפור המקורי.

ציורים מנוגדים

תנ"ך אלבה

The miniature is divided into three scenes, with the upper half depicting the brothers' sacrifices and the bottom portraying the murder and Hashem's reprimand. In the first scene, Hashem turns towards Hevel to accept his offering of two lambs while ignoring Kayin's gift of vegetation. Kayin then brutally murders his brother by lying on top of him and biting his neck. Hevel's blood seeps into the ground beside him. On the right side of the image, Hashem punishes Kayin, pointing a finger to the left as a sign of banishment.

קתדרלת סלרנו

The artist of the ivory panel also divides his image into three separate scenes, arranged horizontally from left to right. In the first section, a youthful Kayin and Hevel are depicted in parallel poses, lifting their respective offerings to the heavens. God's hand reaches out towards Hevel's lamb, leaving Kayin's bundle of grain rejected. In the next scene, Kayin stomps on Hevel and strangles him. Hashem turns to Kayin in anger, and Kayin cowers in fear.

שנור

In contrast to the other works, Schnorr's engraving focuses just on the moment of the sacrifice. In the left foreground, Hevel kneels by his altar, a picture of piety. His hands are clasped and he looks up towards Hashem, as his sacrifice is accepted in a pillar of smoke. The right background of the woodcut portrays Kayin and his sacrifice. Like Hevel, he, too, kneels, but in anger rather than devotion. His faced is turned, not upwards, but with hatred to his brother. His hands clench in a fist as his basket of fruit lies untouched by the altar, the column of smoke settling on its sides.

Relationship to the Biblical Text

The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:

The Murder

The Alba Bible portrays Kayin biting his brother to death,⁵ while the Salerno ivory panel shows him choking Hevel. How was Hevel murdered? Sefer Bereshit leaves the method and weapon to the reader's imagination. Nonetheless, commentators and artists have proposed various weapons from stone to stick to sword.⁶ The choices might be relevant to another question: Did Kayin mean to kill, or just to harm, his brother?⁷ See Kayin – Intentional or Unintentional Murderer.

Sacrifice Rejected

In the Alba Bible, there is a clear difference in quality between the sacrifices of the two brothers. While Hevel offers two lambs, Kayin presents a somewhat shabby-looking pile of wheat and a smattering of what looks like dried leaves, or perhaps, the outer shells of grain.⁸ In the Salerno ivory and Schnorr's engraving, on the other hand, the offerings appear much more balanced.⁹ The different portrayals relate to the question of why Kayin's sacrifice was rejected while Hevel's was accepted. Was the former of lower quality,¹⁰ or was the rejection related instead to other deeds or attributes of the brothers?¹¹ See Kayin's Sacrifice Rejected.

How Did They Know?

In both the Alba Bible and the Salerno panel, Hashem reaches out His hand to accept Hevel's offering, while in Schnorr's woodcut Hashem shows His preference / rejection through the rising / collapsing pillars of smoke. Is either of these alluded to in Bereshit? The text does not say how the brothers knew what Hashem thought of their offerings. Many commentators conjecture that fire came down from heaven,¹² while others¹³ propose that the siblings knew of Hashem's preference only based on their subsequent successes and failures in their chosen occupations.¹⁴ For further discussion, see Kayin's Sacrifice Rejected.

How Old?

The artist of the Salerno Cathedral panel portrays the brothers as young boys,¹⁵ while Schnorr depicts them as young men, and the Alba Bible renders them as mature adults. Should Kayin be viewed as a rash youth, easy prey to jealousy and not fully aware of the implications of his actions, or was he an adult, expected to control his rage and to be fully responsible for his deeds? Had Hevel already had the chance to bear progeny or was he killed before he could bring descendants into the world? The Biblical text is silent on the matter,¹⁶ but Kayin's fear that he might be killed by others suggests that either Adam and Chava had other children or that the brothers themselves already had families of their own.¹⁷ See Chronology of Bereshit 2-4.

Was There an Altar?

While both the Alba Bible and Schnorr portray the brothers bringing their offerings on an altar, the Salerno ivory depicts them simply raising the gifts to Hashem. Though most readers assume that there was an altar, the chapter makes no mention of one.¹⁸ This raises a question regarding the sacrificial tradition. How did it develop over the ages? Was sacrificial worship always performed similarly across time and culture, or were there different modes of offerings in different times and places? See Sacrifices Before Sinai for more.

¹ לסקירה וניתוח של האומנות בנושא זה, ראו מאמרם של י. מילגרום וי. דומן, "Having Left the Garden: Cain and Abel.

² כתב היד מאיר העיניים הזה, בן 513 העמודים, הינו אחד מהתרגומים המוקדמים ביותר של התנ"ך לקסטיליאנית. הוא הוזמן על ידי איש הכנסייה הבולט דון לואיס דה גוזמן אך נכתב על ידי החוקר היהודי ר' משה ארגל. גוזמן ביקש מר' ארגל לתרגם ולפרש את הטקסט המקראי, כנראה מתוך ניסיון לגשר בין שתי הקהילות. במקור, ר' ארגל חשש לעשות זאת מתוך פחד כי פרשנותו היהודית תיענה בעוינות (ובכך הוא יימצא בסכנה), אך לבסוף הוא נענה לבקשה. הטקסט והפירוש שכתב לוו ב334 מיניאטורות, כולן עבודת ידם של אמנים נוצרים. לפחות בחלק מן המקרים, נראה כי האמנים קיבלו הוראות מר' ארגל, מאחר ונדמה כי היצירות מושפעות מהפירושים הרבניים. לקריאה נוספת בדבר כתב היד, ראו כאן.

³ לוח זה הינו חלק מסדרה בת יותר מחמישים לוחות שנהב שנעשו בשביל הקתדרלה על ידי אמן לא ידוע. לוחות אלו נמצאות כיום במוזיאון הלובר שבפריז.

⁴ שנור (1872-1794) היה צייר גרמני מתנועת נצרת. התחריט היה אחד מתוך מעל מאתיים תחריטי עץ שהוא הכין בשביל התנ"ך המאויר, Die Bibel in Bildern.

⁵ This is a unique depiction and is likely based on the זוהרפרשת בראשית (נ״ד:)אודות הזוהר.

⁶ See ר׳ יוסף בכור שורבראשית ד׳:ח׳אודות ר' יוסף בכור שור who proposes that Kayin used a sword. Cf. אבן עזראבראשית פירוש ראשון ד׳:ח׳אודות ר' אברהם אבן עזרא who cites those who question how Kayin could have killed before the invention of swords. He mocks the questioners by pointing out that there were plenty of other methods available.

⁷ רד״קבראשית ד׳:י״באודות ר' דוד קמחי raises the possibility that Hashem punished Kayin with exile, the standard punishment for an inadvertent killer, since Kayin had not as yet seen a human die and did not know what harm a stone might cause. Cf. בבלי סנהדריןסנהדרין ל״ז:About the Bavli that suggests that Kayin beat Hevel in every part of his body in order to insure he would die, as he was unsure what would bring about his death.

⁸ Cf. פרקי דרבי אליעזרכ״אאודות פרקי דרבי אליעזר which proposes that he brought leftover roasted flax seeds.

⁹ Schnorr's Kayin offers a handsome basket of assorted fruit and vegetables, the farmer's equivalent of Hevel's sheep. In the ivory panel, both brothers give an equally small token from their occupations.

¹⁰ See תנחומאבראשית ט׳אודות התנחומא, פרקי דרבי אליעזרכ״אאודות פרקי דרבי אליעזר and many others. As אבן עזראבראשית פירוש ראשון ד׳:ג׳אודות ר' אברהם אבן עזרא points out, this explanation stems from an asymmetry in the description of the two sacrifices. The text says that Hevel brought from the "choicest" of his flock ("מִבְּכֹרוֹת צֹאנוֹ וּמֵחֶלְבֵהֶן"), while no similar adjective can be found in the description of Kayin's offering, implying that, perhaps, he did not bring from the best he had to offer.

¹¹ Schnorr's portrayal of a particularly pious-looking Hevel might be his explanation of God's choice. See also הכתב והקבלהבראשית ד׳:ד׳אודות ר' יעקב מקלנבורג who learns from the fact that the text states "וַיִּשַׁע ה' אֶל הֶבֶל וְאֶל מִנְחָתוֹ", rather than simply "וַיִּשַׁע ה' אֶל מִנְחָת הֶבֶל", that Hashem was looking at both the person himself and the sacrifice.

¹² See רש״יבראשית ד׳:ד׳אודות ר' שלמה יצחקי, אבן עזראבראשית פירוש ראשון ד׳:ד׳אודות ר' אברהם אבן עזרא and others. These exegetes might be influenced by the heavenly fire that descended during the dedication of the altar of the Tabernacle to demonstrate Hashem's approval of the project.

¹³ See לקח טובבראשית ד׳:ה׳אודות ר' טוביה בן אליעזר, רלב״גבראשית ביאור הפרשה ד׳:ב׳-ה׳אודות ר' לוי בן גרשום and נצי״בבראשית ד׳:ד׳אודות ר' נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין who take this second approach.

¹⁴ If so, the rejection was not an instantaneous or obvious sign, and it might have been open to interpretation. This affects how one views the murder. Was it a somewhat immediate and passionate reaction to open rejection, or did it occur months later? For more, see Kayin – Intentional or Unintentional Murderer.

¹⁵ In his depiction they actually look like twins. Though this is not stated in the Biblical text, several midrashim read into the fact that the words "וַתֹּסֶף לָלֶדֶת" are not accompanied by mention of another pregnancy, that the two were indeed twins. See בבלי יבמותבבלי יבמות ס״ב.About the Bavli and בראשית רבהכ״ב:ג׳אודות בראשית רבה.

¹⁶ The story opens with the phrase, "וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ יָמִים", but it is unclear how long this implies. תנחומאבראשית ט׳אודות התנחומא posits that the siblings were 40 at the time.

¹⁷ Cf. רד״קבראשית ד׳:י״באודות ר' דוד קמחי who proposes that neither Adam nor Kayin had yet born other children, and that to prevent the land from being barren of people, Hashem decided not to punish Kayin with death.

¹⁸ The first appearance of an altar is when Noach brings sacrifices after the flood. See, though, תרגום ירושלמי (יונתן)בראשית ח׳:כ׳אודות תרגום ירושלמי (יונתן) and פרקי דרבי אליעזרל׳אודות פרקי דרבי אליעזר who claim that Adam already brought sacrifices on an altar. According to them, this same altar was subsequently used by Kayin and Hevel, and later by Noach and Avraham.