Is man at the mercy of his own nature? Or can he choose good even when evil is already lurking at his door? This question has accompanied humanity since Cain and Abel. God’s answer to Cain consists of a single powerful word: תמשול – Timshol. You may rule. Not over the other, but over that which within yourself demands dominion.
When I was sixteen years old, I read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, a novel built on the biblical story of Cain and Abel. One thought from it stayed with me for many years and haunted me: the possibility that a person could be born without a conscience and be capable of cruel acts without feeling the pain they inflict on others. That was how I understood the character of Cathy at the time, and I found it difficult to come to terms with this portrayal. It seemed to me almost like a justification of her actions: she had simply been born that way, so nothing else could be expected of her.
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