The Day Cain and Abel Were Born and Brought Their Offerings

"And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain" (Genesis 4:1). Three wonders were done on that day: on that day they were created, on that day they had relations, on that day they brought forth offspring. Two went up to the bed and seven came down: Cain and his twin sister, Abel and his two twin sisters. "And she said, I have acquired a man with the LORD" - the woman saw children and said: behold, the acquisition of my husband is in my hand. Rabbi Yishmael asked Rabbi Akiva: since you served Nahum of Gam Zo twenty-two years, who taught that every "et" and "gam" are inclusions and every "akh" and "rak" are limitations, what is this "et" written here? He said to him: had it been written "I have acquired a man, the LORD," the matter would be hard; rather "with the LORD." He said to him: "for it is not an empty thing" (Deuteronomy 32:47), and if it is empty, it is empty from you, for you do not know how to expound. Rather, "with the LORD" refers to the past: Adam was created from the earth and Eve was created from Adam; from here onward "in Our image, after Our likeness" (Genesis 1:26) - not man without woman, and not woman without man, and not the two of them without the Divine Presence. Rabbi Meyasha said: Cain was born and his wife, his twin, with him; and Abel was born and his wife, his twin, with him. Rabbi says: Cain and Abel were twins, as it is said "and she conceived and bore Cain" - at that hour she was prepared to give birth - "and she continued to bear his brother" (Genesis 4:2): an addition to the birth but not an addition to the conception. "And Abel became a keeper of sheep." Three were burning [with desire] for the soil and no benefit was found in it: Cain was a tiller of the ground; Noah, "and Noah began, a man of the soil" (Genesis 9:20); Uzziah, "farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil" (II Chronicles 26:10). "And in the course of time" (Genesis 4:3). According to the one who says the world was created in Tishrei, Abel lasted from the Feast [of Tabernacles] until Hanukkah; according to the one who says the world was created in Nisan, Abel lasted from Passover until the Feast of Weeks; either way, Abel was not in the world more than fifty days. "And Cain brought from the fruit of the ground": from the inferior produce. This is like a wicked tenant who would eat the early fruits and honor the king with the late, poor ones. The festival eve of Passover arrived; Adam called to his sons and said: Israel are destined to offer their Passover sacrifices, so offer also yourselves before your Creator. Cain brought the leftover of his food, roasted flax seed, and Abel brought from the firstlings of his flock, lambs that had not been shorn. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah said: the Holy One, blessed be He, said: God forbid that the offering of Cain and that of Abel ever be mixed, even in the weaving of a garment, as it is said, "you shall not wear sha'atnez" (Deuteronomy 22:11), and even if it is embroidered it shall not come upon you (Leviticus 19:19). The House of Shammai say: two males; the House of Hillel say: a male and a female. What is the reasoning of the House of Shammai? They learn from Moses, of whom it is written "the sons of Moses, Gershom and Eliezer" (I Chronicles 23:15). And the House of Hillel learn from the creation of the world, Adam and Eve. And the House of Shammai: one does not derive the possible from the impossible. And the House of Hillel: let them too learn from Moses. Moses acted on his own reasoning. Rabbi Natan says: the House of Shammai say two males and two females, as it is written "and she continued to bear his brother Abel" - Abel and his sister, and Cain and his sister - and it is written "for God has appointed me another seed in place of Abel" (Genesis 4:25). And the rabbis: she was merely giving thanks. Another teaching: Rabbi Natan says the House of Shammai say a male and a female, and the House of Hillel say a male or a female, as it is written "He did not create it a waste, He formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18), and he made it inhabited. "And Abel, he also brought from the firstlings of his flock." Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yose bar Hanina: one said the Noahides offered peace offerings, as it is said "and Abel brought, he also, from the firstlings of his flock and from their fat" - what is something whose fat is offered but not all of it is offered? Say it is a peace offering. And one said they did not offer peace offerings, as it is written "Awake, north wind, and come, south" (Song of Songs 4:16): rouse yourself, O nation whose deeds are in the north, and let come the nation whose deeds are in the north and south. And the other, what of "and from their fat"? Their fattest ones. And the other, what of "Awake, north wind"? That is written about the ingathering of the exiles.