Bresheet 4:23
And Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zilah, heed my voice, wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech, Have I slain a man by my wound and a child by my bruise?
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Rashi on 4:23 Heed my voice:
For his wives were dissociating themselves from him from having
conjugal relations because he killed Cain and Tubal Cain, Lamech's
son. For Lamech was blind and Tubal Cain would draw him along, and
Tubal Cain saw Cain, and Cain looked to him like an animal.
Tubal Cain told his father to draw his bow, and Lamech killed Cain.
Once Lamech realized that it was Cain, his ancestor, he struck palm
against palm and hit his son between them and killed him. His wives
were dissociating themselves from him, and he was mollifying them...
Rashi on 4:23 Heed my voice:
to comply with me regarding conjugal relations. Was the man whom "I have
slain," slain "by my bruise"? as if to say, by means of my wound. In
astonishment. Am I not one who acted unintentionally, and not intentionally?
This is not my wound, nor is this my bruise. [Since it was not intentionally done,
why should he be avoided by his wives?]
Rashi on 4:23 Wound:
the blow of a sword or an arrow.
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Bresheet 4:24
For Cain suffered vengeance at seven generations. Then Lamech at seventy-seven!"
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Rashi on 4:24 For Cain suffered vengeance at seven generations:
Cain, who killed intentionally, his punishment was suspended for him up to
seven generations. I, who killed unintentionally, is it not true all the more so
that it should be suspended for me for many sevens.
Rashi on 4:24 Seventy seven:
He seized onto an expression of multiple sevens for himself. Thus did R'Tanchuma
expound. But in Midrash Bresheet Rabbah we understand this... Lamech did not
kill at all. His wives dissociated themselves from him once they had
fulfilled the commandment of procreation, because a decree had been ordained to
wipe out the seed of Cain after seven generations. They said, "Why should we give
birth for oblivion? Tomorrow the flood will come and inundate everything!"
Lamech would say to them, "Did I slay a man by my wound?" did I slay Abel,
who was a man in stature but a child in years, [There is an Scriptural understanding
that Cain and Abel were born fully developed and Abel was no more than 50 days old when
he was killed (Bresheet Rabbah), Rashi is using the above to explain "and a child by my bruise"
That my seed should be wiped out through that sin? Now if Cain who had killed had
his punishment suspended for seven generations, I, who did not kill, is it not true all the
more that it should be suspended for me for many sevens? But this is a Kal Vachomer of foolishness.
If it were true, the Holy One, Blessed is He, would not collect His debt, nor fulfill His word.
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Bresheet 4:25
Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, because, "God has provided me another child in place of Abel, for Cain had killed him."
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Rashi on 4:25 Adam knew...:
Lamech came to Adam, the first and complained against his wives. Adam
said to them, "Is it up to you to be precise regarding the decree of the Omnipresent?
You fulfill your commandment, and He will do that which is His. They said to him,
"Rectify yourself first [Do as you say] Have you not dissociated yourself from
your wife these past hundred and thirty years since death has been given as a punishment
through you?" Immediately thereupon, "Adam knew, again." And what is "again"? To teach
you that his desire increased beyond his earlier desire.
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Bresheet 4:26
And as for Seth, to him also a son was born, and he named him Enoch. Then it was begun to call in the Name of Hashem.
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Rashi on 4:26 Then it was begun:
To call the names of men and the names of the icons by the name of the Holy One,
Blessed be He, to make of them idols, and to call them deities.
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