10/17/98

The story of Lemech and his family seems to get attention that is not given to anyone else who is not of major importance. What are Lemech and his family all about?

The Maharal (Gur Aryei) explains that Kayin possessed the Midah of Gevurah in an untempered measure. Gevurah is control, restriction, and denial. These are the qualities of an Oved Adamah. A man who has to battle the earth to eak out a minimal existence (see also Ha'amek Davar). Hevel, on the other hand, is uncontrolled Chesed. He herds sheep, which provide non-essential luxuries like wool and milk for his own self-indulgence. (See Michtav Me'eliyahu vol 4 pp. 174-175). Both of these attitudes are corrupt and destined to destruction. Hevel, as his name suggests cannot amount to anything and is destroyed.
Kayin carries Gevurah to its extreme, which is the supreme act of selfishness and denial - murder. Hashem decrees that Kayin must be destroyed too, but Kayin's Teshuvah allows for a delay of seven generations.

Lemech was the 6th generation of Kayin, and realized that his children were destined for destruction. He decided to try and Metaken the Midah of Kayin to ensure a continuation of his descendent. To this purpose, he marries two wives, Adah and Tzillah. Ada is a name that implies turning aside (see Rashi) and Tzilla comes from Tzel-shadow. The Netziv explains that these two names represent different kinds of wives and their functions. A wife is an Ezer Kenegdo. If a man goes the wrong way, then his wife should stand Kenegdo to oppose him and direct him back to the right path. In doing this, she is the greatest Ezer that he can have. On the other hand, a wife can seem to be an Ezer to her husband, supporting everything he does, but in encouraging him in the wrong path she is, in fact, Kenegdo. Ada is the wife to turn him away. Her purpose is to be Kenegdo, to turn Lemech away from the Midos of his father Kayin. From Ada, Lemech wants children who will be turned away from Kayin's corrupt Midos and thereby ensure a future for them. Hence, Ada is the wife for procreation as Rashi explains. Tzilla was not meant to have children. Rashi says that Lemech gave her a contraceptive potion. Tzilla who was his shadow, the wife who encouraged his natural inborn trait - that of Kayin - was not meant to reproduce, for her children would continue the Midah of Kayin and be doomed to destruction. In this way, Lemech sought to remove the Midah of Kayin from the world.
Ada, indeed, had children, and we see that Lemech takes care to take this child, who is turned away from the Midos of Kayin, and trains him to the occupation that is the furthest pole from Kayin - a shepherd, the occupation of Hevel. Yuval is a musician. The Haamek Davar explains that his music was the music of shepherds for guiding the sheep.

So far Lemech's plan seemed to work but then Tzilla had children too. Her son is Tuval Kayin - the one who brings along Kayin. As his name indicates, and as we explained above, he is the continuation of the negative Midah of Kayin.

Every Midah can be expressed for the good or not for the good. The Gemora in Masseches Shabbos says that one born under the influence of the planet Ma'adim will spill blood. Whether he will be a Shochet, a doctor, or a murderer is his choice. Lemech finds an occupation for his son that will allow for the expression of his Kayin nature in a positive way. He trains him to be a metal worker. We know that the purpose of iron is to shorten life. The Mizbeiach may not be built with iron implements "Ki Charbecha Henafta Aleha VaTechalleleha." Although you used an axe or some other metal implement, it is considered as if you used a sword. Lemech thought that Tuval Kayin could sublimate his Kayin streak by working with the tools of destruction in a positive manner.
Even so, Hashem brought about the destruction of Kayin's lineage as promised, by Kayin and Tuval Kayin causing each other's destruction on Lemech's disastrous hunting trip described by Rashi.

However, Tzilla had another child Naamah. What happened to this final progeny of the Kayin lineage? Rashi tells us that she married Noach. The Haamek Davar explains that the Midah of Kayin can be used correctly. Self denial, and self control, rejection of luxuries and indulgence, are the ideal qualities for the wife of a Tzaddik who devotes himself to spirituality. Naama - Pleasantness - was the Tikkun of Kayin that Lemech achieved, and through her all of mankind is descended.