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רעה צאן A FEEDER OF FLOCKS — Because the earth had been cursed he refrained from cultivating it.

ויהי הבל רועה צאן, Hevel chose this vocation as it required more intelligence and involved one’s mental activities more that farming.

ותוסף ללדת את אחיו, She continued to give birth to his brother. The reason the Torah adds the words "his brother," something quite unnecessary, as well as the repeated use of the word את, has been explained by our sages. They said that in the struggle between Cain and Abel, the latter was first victorious, Cain lying on the ground. Abel then pitied him and moved away. Cain exploited this pity of his brother Abel to attack him and kill him (Tanchuma Bereshit 9). The words את אחיו are a hint that Abel acted in a brotherly fashion towards Cain. By placing the word את in front of the word הבל, the Torah alluded to the lack of brotherliness with which Cain related to Abel. Another reason for the word את both times before the name Cain and the name Abel is to indicate that twin sisters were born together with these brothers (Yevamot 62).

ותוסף ללדת את אחיו את הבל, the construction of ותוסף ללדת instead of ותהר עוד ותלד, “she again became pregnant and gave birth,” supports the words of our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 22,2 that the two brothers Kayin and Hevel were born as twins. The birth was additional, not the pregnancy. Our sages added further that not only were these two brothers born as twins, but that a twin sister was born at the same time to each of them. This also is in line with a statement by Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah in the same Midrash that on that day three miracles occurred. 1) Adam and Chavah had been created on that day. 2) They had engaged in marital intercourse on that same day. 3) They produced twin children on that same day.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korchoh phrased it as follows: “2 human beings united on the bed and eight descended from the bed.” He referred to Kayin and his twin sister and Hevel with two twin sisters. [in my count this makes only 7. Actually, in my version of Bereshit Rabbah, it says that “seven” descended from that bed. Ed.] The Torah fails to mention why Chavah called her second son Hevel. [In fact, the Torah does not say that it was Chavah who named Hevel. Ed.]
There is nothing unusual in the Torah not providing the reason for the name Hevel, as there are hundreds of names which have not been explained in the Torah. None of the names of the people in the generations between Sheth and Noach have been explained. Perhaps, the reason why Chavah called the second son Hevel is an allusion to Psalms 62,10 כי הבל בני אדם כזב בני איש, “men are mere breath; mortals illusion.” Perhaps Chavah expressed her realisation that even the good found in this material world may prove short-lived, illusory, as her brief sojourn in Gan Eden had taught her. Seeing that both her husband’s and her own life had become very difficult compared to what it had been like, she showed that she had assimilated this truth as being something she had to bequeath to her offspring now that she had children. It is immaterial in this connection if Hevel was named by her or by her husband.

ויהי הבל רועה צאן וקין היה עובד אדמה, “and Hevel became a tender of sheep, whereas Kayin became a tiller of the soil.” Ordinarily, we would have expected the Torah to mention Kayin’s vocation first, seeing that he was the first-born. However, seeing that Kayin did not really have a vocation but served the Lord by merely existing, as hinted at by Chavah, who had described him as an acquisition, Hevel’s vocation was mentioned first. When Kayin observed that his brother had chosen a vocation for himself, he too chose a vocation, and became a farmer. Seeing he chose his vocation last, the Torah mentions the vocations of the brothers in that order.

וקין היה “and Kayin had become, etc.” We would really have expected the Torah to write ויהי קין עובד אדמה, similar to the Torah’s describing Hevel’s vocation as ויהי הבל רעה צאן, “Hevel became a shepherd of sheep.” The reason the Torah changed its style in describing the respective vocations of the two brothers was that there was a cardinal difference between the vocation of the one and the vocation of the other. Hevel was a righteous person whereas his brother Kayin was a wicked person. The whole episode teaches that good and evil have the same root. The root by itself is totally good; after all when Adam was created he was totally good. Nonetheless we observe that from such a good “root,” two sons with totally different personalities emerged. Seeing that both wicked people and good people developed out of the same root is proof that there was only One Creator, that evil and good are not separate domains, that there are no two competing deities in this world, one promoting the source of all that is good and promoting it, and one which is the root of all that is bad and promoting same. In fact, if you look at Isaiah 45,7 עושה שלום ובורא רע, אני ה' עושה כל אלה, “Maker of peace, Creator of evil, I the Lord am doing all this,” G’d realised that unless He, personally, took responsibility for being the originator of anything good and evil, people would believe that there must be two totally separate domains, two totally diverse prime causes. An additional reason why the Torah had to write וקין היה עבד אדמה is because the potential of a personality such as Kayin had preceded his birth; he had not invented it. [Rabbi Chavell quotes an interesting numerical value of the combined words עבד היה is the same (96) as that of the planet מאדים, Mars, which stands for bloodshed, for war. This would be an additional reason for the Torah having written קין היה, instead of ויהי קין וגו'..]

Because the earth was cursed... Rashi is answering the question: Why was Hevel a shepherd? Since they were not allowed to slaughter any creature, what benefit could be derived from this? [This is not true,] for he could benefit from the butter, cheese, milk and wool, which were permitted to them.

וקין היה עובד אדמה, as a result of each having his own vocation, they each brought different offerings to G’d.

ויהי הבל רועה צאן, as the brothers grew up, they divided their occupation in accordance with their respective needs. The one who became the shepherd was interested in eating the dairy products obtainable from the sheep and goats. He was also in need of the wool of the sheep to make clothing. They restricted themselves to these vocations, seeing that G’d had not permitted the eating of meat but only grass, fruit of the trees, and bread after backbreaking labour, as we have explained. The generations until the deluge adapted themselves to this lifestyle. It was only in Genesis 9,3 that G’d permitted killing animals for the purpose of eating their meat.

A shepherd. A profession that neither preoccupies the mind nor wearies the body, thus it is ideal for those who wish to engage in contemplation. In fact, some say that Hevel was punished for going too far in his metaphysical speculations.