Komentarz do Rodzaju 4:22

תובל קין TUBAL-CAIN — He refined Cain’s handicraft. The word תובל is connected in meaning with תבלין (spices which give a refined and improved taste to food); he refined and improved the work of Cain by providing weapons for murderers (Genesis Rabbah 23:3).

FORGER OF EVERY CUTTING INSTRUMENT OF BRASS AND IRON. He was a forger and cutter of all brass and iron.⁴⁵⁵The translation preserving the order of the Hebrew words is: “the forger of all cutters in copper and iron.” Ramban transposes the words to read: “the forger and cutter in all copper and iron.” Scripture thus states that he was a forger and cutter in all works of brass and iron. A similar [usage in transposing a word is found in the verse]: Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good.⁴⁵⁶Hosea 14:3. The order preserving translation of the Hebrew would be: “All forgive iniquity….” Here too a transposition of words is necessary as above. In the opinion of Onkelos, however, this is connected with the first verses, meaning he was the father of every forger and cutter in brass and iron.

וצלה גם היא, the word גם relates to the sons of Adah, both of whom had acquired special skills. Tzilah, contrary to her function, to be decorative, also acquired another skill, giving birth to a son or sons. The son mentioned here is mentioned by name because he too excelled in a new skill, becoming a coppersmith. The reason why he was given a dual name, Tuval Kayin, might be that when born he was simply called Tuval. When Kayin died, this name was added to his original name to provide a memorial of sorts to his ancestor Kayin.

וצלה גם היא ילדה, “and even Tzilah too gave birth.” The strange formula about Tzilah giving birth is to indicate that she was actually not meant to bear children as her husband preferred to bask in her “shadow” (as her name indicates) all the time. Nonetheless she contrived to bear a child against her husband’s wishes. This was because G’d wanted her to have offspring and that is why Lemech did not have success with the contraceptive devices he employed. Tzilah became the mother of Tubal Kayin, the first human being who knew how to sharpen metal instruments made of copper or iron.

Sharpens the tools [used for working]. I.e., the verse should be understood by rearranging its order, as if it said: לוטש וחורש כל כלי נחושת וברזל. Rashi adds the phrase “all tools of crafts,” to imply “tools of crafts” such as those for plowing, cutting and the like, which are sharpened and polished (לטישה).

וצלה גם היא ילדה, “and Tzilah, she too had given birth.” The reason why the Torah introduces this statement with the word גם “also,” is that Lemech had married her only for her physical attributes. She was not intended by him to bear children. All the birth control devices she used had proved ineffective. There are bodies that are immune to such devices (as ancient man used to delay or prevent pregnancy). [The reader can find more on the subject in the Talmud Niddah folio 30. Ed.] The reason why the Torah even mentions the vocations chosen by these people is that due to the earth having been cursed, they needed to find ways other than farming to make a living.

"And the sister of Tuval-Cain was Naamah." She was known in the days of Moshe our teacher and the Israelites, and thus it says (Genesis 36:22) "And the sister of Lotan was Timna," because she was famous. Know that all of these were wiped out and turned into demons, and were well-known, and it is not my desire to discuss this at length, therefore I am writing here.

לטש כל חרש נחשת וברזל THE FORGER OF EVERY CUTTING INSTRUMENT OF BRASS AND IRON — He sharpened tools used in brass and iron work; לוטש has the some meaning as (Job 16:9) ילטוש “He sharpeneth his eye upon me.” The word חרש is not of the form פעל (a noun like אֹכֶל, אֹהֶל etc.), but of the form פועל (a participle), for it has the vowel קמץ קטן (what we term צירה) and its accent is on the last syllabic (whereas the noun form has the accent on the first syllable, and the second has a Segol, like קדש), and the meaning is that he sharpened and polished all cutting implements (כל חרש) used in work of brass and iron.

לוטש כל חרש נחשת וברזל, sharpener of copper and ironcraft; this description by the Torah, as opposed to the previous introduction of artisans as אבי, “father of, i.e. inventor of or discoverer of, maybe that his predecessors had already worked with these metals and had fashioned tools and vessels out of them. Tuval Kayin’s contribution may have been that he learned how to sharpen these tools so that they did not have to be replaced by new ones all the time. The word לטישה in this sense occurs in Samuel I 13,20. During the period described in Samuel, the Israelites had to travel to the land of the Philistines to have their agricultural tools sharpened, as they were not allowed to have weapons made of metal. The word חרש אבן is found in Exodus 31,6 where it describes the parallel art of working with stone. (compare Samuel I 15,15 and Joshua 8,7 where the word תפש appears in a related manner)

לוטש כל חורש נחשת וברזל "who knew how to sharpen metal instruments made of copper or iron." He was a true craftsman. At this point in time the word נחושת means steel (acero in Spanish) which combines very well with iron. Proper copper is called alambre in Spanish and does not make a good alloy when combined with iron. In Jeremiah 6,28 the prophet speaks about the incompatibility of iron and copper when he writes כלם סרי סוררים הולכי רכיל נחשת וברזל כלם משחיתים המה “They are copper and iron; they are all stubbornly defiant, they deal basely all of them act corruptly.” The prophet was chastising the people for committing slander and character-assassination. He compared their conduct to the relationship of copper to iron. Even when you combine them such a combination will not stand the test of time. The end of the verse in Jeremiah emphasizes that true cooperation between people who practice slander is no more possible than alloying copper and iron. In the end, both metals will become useless. Another anomaly that you will find after you have combined iron and copper is that you can never separate these two metals again. This is the reverse of what we find with alloys containing silver and gold, for instance. The verse in Jeremiah therefore uses the example of these two metals to demonstrate the totally negative fallout of anything involving slanderous statements. The very name of the word נחשת which is derived from נחש, a word suggesting experimentation, putting something to a test, is already an allusion to its meaning. Lavan told Yaakov in Genesis 30,27 נחשתי ויברכני ה' בגללך, “I have learned by means of experimentation [in an idolatrous fashion. Ed.] that G’d has blessed me on your account.” No craftsman in the world can tell if a certain alloy contains steel or iron unless he has made an attempt to separate the component parts of the alloy. If the metal breaks, he knows it must contain steel. If it hardens and does not break this is proof that it is iron. [I have translated the text using a Spanish dictionary to describe the word אציי'ר found in the text, though it seems obvious to me that the “steel” the author speaks of is not the steel we know today. Ed.]

She was Noah’s wife. You might ask: How did Rashi know this? The answer is: She is called Naamah (נעמה) because her deeds were pleasant (נעימה) and she behaved modestly. If so, why would she perish in the Flood and not be saved like Noah was? Perforce she was Noah’s wife, and was thus saved from the Flood. Another answer: Rashi’s proof is the fact that this woman is mentioned where other women are not. And why is this? Because Naamah [was Noah’s wife and she] had three brothers: Yaval, Yuval and Tuval Kayin. And Tuval Kayin was wicked; as Rashi previously explained that he produced weapons for murderers. But Yaval was righteous, dwelling in tents, according to Rashi’s first explanation. Also Yuval was righteous [according to this explanation]. Thus two brothers were righteous, and one was wicked. Noah also had three sons: Shem, Cham and Yefes. Shem and Yefes were righteous, as Rashi explains in Parshas Noah (9:23). And one son was wicked, as is seen there. Accordingly, one should not ask why two [of Noah’s sons] were righteous and one wicked. For Rashi already explained that Naamah was Noah’s wife — and children are usually like the mother’s brothers.

AND THE SISTER OF TUBAL-CAIN WAS NAAMAH. This is as if Scripture would say: “and a sister was born to him and her name was Naamah.” A similar sense is found in the verses: And Lotan’s sister was Timnah;⁴⁵⁷Genesis 36:22. And Miriam their sister;⁴⁵⁸Numbers 26:59. His sister’s name was Maacah.⁴⁵⁹I Chronicles 7:15.
In Bereshith Rabbah⁴⁶⁰23:4. there are some Rabbis who say that Naamah was Noah’s wife. “And why did they call her Naamah [which means lovely]? Because her deeds were lovely and pleasant.” By this the Rabbis meant to say that she was famous in those generations because she was a righteous woman and she gave birth to righteous children. This was why Scripture mentioned her. If so, a small remembrance of Cain was left in the world. However, if we say that she was not the woman from whom Noah begot his three sons, there is no reason for Scripture mentioning her. However, our Rabbis have another Midrash⁴⁶¹Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 22. concerning her which states that she was the very beautiful woman in whom the bnei ha’elohim⁴⁶²See further 6:2, 4. erred. This is hinted in the verse, And the ‘bnei ha’elohim’ saw the daughters of men,⁴⁶³Ibid., Verse 2. as mentioned in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer.⁴⁶¹Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 22. But other sources⁴⁶⁴Mentioned in Midrash Hane’elam. (See my Hebrew commentary, p. 46, Note 3.) have it that Naamah was the wife of Shamdon, the mother of Ashmedai,⁴⁶⁵Chief of demons. and it is from her that the demons were born for her name is indeed found in the writings of “the use of the demons.” Scripture hints and deals briefly with such hidden matters.

נעמה NAAMAH — She was Noah’s wife (Genesis Rabbah 23:3).

ואחות תובל קין נעמה. The reason the Torah mentions this is to inform us that Tuval Kayin did not have a brother, as opposed to his half-brother יבל, but that the sibling he did have, i.e. a sister, was called נעמה According to Bereshit Rabbah 23,3 this Naamah became the wife of Noach, being the only surviving individual of the offspring of Kayin. She was called נעמה in recognition of her good character. Other scholars in the same Midrash do not agree that the Naamah who became Noach’s wife was the one mentioned here. They attribute the name Naamah here to this woman’s ability to play music on these instruments.

ואחות תובל קין נעמה, “and the sister of Tubal-Kayin was Naamah.” Bereshit Rabbah 23,4 claims that Naamah became the wife of Noach. It is claimed that the Torah calls her Naamah to reflect her lovely disposition, her good deeds.
There is a different tradition (compare Zohar Chadash Midrash Ha-neelam 19,2) which claims that Naamah was the wife of the demon Ashmadon if the demons Ashmadai and others were born by her. We have a tradition that four women (compare Nachmanides) became the mothers of demons. They were Lilith, Naamah, Igrat, and Machalat. Each one of them disposes of whole camps of followers and a spiritually negative aura emanates from them all. It is said that each one of these is dominant during one of the four seasons of the year and that they gather at the mountain Nishpeh (a simile for a high mountain mentioned in Isaiah 13,2.) This mountain is located near mountains called חשך, and each one holds sway during one of the four seasons of the year from sundown until midnight, they and all the members of their respective camps (entourage).
Solomon alluded to all these עבדים ושפחות servants and servant maids. What he referred to was that he had made these demons subservient to him. The four women we enumerated were the four wives of the שרו של עשו the spiritual counterpart of Esau in the celestial regions. Esau on earth also married four wives corresponding to the number of wives of his celestial counterpart. These four wives are mentioned in Genesis 26,34 and 36,2 respectively; their names are יהודית, בשמת, עדה, אהליבמה
Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 24,6 elaborated on the subject when they said that during the 130 years after the death of Hevel when Adam did not cohabit with his wife he produced all kinds of demons and destructive agents as a result of seminal emissions. It is one of the “advantages” of the superior being called man that he could “beget” intangible offspring, forces which inhabit the atmosphere. He also produced abstract intellectual beings which inhabit the celestial spheres. [The author refers to the “angels” created by good deeds performed by man which have been mentioned repeatedly. Ed]