The Hebrew Word at the Heart of ‘East of Eden’

This fall, Netflix will be releasing a limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic 1952 novel, “East of Eden.” Starring Florence Pugh and Christopher Abbott, and written by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the film adaptation of the same book in 1955, there’s already abundant buzz about the drama, with fans of the book wondering how close it will stick to the source material.

Personally, I’m curious how much time it will spend on the lengthy Talmudic dissection of a Hebrew word that makes up the beating heart of Steinbeck’s magnum opus.  

For those who need a refresher on the book you may have last read in high school, “East of Eden” is a loose reimagining of the biblical story of Cain and Abel. For those who need a refresher on that story you may have last heard about in Hebrew school, it’s a classic tale of sibling rivalry and, unfortunately, murder. 

Steinbeck’s novel begins with newlyweds Adam Trask and his pregnant wife, Cathy Ames, settling into their new home in the Salinas Valley of central California. Cathy is written as an evil, manipulative woman — after failing to perform her own abortion, she gives birth to twin boys, shoots Adam in the shoulder and flees.

Adam is left to raise the boys, who he has named Caleb and Aron (like Cain and Abel, get it?), with the help of his Chinese-American servant, Lee, and his neighbor, Samuel Hamilton.  

As the boys grow up, their stark differences become clear: Aron is the “golden child,” fair-haired, idealistic and pure. Dark-haired Cal is prone to jealousy and cruelty, and feels unfavored by his father — rightfully so. The same dynamic played out with Adam and his own brother, the Cain and Abel story echoing throughout multiple generations.

One of the central themes of the story is the concept of free will: Are we predisposed or fated to become a certain way, based on our circumstances, our parents, our past, God’s plan? Or are we in control of our own destiny, able to choose and work toward our idealized self? Was Aron always meant to be “good,” and Cal “bad,” or do these preconceived notions of who we are hold us back from becoming who we want to be?

That’s where the Hebrew word “timshel” comes in. 

In a moving passage that takes up just a few pages but introduces this central question of the entire book, Adam, Samuel and Lee find themselves discussing the story of Cain and Abel.

Lee explains that a discrepancy between the two common English translations of the bible plagued him for years when it came to one particular word in Genesis 4:7: God says to Cain, “Why are you distressed and why is your face fallen? Surely if you do right, there is uplift. But if you do not do right, sin crouches at your door; its urge is toward you, and you… v’atah timshel bo.” 

In the King James version, that last phrase is translated as a command from God: “Do thou rule over sin.” In the American Standard Version, it reads more like a promise or prediction: “Thou shalt rule over sin.”

On a hunt for the true meaning, Lee tells the others how he decided to go straight to the original source: the Hebrew text. So he did what any of us would do and spent years eschewing his regular work to study Hebrew in a rented room with four Chinese scholars and eventually a rabbi, arguing the semantics of this archaic Hebrew word over tea and ginger cookies. 

After years, they finally landed on an answer: “timshel” means “thou mayest.” It’s not a command, nor is it a promise, but the opening of a door toward free will: One always has the choice to rule over sin.

Got that, Netflix?

The trailer for the upcoming series doesn’t give away much, except for the notion that Cathy may be portrayed more as a misunderstood villain than she is in the book. We’ll report back this fall when we find out just how much Hebrew discourse is included in the show.

In the meantime, go ahead and read (or reread) “East of Eden.” Thou mayest find yourself quite blown away.