God wants us to be happy. That's a basic principle of Judaism. Like a parent, the Almighty wants good things for us.

Parents tell their kids, "I'm 40, you're 4. Trust me on this -- don't touch the stove." God does the same thing for us, although the issues are more complex: raising children, making marriages work, even just deriving pleasure from your daily life -- all of these take more than a little wisdom.

God's instructions are packed into a guidebook for living called the Torah, which contains stories and laws that can teach us how to live well.

Let's look at the already familiar story of Cain and Abel to see what insights God is offering.

Now the man knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying I have acquired a man with God. Additionally, she bore his brother, Abel. Abel became a shepherd and Cain became a tiller of the ground.

After a period of time, Cain brought an offering to God from the fruit of the ground and as for Abel, he also brought of the first of his flock and of the choicest. God was pleased with Abel's offering, but God wasn't pleased with Cain's.

Cain became angry about this and the Almighty said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? If you do well, you know I'll accept it. If you don't do well, sin crouches at your door. It lusts after you, but you can rule over it"

Cain spoke with his brother, Abel, and it happened that when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and he killed him.

You feel rich until you imagine yourself next to Bill Gates.

God said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" and Cain said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" and the Almighty said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out from to me from the ground. Now you're cursed to me from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it won't give its strength to you. You'll be a wanderer and a vagrant on the earth."

Cain said, "It's more than I can bear.You've banished me from the face of the earth. I'm going to be hidden from your presence. I'll be a wanderer and a vagrant on the earth. Whoever meets me will kill me."

The Almighty said, "It will be seven generations before vengeance shall be taken on you." and the Almighty put a mark on Cain so that none who met him should kill him. Cain left the Almighty's presence and settled in land of Nod, east of eden. (Genesis 4:1-16)

That takes up just 17 verses in the Torah, and it's packed full with important guidance. Let's take a look at some of the major themes.

1.The secret to happiness

2.You control your destiny

3.Violence is result of misdirected anger

4.Misdirected kindness is cruelty

The story begins with Cain and Abel bringing offerings to God. What's going on here? Some sort of corrupt Middle Eastern monarchy? A little bakish to pay off the gods to get the crops to produce? It's much more meaningful than that.

The Talmud tells us "ha somayach b'chelko." Take pleasure in what you have. This is the secret to happiness.

Here's the secret to misery: whatever you have, take it for granted. Stay carefully focused on what you don't have, and you'll always be miserable your entire life.

The theory of relativity is an amazing thing. Imagine that you have $100 million. Whew, do you feel rich. Until you imagine yourself next to Bill Gates. $100 million feels like nothing if you compare yourself to people with a few billion.

Imagine that, in addition to whatever other problems you have, that you're blind. If I gave you your sight back, you'd be thrilled, right? Well, guess what? You have eyes!

If you want to be happy, you have to take pleasure in what you have. Think of the moment just before you take your first sip of water in the morning, when you're a little dehydrated. You're about to experience one of the profound moments of pleasure of your day. Before you drink, pause for a moment and say "thank you," -- and then drink and feel your body revive.

Cain and Abel brought offerings to God as a way of saying thank you: "Look at what we've got. We're alive. The ground produces for us. We can think, speak, walk."

If you don't take pleasure in what you have, nothing you have or achieve will be meaningful.

We read the Torah very carefully. There are no extraneous words. It tells us that Abel brought the first and the best and Cain brought some.

After a period of time, Cain brought an offering to God of the fruit of the ground; and as for Abel, he also brought of the firstling of his flock and from their choicest.
(Genesis 4:3-4)

Cain approaches his thank you as an obligation: "It's Dad's birthday. I gotta pick up something. Take this, I don't need it."

The point is not that God's hungry, that God needs a steak and a potato. The point is: are you appreciative? Do you have a sense of how wealthy you are? How much you have? If it's brought out of a sense of obligation, the Almighty says, "This is nothing to me," and doesn't take it.

The Almighty comes to Cain and asks him what's wrong.

Why are you annoyed and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, you know I'll accept it. If you don't do well, sin crouches at your door. It lusts after you, but you can rule over it.
(Genesis 4:7)

God warns him that "sin" is waiting for the opportunity to overtake him -- but assures him that he is fully capable of overcoming it.

The Almighty never gives us a test we can't handle.

A basic principle of our religion is that the Almighty never gives us a test we can't handle. Don't ever believe you're not capable of reacting appropriately. You are responsible for your own actions.

Sin is the path of least resistance: think of the kid who comes home from school after a bad day. He picks a fight with his sister, yells at his mother. Now things are worse.

The Hebrew word used here, "cheit," means "mistake" more than it means "sin." The Almighty presents Cain with a choice: If you want to indulge that sense of depression, frustration and resentment, it's a mistake that will destroy you.

Moreover, God is telling Cain, "I love you. I am on your side," but the choice is his. Cain is not a victim of his emotions. His response is under his control. God is there to help us, if we choose, but if we choose the wrong path, the consequences are ours to face. We control our own destiny.

God presents Cain with his choices and their consequences, and then steps back to let Cain make the decision that will define him.

The Torah tells us that Cain then spoke with his brother but it doesn't tell us what they discussed.

Cain spoke with his brother Abel. And it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

(Genesis 4:8)

You'd think the subject might be mentioned -- after all, this is the conversation that leads up to the world's first murder. But the Torah is silent. Why? Because it doesn't matter.

Cain was looking for trouble: I feel low. I feel lousy. I'm looking for someone to blame my feelings on and you'll do. How should I pin it on you? Give me a moment and I'll figure it out.

The secret of violence: the inability to take responsibility for one's actions.

The Talmud says that maybe they fought about money or women, or which one was closer to God. It just doesn't matter. The Torah is telling us the secret of human violence: the inability to take responsibility for one's actions. It has nothing to do with the victim.

Sometimes, we take out our anger on strangers. (We all know the guy who cuts across three lanes of rush hour traffic and then, when you turn to look, goes berserk, waving his arms frantically.) More often, we take it out on our own families. It's easiest -- they're always around to give you some cause. "Why didn't you call today?" "Why did you call today?"

The challenge is to stop and control yourself, to realize that this person has done nothing and that the issue is you. You had a bad day. That's where God's warning comes in: sin crouches at the door, but you can rule over it. If you choose to.

What does the Torah mean when it tells us that Cain "rose up" and slew his brother (see Genesis 4:8 above). Sure, it's poetic, but what's the point? The Talmud answers that Cain must have begun from a subordinate position: The brothers began to fight and Abel, the stronger of the two, pinned Cain to the ground. Cain appealed to his brother's compassion and Abel let him go.

At that point, Cain rose up and killed him.

From this we learn an important lesson, it's immoral to have compassion on someone who will take advantage of it. In his history of World War II, Winston Churchill wrote that the war's moral was that the Western democracies, because of their reluctance to fight, had allow the wicked to rearm themselves.

Showing compassion to those who seek to hurt you isn't compassion at all. It's stupidity.

"Based on a tape in the Holy Diner series."