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After Cain killed his brother Abel over the matter of whose sacrifice did God accept, Cain feins innocence and refuses to claim responsibility for his actions. In response to Cain's efforts to remove himself from the scene of the crime, God curses Adam's son that he will not reap benefit from toiling the earth and he will be forced to wander indefinitely in search of a homeland. Out of pain over his punishment, Cain cries out in a loud voice"My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Genesis 4:13). His reaction is not surprising; this is because a homeland with a society of people that share a common lineage is no small matter. After thousands of years of exile, the return of Jewish sovereignty to its Biblical homeland, the Land of Israel, is truly a mark of God’s hand in this world. Today, there are thousands of elderly people who share Cain's terrified sentiment; they endured years of nightmarish punishment and torture at the hands of the Nazis, an experience no one would wish for themselves. Yet these survivors now endure a new punishment: poverty. Without the means to purchase life's basic necessities, our Holocaust survivors are suffering each and every day.
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