The first person who voluntarily connects with G-d is Cain, when he offers from the fruits of the earth, the pri-ha’adamah. It seems like a good and decent thing to do. But it falls short: Cain’s offering was famously not accepted by G-d, and Cain’s response is to commit the first murder.
Perhaps the rejection of Cain’s offering of the fruits of the earth was supposed to teach Cain something. But what could he have done better?
The Torah tells us, using its own words!
The phrase meaning “fruits of the earth” appears only five times in the entire Torah! (G.4:3, D. 7:13, 26:2, 26:10. 28:11). In every incidence of this phrase after the story of Cain, the Torah discusses these fruits as blessings from G-d in the land, a reward for following G-d and His Torah. Cain brought from these fruits. But he missed an element: he brought from the produce, while his brother brought the first from his flock.
There is a deep idea here: G-d does not want a percentage or a payoff. G-d is not hungry. And indeed, the first fruits are the very worst of any harvest (e.g. “late harvest” wines are the sweetest). No. G-d wants the credit. He wants to be appreciated, for us to be grateful. And that does not require giving up significant material value. It requires us to appreciate that even though grain is inedible at the point of threshing (and turning grain into bread is incredibly laborious work), we must never ever think that it is we who are responsible for the end result. We must always be mindful and appreciative of our divine partner.
To be in the Land of Israel, in the land where all blessings are contingent on our relationship with G-d, we must internalize that G-d is not like a taxing authority or a mafia protection racket, demanding a cut because He has the power and we do not.
No. G-d desires a personal relationship, one of love and devotion. A relationship wherein each party invests and credits the other, where we each have a crucial role to play. And in that relationship, G-d wants the offering of Abel (the “first”) and not the offering of Cain (a percentage). By rejecting Cain, G-d gives Cain the opportunity to grow, to become ever-better by overcoming his jealousy and rage. We should recognize that G-d does not want our food: He wants us to acknowledge His centrality in our lives, to seek connection and to grow love between us. We do that by showing and expressing gratitude and appreciation.
This is why the commandment in Deuteronomy to bring the first-fruits has two elements that are identical to those of Cain and Abel: the “fruits of the earth,” and the “firstlings.” Both are specifically named in the Cain and Abel story, and then echoed when we are commanded, near the end of the Torah, to bring the bikkurim, the first fruits.
When we are farming the land of Israel, the offeror is commanded to tell the story of Jewish history, personally connecting back through all of Jewish history, expressing all the main events that led from the forefathers (My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt …) through the Exodus and receiving the land on which the first fruits were grown. (D. 26) Cain did not do this, either!
The first fruits of the earth are all connected back to Cain, showing how Cain could have done it right: bringing the first fruits and understanding and verbalizing the Big Picture of how our daily lives all connect back to the beneficence of G-d across all of history and including the minutiae of the present day. We should still give him credit: Cain, though imperfect, nevertheless made a positive step in the right direction!