Timshel. It is a Hebrew word found in the Bible, the fourth chapter of Genesis to be exact, which is also known as the story of the brothers, Cain and Abel. Essentially, timshel means “Thou mayest.” In the context of the tale, Jehovah tells Cain that he may conquer sin. This wording is significant because it varies between certain versions of the Bible. In the King James version, Jehovah guarantees that Cain will rule over sin, “Thou shalt.” Another version is the American Standard Bible. In this version, Jehovah demands, “Do thou rule over [sin].” At first glance, these three sentences may look similar, even the same. However, they absolutely are not. The variation in each translation allows for numerous interpretations of the message that Cain and
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Furthermore, it asks a fundamental question, do we want to succeed, or do we want to succumb to sin and fail? In my opinion, sin does not have to refer to moral sin, it can refer to any distractions thrown between a person and a goal they are trying to reach. For example, Netflix is a guilty pleasure for a majority of the young adult population, myself included. It’s a great source of relaxation and pleasure, however if uncontrolled, it can grow into an insatiable addiction that feasts on free time. Now here is where timshel comes into the picture: it is up to us as individuals to decide how much Netflix is too much —even though the limit does not exist— and how to make up for the time lost in our binges of The Office or Stranger Things. If we decide we don’t really care and let those pesky 10 seconds trickle by to continue on to the next episode, we fall prey to failure and ultimately disappointment. If we reevaluate the situation and realize that we could use all this time and energy on something much more, we exercise the positive side of timshel, consequently setting ourselves up for success and
Furthermore, it asks a fundamental question, do we want to succeed, or do we want to succumb to sin and fail? In my opinion, sin does not have to refer to moral sin, it can refer to any distractions thrown between a person and a goal they are trying to reach. For example, Netflix is a guilty pleasure for a majority of the young adult population, myself included. It’s a great source of relaxation and pleasure, however if uncontrolled, it can grow into an insatiable addiction that feasts on free time. Now here is where timshel comes into the picture: it is up to us as individuals to decide how much Netflix is too much —even though the limit does not exist— and how to make up for the time lost in our binges of The Office or Stranger Things. If we decide we don’t really care and let those pesky 10 seconds trickle by to continue on to the next episode, we fall prey to failure and ultimately disappointment. If we reevaluate the situation and realize that we could use all this time and energy on something much more, we exercise the positive side of timshel, consequently setting ourselves up for success and