July 31, 2026

The Way Is Open

But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—'Thou mayest'—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man.

These words belong to Lee, the Trask family's servant and resident philosopher, who spent two years studying Hebrew with a council of elderly Chinese scholars just to understand one word in the story of Cain and Abel. He brings his discovery to Adam Trask and Samuel Hamilton, arguing that the word timshel means neither a command nor a promise but a possibility: thou mayest. Steinbeck wrote this into the novel as its moral center, insisting that no family curse or past failure locks a person into repeating it. Each morning is another chance to choose, regardless of what came before.