The Silent Killer,

In this week’s parsha, the greatest event in world history unfolds – the giving of the
Torah to the Jewish people. And the headliner is the Ten Commandments. In 20:14,
the last of the Ten Commandments states, “Thou shall not covet the house of your
friend; thou shall not covet the wife of your friend or his male or his female slave,
ox, or donkey, and all that your friend has.” This commandment is a very tall order
because how do you legislate an emotion? An action, you can legislate – yes, do this;
no, don’t do that – but jealousy is a feeling. How do you stop it?
The answer is that the Torah hints to us in this verse a method that can help you deal
with envious thoughts. Because if you look at the end of the verse, you’ll see that it’s
repetitious. The Torah already delineated all the items you shouldn’t be jealous of at
the beginning of the verse. Then, at the end of the verse, it repeats that one should not
be jealous of all that his friend has. Why the redundancy?
The commentaries explain that the extra line is conveying the following message: You
have to be fair. If you’re jealous of someone and you want what they have, then you
must take their whole package. “Ah, you’re jealous of that person’s wife? Ok, just
remember, her kids come along with her.” Uh-oh, forget that! Not those kids. “You’re
jealous of that person’s children? Ok, you can have them, but just remember that you
will also get all the family’s health problems that you don’t know about.” You get the
point? If you’re jealous of someone, okay. G-d gives you what you want. But when you
see that you will also have to take everything else that comes along with that person,
you won’t be so sanguine about it. My friends, jealousy and envy kill people. Don’t fall
into their deadly trap. Just thank G-d and be happy with what you have.
Wishing you an inspiring Shabbos,
Rabbi Moshe Gruenstein