This coming week we will be reading the ten commandments in Parshat Yitro, the Torah portion of the week. The tenth commandment deals with envy.
The following is taken from a sermon by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld.
“Lo tachmod beit reiekhah, do not covet the house of your friend. Lo tachmod eishet reiekhah ve-avdo ve-amato ve-shoro vechamoro ve-khol asher le-reoekhah, Do not covet the wife of your friend, nor his servant, maid, ox, donkey, nor anything that belongs to your friend.”
...How does the prohibition against envy fit into the Ten Commandments? Why include the sin of envy in this fundamental group? After all, envy is different than the other nine Commandments. It is the only one of the commandments where we are told not to have an emotion or a feeling. As if it is even possible!
...When one covets something in their heart, what they are really doing is demonstrating that they do not believe that everything they have in this world is from God. They are saying whatever I have comes from my own merit and not from God. When envy appears in a person it thus demonstrates a fatal flaw in their thinking; it is a flaw which arises from a denial of God in our daily lives. Envy is thus idolatry; it is a rejection of God’s role in our lives.
To read full article, click on the link below.
http://www.rabbishmuel.com/files/torah_sermons124.serm-yitro.doc
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