לֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֑ךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹ֞ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֗ךָ וְעַבְדּ֤וֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ֙ וְשׁוֹר֣וֹ וַחֲמֹר֔וֹ וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ (פ)
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Sforno - Once you begin to covet something belonging to someone else it is only a short step to committing robbery.
Destroys our Chances for Happiness
Rabbi Shai Held, "Coveting, Craving... and Being Free"
Dismissing what he sees as the destructive notion that Judaism cares only about what we do but not about what we think or feel, Ibn Ezra insists, radically, that “the main purpose of the all the commandments is to straighten the heart. This is evident from the fact that we distinguish between one who sinned intentionally and one who sinned in error” (Commentary to Deuteronomy 5). The danger, in other words, is not just where covetousness can lead, but what covetousness itself represents. The Torah cares deeply about our inner lives; character matters.
Rabbi Shai Held, "Coveting, Craving... and Being Free"
Dismissing what he sees as the destructive notion that Judaism cares only about what we do but not about what we think or feel, Ibn Ezra insists, radically, that “the main purpose of the all the commandments is to straighten the heart. This is evident from the fact that we distinguish between one who sinned intentionally and one who sinned in error” (Commentary to Deuteronomy 5). The danger, in other words, is not just where covetousness can lead, but what covetousness itself represents. The Torah cares deeply about our inner lives; character matters.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (1951), pp. 89-90.
Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people. There are many who have acquired a high degree of political and social liberty, but only very few are not enslaved to things. This is our constant problem—how to live with people and remain free, how to live with things and remain independent. In a moment of eternity, while the taste of redemption was still fresh to the former slaves, the people of Israel were given the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments. In its beginning and end, the Decalogue deals with the liberty of man. The first Word—I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage— reminds him that his outer liberty was given to him by God, and the tenth Word— Thou shalt not covet!—reminds him that he himself must achieve his inner liberty.
Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people. There are many who have acquired a high degree of political and social liberty, but only very few are not enslaved to things. This is our constant problem—how to live with people and remain free, how to live with things and remain independent. In a moment of eternity, while the taste of redemption was still fresh to the former slaves, the people of Israel were given the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments. In its beginning and end, the Decalogue deals with the liberty of man. The first Word—I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage— reminds him that his outer liberty was given to him by God, and the tenth Word— Thou shalt not covet!—reminds him that he himself must achieve his inner liberty.
Proverbs 14:30
A calm disposition gives bodily health; And envy rots the bones.
A calm disposition gives bodily health; And envy rots the bones.
A medieval folktale highlights the self-destructive nature of envy. A king promised a man anything he wanted on condition that the man's neighbor, whom he envied, would receive double. Instead of being pleased by this extraordinary offer, the man, obsessed and disheartened by his neighbor's even greater good fortune, asked the king to pluck out one of his eyes, just so that his neighbor would lose both.
Ways To Reduce Envy - Rabbi Joseph Telushkin - "A Code of Jewish Ethics," Volume 1
- A man envies everyone except his son and his disciple. Sanhedrin 105b
- Don't look at the person whom you envy with an 'evil eye' rather with a 'good eye.' Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav
- The only people I know who are happy are people I don't know well. Helen Telushkin
- Compare yourself with those less fortunate that yourself, rather than with those more fortunate. Dr. Solomon Schimmel
- Instead of allowing yourself to wallow in self-pity, consider whether there is something you can learn from the more successful person that might improve your life.
- A man envies everyone except his son and his disciple. Sanhedrin 105b
- Don't look at the person whom you envy with an 'evil eye' rather with a 'good eye.' Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav
- The only people I know who are happy are people I don't know well. Helen Telushkin
- Compare yourself with those less fortunate that yourself, rather than with those more fortunate. Dr. Solomon Schimmel
- Instead of allowing yourself to wallow in self-pity, consider whether there is something you can learn from the more successful person that might improve your life.