איסור לא תחמוד

(18) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not crave your neighbor’s house, or his field, or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

(25) You shall consign the images of their gods to the fire; you shall not covet the silver and gold on them and keep it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared thereby; for that is abhorrent to the LORD your God.

§ Rav Adda, son of Rav Avya, said to Rav Ashi: Concerning two terms used to describe those who take another’s property against his will, a gazlan and a ḥamsan, what is the difference between them? Rav Ashi said to him: A ḥamsan gives money for the article that he takes from its owner, albeit against the owner’s will, whereas a gazlan does not give money. Rav Adda was puzzled by this response and said to him: If he gives money, do you still call him a ḥamsan? Since he pays money for it, he acquires it lawfully, despite the fact that its owner did not sell it voluntarily. But doesn’t Rav Huna say: If one was strung up so that another could coerce him to sell a certain item, and he sold it, his sale is a valid sale. This indicates that a sale under duress is considered a valid sale. Rav Ashi answered: This is not difficult. This case, where the sale under duress is legally considered to be a sale, is referring to a case where he eventually says: I want to sell the item, despite having been forced. By contrast, in that case, where the sale is invalid, he did not say: I want to sell the item.

§ Abaye said: With regard to any matter that the Merciful One states in the Torah not to perform, if one performed it, his action is effective, but the violator is flogged. As, if it enters your mind that it is not effective, why would he be flogged for accomplishing nothing? Rava said: If one performed it, it is not effective at all. And this is the reason that he is flogged: Because he transgressed the statement of the Merciful One.

§ The mishna teaches that one who effects substitution receives lashes. Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: With regard to any prohibition in the Torah, if one performed an action to transgress it, he is liable to receive lashes. But if he did not perform an action to transgress it, he is exempt from receiving lashes.

The Gemara comments: There are those who teach this statement of Ulla with regard to that which is taught in a baraita: It is stated with regard to the Paschal offering: “And you shall let nothing of it remain until morning, but that which remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:10). The verse comes to provide a positive mitzva to burn the remains after it has taught a prohibition, which states: “You shall let nothing of it remain,” to say that one is not flogged for its violation; this is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. This is a prohibition whose transgression entails the fulfillment of a positive mitzva, in which the mitzva serves to rectify the violation of the prohibition, and no lashes are administered.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET. Many people are amazed at this commandment. They ask, how is it possible for a person not to covet in his heart all beautiful things that appear desirable to him? I will now give you a parable.²⁷⁶Which will aid you in understanding the commandment that prohibits coveting. Note, a peasant of sound mind who sees a beautiful princess will not entertain any covetous thoughts about sleeping with her, for he knows that this is an impossibility. This peasant will not think like the insane who desire to sprout wings and fly to the sky, for it is impossible to do so. Now just as a man does not desire to sleep with his mother, although she be beautiful, because he has been trained from his childhood to know that she is prohibited to him, so must every intelligent person know that a person does not acquire a beautiful woman or money because of his intelligence or wisdom, but only in accordance with what God has apportioned to him. Indeed, Koheleth states, yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion (Eccles. 2:21). Furthermore, our sages taught, children, life, and sustenance are not dependent upon a person’s merits but upon the stars.²⁷⁷Mo’ed Katan 28a. The intelligent person will therefore neither desire nor covet. Once he knows that God has prohibited his neighbor’s wife to him she will be more exalted in his eyes than the princess is in the eyes of the peasant. He will therefore be happy with his lot and will not allow his heart to covet and desire anything which is not his. For he knows that that which God did not want to give him, he cannot acquire by his own strength, thoughts, or schemes. He will therefore trust in his creator, that is, that his creator will sustain him and do what is right in His sight. Observe, we have completed explaining the Ten Statements. One of the wise men of this generation said: We know that nine spheres²⁷⁸See I.E. on Ex. 3:15 and the notes thereto. correspond to the nine numbers²⁷⁹From 2 to 10. that are the basis of all numbers.²⁸⁰See I.E. on Ex. 3:15 and the notes thereto. It is the same with these nine statements.²⁸¹Of the Decalogue. Now the first statement, which corresponds to the glory of God the revered who speaks, is not included among the nine statements, for it is the first of the ten in number.²⁸²It is the basis of all that follows. Similarly, the number one is not included among the ten numbers. Now the second statement, which is Thou shalt have no…etc. (v. 3), corresponds to the highest sphere, which moves west to east and propels the other spheres to make a twenty-four hour east-to-west circuit in contrast to its own motion.²⁸³Which moves west to east. It is in reference to this sphere that Scripture states, other gods. It says this to let us know that the spheres run by the power of God. Many considered this sphere to be the creator because it is incorporeal. The third statement, namely, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain (v. 7), corresponds to the sphere of the constellations wherein are all the hosts of heaven, with the exception of the seven moving stars.²⁸⁴Each of which has its own sphere. Literally, the seven ministers. Now this important sphere encompasses all the forty-eight bodies²⁸⁵Heavenly bodies. and their forms.²⁸⁶See I.E.’s comment on verse 3 and the notes thereto. God’s power is there revealed to the eye.²⁸⁷God’s power is seen in the arrangement of the stars. There are places in this sphere which contain many stars. There are other places in it which have no stars. It is impossible for a man to know this secret. Many of those deficient in wisdom think that these forms in their arrangement were created in vain.²⁸⁸Hence the third statement reads, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The fourth statement, the statement about the Sabbath, corresponds to the sphere of Saturn. The astrologers²⁸⁹Literally, the experimenters. tell us that each one of the moving stars has a certain day in the week in which its power is manifest.²⁹⁰In other words, Saturn dominates on the Sabbath. Indeed, the name Saturday means Saturn’s day. The star is the dominant power the first hour of the day.²⁹¹On which it is dominant. The same is true concerning the star which is the dominant power in the first hour of the night.²⁹²The star which is dominant during the first hour of the night dominates that night. They say that Saturn and Mars are harmful stars. Hence harm befalls anyone who begins any work or sets out on a journey when one or the other dominates. The sages therefore said that permission was given for harming²⁹³Which I.E. interprets to mean for Mars and Saturn to have an evil influence. on Wednesday night²⁹⁴Saturn dominates Wednesday night (Weiser). and on the eve of the Sabbath. Now we do not find these two “demons”²⁹⁵Mars and Saturn. ruling night and day, back to back, on any other day of the week except for Saturday.²⁹⁶Literally, this day Mars rules Friday eve and Saturn on Saturday (Weiser). It is therefore unfit for one to occupy himself on Saturday with everyday matters. On the contrary, one should devote himself on this day to the fear of God. The fifth statement, namely, Honor thy father and thy mother, corresponds to the sphere of Jupiter,²⁹⁷Hebrew, tzedek. Literally, righteousness. which indicates peace, righteousness, mercy, and the obligation to reward and honor those to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. The sixth statement, Thou shalt not murder, corresponds to the sphere of Mars, which points to bloodshed and wounding. There is a difference of opinion among the astrologers about whether Venus is above or below²⁹⁸An allusion to sexual intercourse. the sun. The wise men of India brought proof that Venus is above.²⁹⁹This has no bearing on I.E.’s comment. He inserted it as an aside on his comments on the verse. Now the seventh statement, namely, Thou shalt not commit adultery, corresponds to the sphere of Venus, the nature of which points to all acts of intercourse and harlotry. The eighth statement, namely, Thou shalt not steal, corresponds to the sphere of the sun and indicates force. It removes the power of any planet³⁰⁰The moon included. that is in conjunction with it so that its light is not seen. Now the ninth statement, namely, Thou shalt not bear false witness, corresponds to the sphere of Mercury, which indicates language.³⁰¹Literally, the tongue. According to the Talmud anyone born when Mercury dominates will be wise. See Sabbath 156a. The tenth statement, namely, Thou shalt not covet, clearly corresponds to the sphere of the moon, which is the lowest of the spheres. It indicates desire.

Incidental to the verse, “Tremble, and do not sin,” the Gemara mentions that Rabbi Levi bar Ḥama said that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: One should always incite his good inclination against his evil inclination, i.e., that one must constantly struggle so that his evil inclination does not lead him to transgression, as it is stated: "Tremble, and do not sin."
If one succeeds and subdues his evil inclination, excellent, but if he does not succeed in subduing it, he should study Torah, as alluded to in the verse: “Say to your heart.”
If he subdues his evil inclination, excellent; if not, he should recite Shema, which contains the acceptance of the yoke of God, and the concept of reward and punishment, as it is stated in the verse: “Upon your bed,” which alludes to Shema, where it says: “When you lie down.”
If he subdues his evil inclination, excellent; if not, he should remind himself of the day of death, whose silence is alluded to in the continuation of the verse: “And be still, Selah.”

והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת, “it will be when he hears these words of a curse, etc.;” a reference to what we read above in Deut. 27,15: “cursed the man who makes a hewn image, etc.” The person concerned is under the mistaken impression that he will be a beneficiary of the merit accumulated by the many people who do observe the Torah and have forsworn any form of idolatry.
והתברך בלבבו לאמר “and he will bless himself in his heart, saying;" He will think upon hearing the curses that they will not harm him and actually be turned into blessings.
בשרירות לבי אלך, “I will walk as my heart sees fit.” He says to himself that in spite of the fact that he does not accept any part of the Torah which does not appeal to him he will not be punished, seeing that he is only an individual whose actions are not relevant when the vast majority of his fellow Jews are observant and therefore the whole people is deserving of G’d’s bountiful blessing as promised. Seeing that he reasons in such a way, the Torah adds immediately that he is totally wrong. G’d will not forgive him, i.e. turn a blind eye to his conduct; on the contrary, G’d’s wrath will be fuming, etc., against such an individual. The word אז in our verse is understood to mean “immediately,” by Ibn Ezra. It is also possible to understand the words בשרירות לבי as an expression of aggressive obstinacy. This individual deliberately disregards the opinion of the multitude, “doing his own thing” openly. The meaning of the expression is similar to what is known in the Talmud (Gittin 26) as אשרתא דדייני, “a document signed by judges testifying to the fulfillment of conditions in an accompanying document,” i.e. confirmation.
The reason the Torah writes למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, is that the wicked person prides himself with his evil deeds and determines to continue in his evil ways, thereby adding more “thirst” to his whole system which previously was adequately supplied with moisture. He had hoped to become satiated by indulging his cravings for sin. His punishment consists of the fact that instead of deriving satisfaction from his sins, he constantly feels the irrepressible urge to commit more and more sins. Instead of slaking his thirst for whatever it is he wishes to achieve, he will find that he gets ever thirstier. [A form of the principle described by our sages in Avot 4,2 עבירה גוררת עבירה, “one deliberately committed sin brings in its wake another.” Ed.] The desire to sin acts like a roller-coaster; once on that path it is almost impossible to stop and to reverse course.
It is also a well known fact that man’s heart is the “root” of the body. His thoughts are like the branches, his deeds like the fruit of the tree. The Torah has already stated (Genesis 6,5) that “all the thoughts of (wicked people) are centered all day long on doing evil.” Such people will not cease producing bitter fruit (Jeremiah 17,8). Even if all the planning of the wicked people is not translated into deeds, such wicked people are punished for the wicked thoughts they entertain. This is what Solomon referred to when he said (Proverbs 15,13) “a happy heart makes for a cheerful face; a sad heart causes a despondent spirit.” The meaning of the entire verse is that one should not think that mere thoughts have no bearing on one’s personality. If a person has a positive attitude to life, is joyful, or has a negative attitude to life, is despondent, all depends on the kind of thoughts he entertains. In other words, the thoughts have their origin in the heart; when these thoughts are translated into action they have an impact on the body, i.e. the body reveals the nature of the thoughts a person entertains. It follows that the despondent person is in line for punishment even more so when he actually enjoys contemplating the performance of sins.
This is also what the sages (Yuma 29) had in mind when they said that the contemplating of sins is a more serious offense than the actual carrying out of the sin. The sinful thoughts, when carried out, leave their mark on the body of a person, whereas spontaneously committed sins do not leave such marks on the body. This statement, i.e. psychological insight, of the sages is of very great importance. The statement has given rise to many and varied interpretations as I have already mentioned elsewhere where I said that it means that contemplating sins is more serious than committing the actual sin seeing that the contemplating of the sin is what brings about its execution. By contemplating sins on a regular basis, the heart becomes involved in one’s deeds. Seeing that the soul has its home in the heart, such evil thoughts tend to corrupt the soul. [The author clearly feels that the soul, something disembodied, abstract, must be housed in something physical in order to be able to function. One cannot think of the soul as being something detached from the body, independent. Therefore, the part of the body in which the soul is “at home” is of crucial significance. Ed.] Contaminating the soul by entertaining these sinful thoughts is therefore a more serious offense than the actual spontaneous commission of a sin which had not previously had such an impact on one’s soul.
Another interpretation of the statement that הרהורי עבירה קשין מעבירה involves often “follow-up” sins. Let us say that a person entertains the thought of breaking into someone’s house. If he is contemplating this sin instead of spontaneously stealing, he most likely weighs what action to take if his plan encounters opposition. He will think of how to deal with the opposition, i.e. possibly decide to kill the person who would frustrate his plan. Thus he already adds further sinful thoughts before even committing the original sin. Should someone ask: “how can the Torah decree penalties for thoughts which have never been carried out? How can the Torah expect a person to be so perfect that the temptation and intention to commit a sin never occurs to him?” Let me explain the essence of the subject. We know that man is in charge (has the choice) of the actions he carries out. This is what the Torah alluded to in Deut. 30, 15-19: “see I have today given into your hand (control) over life and goodness, over death and evil;......you shall choose life.“ Just as man can control his actions, he can also control his thoughts. True, the latter require some preparation, education. We are commanded to entertain constructive thoughts and to avoid thinking potentially destructive, sinful thoughts. G’d gives credit for our entertaining positive constructive thoughts, whereas He punishes us for thinking sinful thoughts.
If, on occasion, one does entertain unworthy thoughts, thoughts which creep up on a person uninvited, such thoughts reflect the fact that the individual in question has not trained himself sufficiently not to entertain unworthy, potentially sinful thoughts. The only cure for this is to concentrate on G’d and what He expects us to do and how He expects us to relate to His universe and our environment. One must relate to such unworthy thoughts with anger at oneself for such thoughts to have occurred to one at all. If one does so, one may rely on the saying of our sages that הבא לטהר מסיין אותו, “when a person makes a genuine effort to purify (himself or others) he receives a divine assist.” (Yuma 38) There are numerous verses in the Bible testifying to the principle that there are divine assists for people trying to do the right thing. One such verse is found In Chronicles I 28,9: ”for the Lord searches all minds and discerns the design of every thought, if you seek Him, He will be available to you.” Another verse in a similar vein is found in Proverbs 21,2: ”G’d probes the (content) of one’s hearts.” Solomon means that when man entertains positive thoughts, G’d will help translate them into reality. Other verses from Scripture which convey similar messages are found in Psalms 10,17, as well as in Chronicles I 29,18. Maimonides explains the statement that the contemplating of commission of sins is קשין, something more severe than the actual commission of the sin, by reference to the fact that the ability to entertain thoughts is one of the major factors elevating man above the beasts. Abusing such a faculty is more serious than committing sins with the body, something we have in common with the animals, i.e. the lower forms of life. Perverting the very distinctive feature given to us by the Almighty by contemplating actions aimed against our Creator, is indeed an unforgivable abuse of the powers granted to us. By turning the dominating element of his personality into a tool to commit sins, the subservient part of man, i.e. his body, will automatically tend to become corrupted thereby. When someone commits a sin using as his instrument a foolish slave, this is not nearly as serious as when one uses a free man to carry out one’s nefarious schemes. This is what Maimonides wrote at the beginning of the second part of his Moreh Nevuchim. [Actually it is found in section 3, chapter 8]
Yet another reason why planning a sin is more serious than the actual commission of it (a thought attributed to Nachmanides by the author in his book Kad Hakemach), is that the author of the statement had in mind the satisfaction one derives from having carried out the sin. The fact that the perpetrator still thinks about the sin as an accomplishment results in his punishment becoming harsher. According to this interpretation no penalty accrues to the contemplation of a sin not carried out. The author, in his volume Kad Hakemach, reasons that seeing that we do not have control of our thoughts, we cannot be held culpable for them. [I am quoting from Rabbi Chavell’s notes, seeing I have neither seen the comment by Nachmanides nor the author’s book Kad Hakemach. Ed.] This is based on the statement of our sages in Kidushin 40 that G‘d does not combine the sinful thought with the actual performance of the evil deed. There is no penalty for the thought. This is also supported by a verse in Psalms 66,18: ”Had I an evil thought in my mind, the Lord would not have listened.” The only exception to this rule is contemplating idolatry. Such thoughts are punishable even if not carried out, as it states in Ezekiel 14,5: “Thus I will hold the House of Israel responsible for their thoughts, because they have all been estranged from Me through their fetishes.”

(18) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not crave your neighbor’s house, or his field, or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

OLD AND FULL OF YEARS. He witnessed the fulfillment of all the desires of his heart and was sated with all good things. In a similar sense is [the verse written in connection with Isaac’s life], and full of days, which means that his soul was sated with days, and he had no desire that the future days should bring something new. This is as it is said of David: And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches and honor. This is a story of the mercies of the Eternal towards the righteous ones, and of their attribute of goodness by virtue of which they do not desire luxuries, just as it is said of them, Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and not as it is said of other people, He that loveth money shall not be satisfied with money, and as the Rabbis have commented thereon: “No man leaves the world having amassed half of his desires. If he has a hundred, he desires two hundred. If he succeeds in acquiring two hundred, he desires to make of it four hundred, as it is said, He that loveth money shall not be satisfied with money.” In Bereshith Rabbah the Rabbis have said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, shows the righteous in this world the reward He is destined to give them in the Coming World, and their souls become full and they fall asleep.” The Sages were stirred by this and they explained the verse which says, and full of years, with this vision [of the reward that G-d shows the righteous before they die].