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Created: 28 January 2016

In this week’s parasha, we read about the foundation stone of Judaism - when G-d personally spoke to the approximately three million Israelites assembled at the foot of Mt. Sinai. He shared with them the famous Aseret HaDibrot, "Ten Statements," also known (inaccurately) as the “Ten Commandments.” Overall, the commandments are logical: exclusive belief in G-d, not using His name in vain, observing Shabbat, honoring one’s parents, not engaging in murder, adultery, theft and lying. However, the tenth commandment - Lo Tachmod, "Do not covet” - seems a little curious.

The Ibn Ezra wonders how the Torah can legislate against a person's desires. It is very natural for a person driving an old junker to be jealous of a person who has a nice brand new car and does not have to worry about oil leaking or whether the car will start each time he turns the key in the ignition. If this is readily understandable in terms of physical possessions, it is certainly understandable with regard to life’s deeper aspects.. How can the Torah command an individual not to be jealous of someone else’s spouse, profession, or children?

The Ibn Ezra cites a parable which allows us to understand the proper approach to the prohibition of not coveting. He says that no commoner ever thinks he will marry the princess. He knows that the princess is out of his league. When the villager ventures into the big city and sees the King's palace and his beautiful daughter, he does not think "I wish I could marry her." He knows that such an occurrence is strictly beyond the realm of possibility in terms of his lineage and background. It is just not going to happen.

So too, it is human nature that one only has desires for things he or she can relate to. A person does not covet things that are so far removed from him that he considers them to be "out of his league." However, this reasoning relies on a faulty assumption - that what we have is based on our own strengths and personality traits. The Ibn Ezra says that an intelligent person must realize that people do not acquire spouses or possessions based on their wisdom or cleverness, but only based on the Will of G-d to grant him such. If a person has a beautiful house or car or wife, it is not due to his own qualities, but rather, because the Almighty wanted him to have that.

Rabbi Ezriel Tauber explains that G-d has a special purpose in creating each individual. There is something that you were put here to accomplish that no one else can. Each person is given unique tools to accomplish that mission. Accordingly, the Ibn Ezra says that the antidote a person must employ to avoid coveting is emunah, faith. Namely, the faith that all his possessions are what G-d wants him to have and all of his neighbor's possessions are what G-d wants his neighbor to have. It is impossible for a person to accomplish their mission if instead of using the tools that they were given, they spend their whole lives trying to acquire that which others have.

Would you be jealous of another person’s glasses? Of course not! If you were to try on another person’s lenses, you would be blind! Your lenses are made for your perspective, and you wouldn’t be able to see straight with anyone else’s. With this perspective, we can now understand how the Torah can command our desires.