|
In our Torah portion this week, there are the procedures about Sota, a suspected straying wife. It is based on the jealousy of the husband and describes an ordeal the woman must endure if her husband’s feelings of jealousy have been awakened.
Many people confuse ENVY and JEALOUSY. And there is a very fine line between the two. Both envy and jealousy make you feel inadequate. But, in the case of envy, you want something that someone else has. This is the tenth commandment—not to covet; here what we are being commanded to avoid is envy. In the case of jealousy, on the other hand, what you feel is that someone is trying to take something that is yours. Jealousy - GANNA - is the fear of losing what one has, or what one loves, or what one prizes. So we see
Though envy and jealousy often travel together, envy is a two-person situation - I just envy you - your life, your possessions, your apparent comfort. Or the other person has traits that you wish you had; I wish I had your patience, for example. Or your work ethic. In envy, the anger is turned inward - wish I were different and I’m angry that I’m not. But jealousy is a three-person situation, where I fear that someone is trying to take away someone that I have or want or believe that I have. The anger in jealousy is turned outward, toward that other person, real or imagined. Perhaps milder versions of jealousy are part of what it means to be human. It’s even possible that jealousy lets us know that we love someone, that we don’t want to lose that person to another. But, in most cases, jealousy - as we see here in the case of Sota - is ugly and irrational. Let us hope and pray that when we feel jealousy - and we know that we will - that we can turn that jealousy into something productive. That we can rise above the childish need for your toy and that we can recognize that God gives us what we need, and to be envious or jealous is to question that faith. So let us rise above those inclinations to love each other AND ourselves.
0 Comments
As we know, the Torah can be both a source of enlightenment and wisdom as well as quite frustrating and controversial. Contained in this Torah portion of Emor is one of those troubling passages. There, as we will soon read, we are told that all animal sacrifices, all offerings must be without blemish.
And the same is true of the priests. The priests - the Kohanim - are prohibited from offering sacrifices if they have defects of any kind. These defects include blindness, being lame, short limbs, a hunchback, boils, growths, and so forth. How do we address these issues? (Obviously, these were pre-ADA times) But doesn’t this prohibition seem inconsistent with the inclusiveness that we associate with Judaism?
We need to protect the legal rights of strangers and treat them equally. And let’s not forget that there are even Torah-based restrictions on what we can do to slaves. Judaism developed over many centuries and under many internal and external influences. By valuing everyone as equally important, Judaism was revolutionary. Our world continues to struggle with this concept. It is probably unfair to hold the Torah and early rabbis to all of today’s standards. But it is important to apply the underlying principle of elevating the worth of every person. We should teach our children that our Torah is a living document that has the capacity to grow over time. We need to balance the respect for tradition with the need to evolve. This may lead to tough decisions and conversations that won’t always be completely satisfying, but taking an open and honest approach to the Torah is the best way to ensure it remains relevant in our lives and the lives of future generations. |
Archived Blogs |
RSS Feed
OFFICE HoursTu/Wed/Thur
10am - 2pm |
Telephone(781) 925-0091
|
|