Custom-made for YOU
[Editor’s note: As a memory of my beloved brother Shaya, I would like to continue sending out his pearls of wisdom that he has shared with all of you in the past. For some of you this may ring a bell and for others it may appear to be totally new. May the learning of Shaya’s Divrei Torah inspire us to change our ways and thereby give an Aliya to the neshama of our dear beloved Shaya whom we miss so much.]
The Pasuk in Parshas Yisro tells us ‘You shall not covet your friend’s wife, maidservant, ox, donkey, and ALL that belongs to him.’ The commentators explain that the emphasis on ‘ALL that belongs to him’ teaches us a strategy to train ourselves not to become jealous of others.
For example: your friend may have a nicer car than you but he has health issues. Or your friend may be healthy, but he’s divorced. Or your friend is happily married, but he doesn’t have nachas from his kids. No one has a perfect life. We all have ‘packages’ to deal with. That is what our Pasuk is teaching us; don’t be jealous of ALL that he has. Although he may have things that you would like to have, together with that ‘package’ come other things that you wouldn’t want to have.
In fact, I once read that if people would see the complete packages of their friends and have the choice to choose the package that they desire most, they would all pick their own package back! This is very understandable, being that every package is custom made from Hashem for each individual. He knows what is easy for us to handle, what is hard for us to handle, and what is impossible for us to handle. Hence, He carefully designed the package we can handle which will enable us to grow closest to him.
Let us all try to be grateful for the things that we are blessed with, and accept with love the issues we have and the areas that we struggle with. In that way, we will rid ourselves of the terrible character trait of jealousy, and become closer to Hashem and to the special way of life that He wants us all to live.
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