Envy, Lust and Glory

Perennial Preparations

Torah is the greatest gift given to humankind. It was a hidden treasure that was finally revealed to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai 3300 plus years ago Before we can receive this gift we must make preparations.

Indeed, all of Judaism involves preparations. We have a full month before the onset of the New Year, the month of Elul, to prepare for the New Year. All of childhood is a preparation for adulthood. Courting and engagement is the preparation for marriage. For thousands of years the world has been preparing for the ultimate Redemption.

It follows then that the world’s most momentous event—the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai—called for intense preparation on the part of the Jewish people.

In truth, the preparation started at the beginning of Creation. Our Sages tell us that from the beginning of time, the world was waiting with bated breath for the time the Jewish people would accept the Torah.

The preparation assumed more clarity and direction with the introduction of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs onto the world scene. Abraham’s circumcision and his other virtues and practices placed the world—and specifically his descendants on the inexorable road to Sinai. This journey towards Sinai was further advanced by each successive generation—a total of seven—until Moses’ generation.

The entire Egyptian Bondage was intended as a preparation for Sinai. It was the great smelting pot that forged a nation out of a family and put them in place to receive the Torah.

The forty nine days from the Exodus to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai was one more intense period of refinement and preparation for the day that G-d would forever cast His lot with the Jewish people— and, by extension—with all of humanity.

But even this marked only the penultimate stage of preparation. The last period of preparation took place in the five days prior to the giving of the Torah. In these five days, a series of communications took place between G-d, Moses and the Jewish people that involved the proper means of preparing for the epiphany at Sinai.

Three Forms of Preparation

Upon closer scrutiny, it becomes evident that even this last period was divided into three forms of preparation: The first was their encampment at Mount Sinai. The second was the requirement to separate from their spouses, and the third was their need to know their boundaries in terms of where they could situate themselves in the vicinity of the Mountain.

According to the Chiddushi Harim—the first leader of the Ger Chassidic movement—there are three negative traits that get in the way of our ability to receive the Torah: These traits are envy, lust and the pursuit of honor. In Ethics of the Fathers that we study before Shavuos it is stated that these three vices can “take a person out of the world”; they undermine a person’s very existence.

From the Torah’s description of what transpired in the days leading up to the giving of the Torah we see how these three vices were dealt with. And as we shall see, the three forms of preparation mentioned earlier parallel the three vices that must be dealt with as a prerequisite to Mattan Torah.

Countering Envy with Unity

As mentioned, on the first day of the month of Sivan, the Torah tells us, the entire Jewish nation encamped opposite Mount Sinai. The Torah employs the singular word vayichan to describe their encampment, although it speaks of the entire nation. This is to teach us that at that encampment all of the Jewish people were so united that “they were like one person with one heart.”

Although there are many forms of and rationalizations for hatred of another, the most potent form of hatred—and therefore also the most difficult form to deal with—is hatred that derives from jealousy.

To counter hatred based on reason—such as that person harmed me—one can use reason. One can find rational arguments that could prove that the other is not really your enemy. However, when the hatred is based simply on the other person’s existence, one must look for a much more fundamental argument to dispel that hatred.

The argument that counters hatred that derives from jealousy is the idea that all of our souls are related that was dramatized by their encampment at Mount Sinai as one people with one heart. This represented the ideal of unity that uproots the vice of envy. Envy—and the hatred that it generates— derives from a lack of understanding of the essential unity and bond that exists between all of our souls. At their root, all of our souls drive from the same Divine source.

Countering Lust

With this revelation at Mount Sinai the first vice of envy was disposed.

The second vice of lust was dealt with in the next few days. As mentioned, on the second day of their encampment at Mount Sinai, the people were told that for three days prior to the giving of the Torah they were to cease being intimate with their spouses. This separation was designed to help them curb the powerful forces of lust and desire that can lead to a person’s destruction and seriously undermines one’s ability to receive the Torah.

To be sure intimacy in the context of marriage is not only permissible but desirable and holy. But in order to prevent excesses in this arena that would serve as a major impediment to their ability to embrace the Torah, they had to desist from even the permissible and even desirable intimacy.

Countering Pursuit of Glory

And finally, they were also told that for the duration of the giving of the Torah, on Mount Sinai, boundaries will be set up. Each person should not leave the area designated for him or her. No one—except for Moses— was to go onto the mountain. Setting boundaries was intended as a means to counteract the obsession people have with the pursuit of power and glory. When a person appreciates his or her place in life, they will not seek the glory that goes along with positions in life that are not intended for them.

It is true that our Sages tell us that every person can and should say: “When will my deeds approach the deeds of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?” However, this does not mean that we can all be on their level and occupy their privileged position in the hierarchy of the Jewish people. What it does say is that our actions can match the actions of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not their spiritual level.

When we recognize our essential unity, curb our insatiable appetite for material and physical pleasure and recognize our place and role in this world, we will fully appreciate and be receptive to the teachings of the Torah.

Reenactment for Future

Our Sages also tell us that the giving of the Torah was the paradigm for the future Messianic Age. It thus follows that to be receptive to the G-dly revelations of the Messianic Age we must work on the three abovementioned traits:

Unity that derives from an understanding of our common spiritual source. To counter the effects of exile that were engendered by the senseless hatred that prevailed at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, we must exhibit senseless love towards our fellow Jew. This senseless or supra-rational love derives from the sense of our inherent unity.

Curbing of our obsession with materialism, recognizing that the material world exists so that we elevate it and use it as a vehicle to better serve G-d.

Understanding of our place in the scheme of creation. Our generation has to realize its paradoxical status. On the one hand it is at the bottom of the hierarchy of generations as it pertains to our spiritual perception. On the other hand, we must realize that our generation—with all of its spiritual limitations—is the generation that will finish the task and bring Moshiach. Even our most simple gestures of goodness and adherence to the Mitzvos will yield extremely powerful results. One deed can transform the entire world.

It is therefore crucial that we don’t overemphasize our importance, but to humbly accept the teachings and inspiration of our forebears. But, simultaneously, we must know that we are a unique generation that will have the singular distinction of being the one that will bring about the Redemption.

Indeed, when Maimonides concludes his Magnum Opus—the Mishneh Torah—his

description of the Messianic Age reflects the three foregoing traits:

“The sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic era in order to have dominion over the entire world, to rule over the gentiles, to be exalted by the nations [read: they will not seek honor and glory] or to eat, drink and celebrate [read: pursuit of worldly pleasures].

Rather they desired to be free for the study of Torah and wisdom without any pressures or disturbances… In that era, there will be no famine or war, envy or rivalry [read: true unity], for good will flow in abundance and all delights will be as common as dust [read: although there will be an abundance of delights we will not be attracted to them; they will not have value beyond that of dust].

The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d. Therefore, Israel will be great sages and know hidden matters, attaining knowledge of their Creator to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah states: “The world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the sea fills the ocean bed.

From the book Light from the Future: Shavuos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.