“Who is the rich man?” Pirkei Avos asks, and answers: “The person who is satisfied with his portion.” Eliminating jealousy from our lives is not easy. This week’s parshah tells us to “rejoice in all the goodness” that we have as we bring the bikkurim offerings from our fields. It is no simple task for the owner of one tiny field to feel content with what he has, when he sees his neighbor bringing bikkurim from acres and acres of land.
How do we overcome our natural feelings of jealousy and resentment? The Tiferes Shlomo tells us that one key method is coming to the recognition and then reminding ourselves that everything we have, from the tiniest plot of land to the largest estate, is all a gift. We were born with nothing and will die with nothing; in-between, Hashem gives us what we need to fulfill our tasks in this world. It’s all a gift, as we don’t deserve anything.
Attaining and maintaining this level of understanding is hard, perhaps more so today than in previous generations when people had a lesser sense of entitlement and were more resigned to struggles and hardship. Nonetheless, struggling to achieve true contentment is well worth the effort. It can truly revolutionize our lives and our relationships when we start to appreciate that what we have really is just what we need.
