A king met two men traveling together and decided to present them with a surprise offer. “Ask for anything you desire”, the gracious king said to the first man, “but keep in mind that anything you ask for, I will give double to your friend”.
Imagine, such an offer! The man’s initial excitement quickly turned into an agonizing decision. See, if he would ask for a million dollars, his friend would receive two million! Moreover, the more he would ask for, the more his friend would receive! Overcome with jealousy, the man could not think rationally, and hatred burned in his heart at the thought of his friend receiving double what he’d get for himself. Finally, the selfish man requested that the kind king poke out one of his eyes. This way, his friend would get a “double portion” and lose both of his eyes.
Hard to believe that such jealousy exists, isn’t it? Nevertheless, this mashal is brought down by the Orchos Tzadikim to teach us how devastating and destructive the trait of jealousy can be. Jealousy causes us to lose sight of our blessings and sinks us into filth, hatred, and misery. But not all jealousy is bad.
There was a gaon by the name of Rav Baruch Mordechai Lipshutz who lived in the same town as Rav Yitzchok Elchonon. These two yungerleit were both brilliant Torah scholars who learned in the same Beis Midrash and would try to outdo each other in hasmodah. As it says, “kinas sofrim tarbe chochma” – jealousy of scholars increases wisdom. They both tried to arrive earlier than the other to learn. One Erev Yom Kippur, Rav Baruch Mordechai asked his father-in-law (who was one of the wealthiest men in town) to have a small meal prepared for him for after the fast so he would be able to return to shul as soon as possible. His father-in-law fulfilled his request and sure enough, on Motzei Yom Kippur, Rav Baruch Mordechai returned quickly to shul to learn. How surprised he was to see that Rav Yitzchak Elchonon was already there! He asked him how he got there so fast; didn’t he have to go home to eat? Rav Yitzchak Elchonon told him, “I understood that you would do what you did, so I did the same thing. I prepared food before Yom Kippur and I brought it with me to shul so I could return to learning as soon as possible. That’s how I got here before you”.
Jealousy, as any other midah, can be used for the good or the bad. We tend to think of jealousy as a negative trait, yet when used for the positive, it stimulates growth in avodas Hashem.
Rachel Imeinu was nifteres and buried on the road to Efras, which is Beis Lechem. The pasuk says Perek 35:20 that Yaakov set up a monument over her grave, “it is the monument of Rachel’s grave until today”. What is the pasuk adding by the words “it is the monument of Rachel’s grave until today?”
The Gemara says (Shabbos 152b) that there were workers who were digging in the field of Rav Nachman. As they were digging, they heard a loud noise from the ground - it was a voice of a dead man. They called Rav Nachman and he asked the dead man, “What is your name?”, and he said, “I am Achai the son of Yoshiya”. Rav Nachman asked him, “Didn’t Rav Meri teach us that even the bodies of tzadikim will turn into dust?” The dead man asked, “Who is Rav Meri?” Rav Nachman responded, “Not only Rav Meri said this, but there is a pasuk in Koheles that says the same thing – “and the dust returns to the earth as it was”. So why didn’t your body turn into dust?” The dead man replied, “Are you not familiar with the pasuk in Mishlei “Envy brings rotting of the bones” meaning, whoever has jealousy in his life, his bones will rot. Whoever doesn’t have jealousy, his bones
