B"H

Monday, Shevat 20, 5778 / February 5, 2018

This past Shabbat we read in the Torah about the Ten Commandments.

The fifth commandment is, “Honor your father and mother.” It is the only one of the Ten Commandments for which the Torah mentions a reward – long life.

The commandment to respect parents is found three times in the Torah, but we don’t find a commandment that parents must respect their children. Yet, we see that without being commanded, parents will naturally give whatever they have, even their lives, for their children. The love from parents to children is usually greater and deeper than the love from children to their parents. Why is this?

The first man and woman, Adam & Eve had children but they didn’t have parents. Adam and Eve were created by G-d. Our natural feelings are inherited from our parents, who inherited them from their parents etc. all the way back to Adam and Eve.  

Being that Adam and Eve didn’t have parents, they couldn’t have that feeling and love for parents. We inherited from them a love for children, but not for parents.

The tenth and last commandment is; “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.. or whatever belongs to him.”

Our sages ask: How can a person bring themselves not to covet someone else’s things? How can one control the emotion of desire? One can control their actions, so as not to steal something which doesn’t belong to them, but how can one control the emotion of desire?

Rabbi Avraham Iben Ezra explains: “People will covet something which they can get, but something which is completely beyond their reach and realm, one will not covet. For example, the simple farmer will not desire the king’s daughter, for he knows that there is no chance that he can have her.”

With this commandment the Torah tells us that a person should realize that whatever belongs to someone else it is because G-d wants that person to have it and not you. If we sincerely believe that everything we have and posses is by the will of G-d, then a person will realize with full conviction that whatever belongs to someone else, is preordained for that person to have and not me. Coveting what belongs to someone else is like the simple farmer wanting to marry the king’s daughter. When a person realizes this, they will not covet and not desire what is not theirs.

This commandment actually compliments the first commandment, “I am G-d your G-d.” It confirms our belief that everything comes from G-d and is preordained by G-d. Whatever we have is only because G-d gave it to us and whatever someone else has is because G-d gave it to them. Had He wanted us to have it He would have given it to us.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY