MUSSAR D’ORAISA

 

Parshas Vayigash 5764

 

 

“To each of them he [Yosef] gave changes of clothing; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.” (Beraishis 45:22)

 

            Yosef has a greater connection with his brother Binyamin than with his other brothers. He seemingly loves him more and therefore he shows his affection by showering him with gifts. The Gemara (Megillah 16a) begs the obvious question:

 

“Is it possible that that Tzaddik [Yosef] would stumble upon the same thing which caused him hardship?, as said Rava Bar Machsia in the name of Rav Chama Bar Guria in the name of Rav ‘For two selaim of wool that Yaakov gave Yosef beyond his brothers, the act was recycled and our forefathers went down to Mitzrayim’.”(Megillah 16a)

 

It was his father Yaakov’s similar show of greater love for Yosef that sparked his brothers’ jealousy and led to his being sold into slavery. That being the case, why would Yosef do something that could lead to a similar outcome for his brother Binyamin? Why wasn’t he worried that the extra gifts would spark jealousy among his brothers?

 

            The Maharsha begins to offer some insight into the middah of jealousy. He says that the case of Yaakov giving more to Yosef is not the same as the case of Yosef giving more to Binyamin because in the case of Yaakov all were equally his sons so giving more to one son would definitely spark jealousy among the others. But, in the case of Yosef, since Binyamin was his brother from the same mother, unlike all the other brothers, there would be no jealousy. (Maharsha on Megillah 16b)

            This teaches us an important yesod in jealousy. When a person sees something that he wants and does not have, he does not necessarily become jealous of the person who has it. If that were the case then it would not matter if Yosef was more closely connected to Binyamin; the brothers would become jealous of the mere gifts. Rather, only when all of the brothers are equally related, when they all had the potential to acquire their father’s extra affection and failed to do so, did jealousy rear its ugly head. So it seems that a root of jealousy is really just a failure to reach one’s potential, aggravated by seeing someone with the same potential actually achieve it; we are jealous of what we lose out on by not fulfilling our potential. This is why a person is more likely to feel jealous of a neighbor who buys a new car rather than a billionaire with 20 new cars, or a coworker who receives a promotion rather than the CEO, or more appropriately, we are more likely to become jealous of another bachur who finished an extra masechta, rather than the Rosh Yeshivah, who knows all of Shas. In one case we see ourselves as being on the same level as the one who achieved what we wanted, and in the other case we do not. It would be ridiculous to envy the Rosh Yeshivah for finishing Shas this zman. We’re holding on a totally different level.

            This is why Yosef did not have to worry about giving extra to Binyamin; his brothers could not become jealous, because what they were lacking was not due to their failure to meet their potential. It would make as much sense for them to be jealous of Pharaoh’s riches as it would to be jealous of Binyamin’s.

            In order to repair the middah of jealousy within ourselves, we must work on fulfilling our own potential, and realize that when we do live up to our potential there will be nothing to spark jealousy within us.

 

 

Yitzchok Pinkus

Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim