Yisro (2): Feeling Divine

לא תחמוד

Don not be jealous

The Dibros were delivered in a deliberate sequence; There is a meaningful order to their arrangement. Thus we must understand why the climax of the Luchos, the final act, is the commandment to refrain from jealousy. How is this the pinnacle?

Moreover, how is this even feasable? Jealously is a feeling! I can understand being told not to act on my desires. But not having them in the first place seems to be beyond personal control.

The R' Yechiel Michel, the Magid of Zlotchov, zy"a explains:

The first independent comment of the Ram'a on the Shulchan Aruch enforces the importance of living a theocentric life. This demands a totally engulfing awareness of the Divine pressence. שיויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, to place G-d before my eyes at all time. Without any interruption the Ram'a adds a second layer: Don't be embarrassed of any person who pokes fun at your connection to Hashem. When serving Hashem, do it proudly.

Here too, we can repeat our aforementioned question: Embarrassment is a feeling. How can we be commanded not to feel? It would be reasonable to instruct not to deter and refrain from doing the right thing due to peer pressure. But this is one step further. Not only must we act appropriately, we must also become impervious to our surroundings. Doesn't that sound unfair?

Says the Magid, both of these - not to feel jealousy and not to be embarrassed - are not commandments as much as they are Heavenly guarantees. If one deeply chisels שיויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד into his psyche, he will automatically be invulnerable to the scoffing of others. Once the world is exclusively viewed through a divine lens, the opinions and comments of mere mortals become utterly negligible.

So too with the Aseres HaDibros. If my day, my who life, starts with אנוכי ה' - that G-d is real and present and vibrant then I will be filled with inner peace. When my first thought is that Hashem is the only legitimate factor in my life I can rise above petty infatuations with the utmost ease.