Coveting

For Shabbat Shavuot

Ex. 20:14 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor male or female slave, nor ox nor ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

          This week, Shabbat falls on the second day of Shavuot, so traditional congregations read a special Torah reading recounting the sacrifices which were made during the Shavuot Festival. On the first day of Shavuot, we re-read part of the parasha Yitro in Exodus, recounting the giving of the 10 Commandments.

            Since I find little to comment upon about the sacrifices for Shavuot, I wanted to look at the reading for the first day, specifically one of the 10 Commandments. As has been suggested by others, there is a connection between Shavuot celebrations and the 10^th commandment barring coveting. Shavuot is a time of giving (harvests, first fruits, and the Torah itself). During all of this “giving” we are cautioned not to desire what is another’s.

             We might think that “coveting” is not as important as other major “Do Nots” in the 10 Statements. Most of us are at times envious of others. Coveting can be expressed by wondering “why me” or insisting that “life is unfair.”  But why is coveting so important? It is because it has the power to destroy a community. When we covet, we blame others for what we lack. When we covet, we believe in a false justification to take wrongful actions.

On Shavuot, we can re-accept a Divine Gift, Torah. We also can accept another Divine Gift: acceptance of what we have and not coveting what we lack. As we read in Pirke Avot 4:1, “Who is rich? One who is happy with what one has.” 

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