Can I Buy That?

 How do you define “covet?”   Like most people, when I first learned the tenth commandment - “Do not covet” (in Hebrew “lo tachmod”) – I understood it as desiring something that someone else has.    But I soon realized that it could not be so straightforward.  

The Ten Commandments are written twice in the Torah. The first time is in this week’s Parsha, Yitro, when the Torah recounts the Sinai revelation, and the second is in the book of Devarim, when Moshe recounts the story to the nation before his passing.   

The final commandment (“do not covet”), is expanded upon in the second telling, Moshe’s repetition of the Commandments (Devarim 5:18), he says: “…you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house…”  The Hebrew word for covet is “tachmod”, but the word for desire is “titavve.”  Two different words.  So obviously, to covet is not to desire.  So what is the meaning of “do not covet?”

 

Rambam, in his book of laws Mishneh Torah, understands the Commandment based on another verse in which “lo tachmod” is used:  Anyone who covets a servant, a maidservant, a house or utensils that belong to a colleague, or any other article that he can purchase from him and pressures him with friends and requests until he agrees to sell it to him, violates a negative commandment, even though he pays much money for it, as Exodus 20:14 states: "Do not covet." … One does not violate this commandment until one actually takes the article he covets, as reflected by Deuteronomy 7:25: "Do not covet the gold and silver on these statues and take it for yourself." Implied is that the Hebrew tachmod refers to coveting accompanied by a deed.

 

In other words, if you have something that I want, and I make you “an offer you can’t refuse” which moves you to sell it to me, I have violated the  Commandment “lo tachmod.”  In addition, there is the commandment not to even desire something that your neighbor has.  

Rambam explains that, on a basic practical level, human nature is such that we progress from sin to sin.  Desire leads to coveting, which in turn could cause me to pressure you to sell.  If you refuse, I may just steal the object of my desire, and that could lead to violence and more.

 

As in every aspect of Torah, there is a mystical explanation to this, but also practical and a lesson which leads to a happy life.  

When we recognize that the world has a Creator Who chooses to give each of us life, we realize that we were each given a unique mission every day on Earth. With the mission comes all the resources needed to fulfill it.  

Any decent employer would make sure that their employee has all the tools necessary to succeed in their job.  So when something belongs to someone else, obviously, Hashem gave it to them in order to fulfill their mission. 

 

I believe that one reason there is so much anxiety and depression among our young people today, is because our educational system has removed all ideas of a Higher Power and a sense of purpose.  When people are raised believing that they are entitled to everything, and success is measured by the accumulation of physical things, there is never enough and we always want more, even if – or especially when – it belongs to someone else.

 

As I said before, recognizing that I am here for a purpose and that Hashem gives me everything I need to fulfill it  is one of the (not so secret) secrets of a happy life.