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HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Zev Leff

Beware the Dangers of Jealousy

osef’s brothers regarded him as have such long-range effects, we can the Temple to be spared out of a fear
the usurper of their roles in the understand a difficult statement of there would then be no clear proof
YJewish nation. So when Ya’akov the Sages. When Rebbe Yochanan he had been right. And he suspected
sent Yosef to report on their wel- ben Zakkai’s students went to visit that his own honor – offended by the
fare, they saw it as an opportunity to him on his deathbed, he began to zealots’ refusal to heed his decision –
defend themselves against this threat. cry. His students asked him why he might have influenced his request. If
They feared he would defame them to was weeping. He answered that if he that were true, and as a consequence,
Ya’akov, and that they would be ban- were brought before a mortal king the Temple was destroyed, would he
ished, just as Avraham banished Yish- who could be appeased or bribed, and not have merited eternal death?
mael and Yitzchak banished Esav. whose decrees extended only as far as
In their view, Yosef was a rodef, a pur- the grave, he would wail. How much It is incumbent
more so now he was soon to face the
suer who threatened both their phys- judgment of G-d, Who cannot be “”
ical existence and eternal roles as the upon us to learn
founders of the Jewish people. The appeased or bribed and Whose pun- the devastating
brothers were so convinced they were ishment is eternal. effect of jealousy
justified, they sat down to eat bread When Rebbe Yochanan ben Zakkai
without any pangs of guilt after sell-
ing Yosef. Their common meal was in went out to meet the Roman general The Talmud tells us that Rebbe
effect a celebration of their unity and Vespasian during the siege of Jerusa- Yochanan ben Zakkai’s suspicions
harmony now unhindered by Yosef’s lem, he was allowed to make certain were unfounded. He was innocent;
evil designs. Even years later, when requests. He asked that: (1) the San- the Temple was destroyed by a Heav-
they searched their pasts for any sins hedrin be permitted to continue in enly decree. Yet we can learn from
that could explain a series of appar- Yavne, (2) Rabban Gamliel be spared Rebbe Yochanan’s concern as to
ently tragic events, they could not (and hence the line of the Nesi’im be the power of subtle traces of honor,
come up with anything other than preserved), and (3) a doctor be pro- desire and jealousy in distorting one’s
their failure to be more merciful. vided to heal Rabbi Tzaddok, who had
fasted 40 years to avert the destruc- decisions.
Though the brothers felt fully jus- tion of the Temple. It is incumbent upon us to learn the
tified, the Torah reveals to us that devastating effect of jealousy and
their misperception concerning Yosef Before his death, Rebbe Yochanan ben hatred from the sale of Yosef, even
was not simply an innocent mistake. Zakkai was beset with doubts as to in its subtlest forms and even in the
Coloring their judgment was a slight whether he had acted properly. In his greatest of people, so we can strive to
trace of jealousy. The Sages tell us that rigorous self-scrutiny, another expla- conduct ourselves in a manner befit-
jealousy removes a person from the nation of why he erred came to him. ting the Jewish people, and may we
world. This means, in part, it removes He had opposed the zealots, who led merit seeing the ultimate reunion of
one from the world of reality and the rebellion against Rome. But the Yosef and his brothers when Mashi-
causes one to view people and inci- zealots had ignored his opinion and ach ben Yosef will be sent as a harbin-
dents in a distorted fashion. forced the issue by burning all of Jeru- ger of Mashiach ben David.
salem’s food supplies. The destruction
Since the brothers’ deed was tainted of the Temple and exile of the Jewish
by jealousy, both they and future people was an apparent vindication of
generations had to suffer the conse- Rebbe Yochanan ben Zakkai’s stance
quences. Rabbeinu Yona finds an echo since the zealots could hardly claim a
of the hatred of Yosef’s brothers in the Divine sanction for a policy that failed
causeless hatred for which the Second so miserably.
Temple was destroyed.
On his deathbed, Rebbe Yochanan
With this understanding of how ben Zakkai worried that perhaps Rabbi Zev Leff serves as the Rav of
one imperfection in character can subconsciously he had not asked for Moshav Matityahu.

The only adequate response to the fear and hatred of
36 | difference is to honour the dignity of difference.
RABBI SACKS