Why the Jealousy?

The Gemara tells us that a person is never jealous of his children or his students. Indeed, he is happy that they surpass him in every way for this is his prestige, he raised them and/or taught them. Hashem helped me understand that the real underlying reason why a person is is never jealous of his children or his students is because he loves them. When you truly love someone, you’re never jealous of them. On the contrary, you want them to have the best of everything. We can therefore conclude that the first reason for jealousy is a deficiency of love toward the object of one’s jealousy.
 
The second reason for jealousy is a lack of emuna. With emuna, we know that everything comes from Hashem, everything He does is the very best for us and for a good purpose as well. As we elaborated throughout The Garden of Wisdom, each person has his or her individual path in life, which by precision Divine providence is the very best road to that person’s soul correction. So, since Hashem is doing what’s best for you, why be jealous of anyone else?
 
In modern society, people are programmed to think that they’re nothing if they’re not number-one. Everyone wants to be king. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the greatest individuals in Jewish history. Take Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai for example. Every Lag B’Omer, over a half-million people visit his holy grave site in Meron. Is there a single king or president on earth where even a fiftieth of that many people visit their grave site on the anniversary of their death? Yet, Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai was no king; he wasn’t even a Rosh Yeshiva! He was a righteous man who clung nonstop to Hashem. That’s what’s called greatness in Judaism. We live by the words of Rashi, the Baalei Tosephot and the Rambam, but they too weren’t kings, governors, or the heads of Yeshivas. They were scholars who clung to Hashem and to His Torah day and night.
 
Do you think that the Chazon Ish or the Steipler were jealous of anyone? They weren’t heads of Yeshivas. Rabbi Yehuda Zev Leibowitz was a simple laborer for the City of Tel Aviv, yet by virtue of his prodigious holiness, he became the concealed spiritual hub of his generation.
 
Our sages tell us that rather than striving to be kings, we should crown our neighbor and make him feel like a king. If everyone would crown his neighbor, then we’d truly be a nation of kings. Unfortunately, wherever we go, we find the opposite with so much jealousy in the world. People aren’t yet fulfilling the mitzvot of loving their neighbor and believing in Hashem.
 
Why is jealousy so terrible? A jealous person looks at people with a begrudging eye. This is the total opposite of Hashem’s will, for Hashem wants all of His children to have everything. We call Hashem Avinu Malkenu, our King and our Father. As King and as Father, Hashem wants the best for each of us. It’s His success when we’re successful. He wants us to be rich, healthy, beautiful, talented and brilliant. We should love what Hashem loves and make His will our will. That’s why we must love every single individual and pray that they succeed. So what if they surpass me? Like the simple son said in Rebbe Nachman’s classic tale of “The Simple and the Clever”, that’s his doing and this is mine! Why look at anybody else? Is a giraffe jealous of an elephant? No! A giraffe is a giraffe and an elephant is an elephant. Why be jealous when we know that Hashem is doing the very best for each of us?
 
Our generation sorely needs unity and the mitzvot of emuna and love of fellow human. We must remind ourselves that each of us has his or her designated path. Hashem gives us everything we need to accomplish our mission in life. If we lack anything, it’s a sign that we don’t need it to do our job on earth, just like a plumber isn’t jealous of a carpenter, because they have separate tasks to perform.
 
People who are prone to jealousy transgress multiple Torah commandments every minute of the day, Heaven forbid. They covet, they harbor hate in their hearts and they often transgress the laws of wholesome speech when talking about the people they’re jealous of. We don’t want to go there…
 
I’d be delighted if everyone were better than me. I’m happy to let anyone be king. Why? Neither affects my service of Hashem in the slightest. On the contrary, everyone would have emuna and love of their neighbor. That way, Mashiach would come with no delay, amen!