Self Destruction: Jealousy, Lusts & Honor

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Rabbi Elazar Hakafar said, “Jealousy, lusts and (seeking) honor remove a person from the world (they destroy him)” (Ethics 4:21).

Maimonides comments: 

These traits—even one of them—undoubtedly forfeit trust in the Torah, and (thereby) the status of intelligence and character won't be attained. 

With these faults, a person is either ego-driven (jealousy/honor) or he is driven by desires. Thus, he does not engage his mind. He is unaware of external wisdom and his internal flaws. He seeks to embolden his stance of egocentricity or feeds his lusts. He has no objectivity. But conquering these are essential if one is to advance in Torah, which is a pursuit if the mind, and external to the self. Also, Maimonides teaches that one must attain good character if he is to learn Torah (Laws of Torah study 4:1). For a person of poor character will reject laws that oppose his lusts. He will find recognition of God fails to feed his ego. To partake of the life God intended, our focus must be engaging intelligence and reason to study the world and Torah, and to control our desires which enable the former. Only then will we attain true happiness, which is only found in wisdom.

Rashi cites a startling alternative explanation:

Jealousy refers to the angels who saw Adam the First enjoying roasted meat and wine and saw Adam's honor, and were jealous. 

That’s some midrash! And it must be midrash (allegory), as Adam was prohibited from eating meat. This midrash presents many questions. 

One: Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avos) is written for man, not for angels. So why is this explanation concerned with the jealousy of the angels? 

Two: Angels are not human, thus they have no psyches and no capacity for emotion, including jealousy. 

Three: Another difficulty in Rashi is that he further says that the honor that removes man from this world refers to “the creation of angels which caused Adam to be exiled from the Garden of Eden.” To what honor does Rashi refer, and how does this dynamic operate? 

Four: Rashi conflicts with the Torah's account, which attributes Adam’s exile to eating from the Tree of Knowledge, causing his mortality, thereby being exiled to prevent his eating from the tree of life. How then can Rashi suggest the creation of angels caused Adam’s fall?

Apparently this alternative explanation which Rashi cites is a play on the word “Adam”: “Adam the first is driven from the world” through envy, lust and honor. While Maimonides above refers to all human beings, this explanation in Rashi is referring to Adam alone. (But as Adam the First was the prototype human, this lesson applies to all generations.) 

The strong questions are that the mishna says that jealousy destroys “man” not angels— it’s not discussing the angels’ jealousy. Further, man was driven from Eden due to eating the fruit, not due to the angels’ honor. What is this “roasted meat and wine”? How can angels be envious, they aren’t human?

Let’s review what transpired in Eden, for it is here that we will find the answers:

And the snake was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the God had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of all trees of the garden?’”  The woman replied to the snake, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’”  

And the snake said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.”  

When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and lustful to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths (Gen. 3:1-7).

The rabbis argue whether the snake was literal or not. But either way, it mirrors Eve's instinctual drives as she followed its advice. As Maimonides says, “The snake did not approach or address Adam, but all his attempts were directed against Eve” (Guide, book II chap. xxx).  This means that the snake was something that could relate only to Eve, and no one other: it represented Eve’s instincts. Therefore when the “snake is speaking,” it really means that Eve’s emotions are attempting to mislead her. 

Jealousy, Lusts & Honor in Eden

“And the snake was the shrewdest”

What was so shrewd in the snake’s words? It belittled the threat. Interpreting the snake’s words as Eve's desires, Eve sought to minimize the prohibition. But why? What was so special about this one fruit? 

You see, it wasn’t this fruit per se; it was the “restriction.” “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of all trees of the garden?’” Eve’s own instincts found restriction unpleasant. Eve felt: “It’s only one fruit we can’t eat, all others are permissible.”  This diminished the significance of the prohibition. The shrewdness of the “snake” refers to the shrewdness of the instincts over all other psychological faculties. One’s desires can distort reality, “The fruit isn’t really bad.” But even after the “snake spoke,” Eve noticeably had to take another step: she had to fantasize the “value” of the fruit in her plans:

When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and lustful to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. 

So although Eve’s own emotions (snake) excited her passions, she needed one more step before she could sin: fantasy. Maimonides says: 

The snake had a rider, the rider was as big as a camel, and it was the rider that enticed Eve: this rider was Samael (Ibid.). 

This means that the snake (instincts) alone do not move a person to action, but it requires a “rider,” one’s imagination that blinds them from truth. “Samael” means to blind. That fantasy state creates a value system. And only then does one act, as one must feel justified in all their actions (Rabbi Israel Chait). Eve justified eating the fruit, to be like gods or angels, a self-image of greatness. In sinners, instincts are driven by fantasies. But in the righteous, the instincts follow proper values and a longing for Torah study. 

Let’s now review Rashi’s alternative explanation and show how it perfectly parallels Genesis: 

Jealousy: “You will be as divine beings” … The woman saw that the tree was good for eating”

God created man with tremendous knowledge (Ibn Ezra). Man knew of God's creation of angels. Adam and Eve knew that they could enjoy food, while angels could not. Of course they did not have meat because it was prohibited to them, but this alternative explanation is depicting a state of “unrestricted” pleasures, as if he was having the most delicious “roasted meats and wines.” Now, Adam, while enjoying his state that he had physical enjoyment while the angels did not, one thing stood in his way of complete satisfaction: that prohibited fruit. Adam and Eve compared themselves to the angels, they saw they had food and angels did not. Reflecting upon their abundant pleasures, focused a spotlight on the one prohibited food. This is what Rashi means by “the angels were jealous of all of man's foods.” Of course this is a metaphor, but it's the rabbi's method of showing us the psychological dynamics in Adam's and Eve's minds. Adam and Eve felt more fortunate than angels in one respect (as if the angels envied them). But what stood in the way of man’s full satisfaction was restriction, the prohibited fruit. Adam and Eve were both envious of that fruit. This is why angels are brought into this alternative explanation, as they evoked Adam and Eve's envy and intolerance of restriction. 

So Pirkei Avos is saying it may not be your own envy, but even if you feel you are envied by others (angels), this too destroys you. For it awakens what Adam and Eve did not have.

Lusts: The forbidden fruit was “lustful to the eyes.”

Honor:  “God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” 

Adam and Eve sought greatness. When Rashi says, “The creation of angels caused Adam to be exiled from the Garden of Eden” He means the existence of angels awoke man’s desire to be like them. That’s exactly the snake’s words, “you will be like divine beings.” The snake’s speech refers to Eve’s imagination of greatness, of honor.

Pirkei Avos matches Genesis:

God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings (jealousy) who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and lustful to the eyes (lusts), and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom (honor), she took of its fruit and ate.

One final question: 

Rabbi Elazar Hakafar said, “Jealousy, lusts and honor remove a person from the world” 

Are all three elements required to sin, or can one alone destroy man? Rashi on Numbers 15:39 says ,“the eyes see, the heart desires, and the body commits the sin.” It appears these three are inseparable stages in a single process of sinning. Eve sought to be as divine beings (envy), it was lustful to her eyes (desire), and was a source of wisdom (honor), then she took of its fruit and ate. But Maimonides says no: 

These traits—even one of them—undoubtedly forfeit trust in the Torah and the prized traits of intelligence and character won't be attained.