Envy and Jealousy: What's the difference? Part 1

 18 Heshvan 5785 | י"ח חשון ה'תשפ"ה

 

 

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

 

 The 10 Commandments, read in a clear Mizrahi Hebrew...and subtitled in English onscreen!

 

Introduction

 

I'm not even sure I can give this topic the justice it deserves. Please bear with me, because it's very close to my heart, and it has primarily to do with a proper understanding of how we should view HQB"H, in light of the revelation that He is "a jealous God." When the time comes for geula, I believe that HaShem will be looking for not only common decency and common courtesy, but also loyalty most of all, especially from those of us who have returned to Him and attached ourselves to Him.

 

In addition to this, we will be exploring how our understanding of these words affects how we conduct our relationships with one another: mostly friendships, marriage and family.  As a result of the confusion caused by the conflating of the two, many tragedies have taken place due to mishandling, that possibly need not have happened.

 

Things have been going too fast for me; that's why it has taken SO LONG to post this very important article. It's been over two years, and is turning into a series; you will see other parts very soon, be"H, b"n.

 

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There's a famous song called Jealousy, by Frankie Miller. The one I liked the best when I searched for it, the remastered version, looks better than the original because the lip-syncing matches; I almost chose it, but I'm making sure that the videos I link to here have minimal distracting images because the message I'm trying to bring here is vital, probably the most vital I have ever written about. Rock and roll and its descendants on video tend to get crazy visually, but it's the emotions I'm after in this series. Even the parts that look like they're out of a high school dance are too distracting.

 

This version of the song is the best I've seen visually, by another band with musical fidelity to the original. That said, at times like this I wish there were a way to put audio-only files on this format, besides the videos with one static picture all the way through (like these in the next post). I have no knowledge of how to cut videos to suit, either, like at least one of my blogging colleagues does. Am I jealous of her or am I envious? Hopefully, by the time you get to read it and absorb the information, you will be able to decide with certainty.

 

I have found that there is great confusion as to what jealousy even means. It gets mixed up with envy all the time, at least in American English and, I have found, in other languages as well, including modern Hebrew. Why? Because Israel follows America even to the point of changing that which is designated not to be changed. Both emotions, even properly identified, get mixed together in our modern day, perhaps because the concepts themselves are not well-defined any more. We have gotten away from the original intention haShem had when He announced the Commandments on Har Sinai. 

 

(Have you watched the video above? It is the very best version of the 10 Commandments in Hebrew that I've ever heard.)

 

I return to my rock-and-roll roots (pre-teshuva, of course) in the next post — even though the songs themselves are from later than my time, and I had not heard them prior to putting this post together — to illustrate what I mean. None of the videos are religious in nature, but at bottom they certainly show an aspect of the mark of the Creator. 

 

As others have said: Truth is His signature. 

 

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Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4