[Avodah] lo tachmod according to Slobodka

[Zev Sero]

Eli Turkel wrote:
> There is the famous question of how the Torah can order us Lo Tachmod
> which is a natural instinct
> 
> Ibn Ezra answers but giving a parble that a person from a village would never
> covet the daughter of the king
> 
> R. Hirsch head of the Slobodka yeshiva quoted his grandfather as
> disagreeing and saying that Jews can't be compared to villagers. Rather
> the parable is the opposite that the king looking for a shidduch for his
> daughter would never consider a villager and similarly a prince would
> never covet the wife of a commoner.

So instead of regarding ourselves as villagers and all other Jews as
kings, we should do the opposite?   What has he achieved here?

In any case, this mashal is obviously false.  We all know that kings
and princes covet commoners all the time -- and being kings and princes
they often act on that covetousness.  They may not often consider
marrying them and elevating them to royalty, though that happens too,
but lo tachmod isn't about that.


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher