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<p class=MsoNormal>Ibn Ezra famously gives a parable of a villager seeing a
princess, and it not even occurring to him to desire her, as she is so far
above his station that it does not even enter his mind as a possibility; so,
too, he says, we must consider something which is forbidden to us as so beyond
the realm of possibly being ours, that we refrain from even desiring it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I was thinking about this, and I think that the society we
live in conspires to make this Mitzvah much harder to keep. The American Dream
is all about upwards mobility; the “princess” is not beyond us –
we are taught from the youngest age (explicitly or implicitly) that we can
achieve our dream and that no goal is beyond our ability. Did the Shtetl Yid –
the “Ish Kfari” of the Ibn Ezra – dream of moving to the Big
City? But today, we are all looking for the next big thing, another
opportunity, a way to advance. So how can we be expected to understand how to
curb our desires?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Also, how does the Ibn Ezra jive with the Sifra (Kedoshim)
that says that R’ EBA sad that a person should not say, “I don’t
want to wear Shaatnez,” rather he should say, “I want to, but my
father in heaven decreed upon me that I can not!”?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>KT,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>MYG<o:p></o:p></p>
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