Subtle Message

There is a subtle message given in the Torah that is worthy of note. This is hinted to, during the famine of the “seven bad years,” predicted by Yosef.

When the famine spread to Israel, Yakov needed to make a decision that needed to be followed by Jews for all generations. While everyone around him was starving for food, he still had food.

He realized that he must keep this quiet among his non-Jewish neighbors. He must not “show off” that he had food when others did not.

This important message was that Jews should always keep a low profile when they live among the Gentiles. They must be so careful so as not to arouse their envy and jealousy.

Unfortunately, this lesson has not been sufficiently spread. We do not need to give the non-Jews more reasons to hate us. They already are pretty good at that on their own!

If Jews are successful, they should try to be modest about it. We don’t want to hear that “Jews have all of the money.” And “The Jews own all of the banks,” and other such statements.

We should be careful not to arouse anyone’s jealousy, but certainly not the jealousy of the Gentiles. We should never underestimate how damaging this negative trait of jealousy can be. Yakov knew what he was doing, and we should carefully follow his lead.