15 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Envy from across Jewish tradition.
15 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines envy, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
He sat up on the bed in his sons' house in Egypt and kissed each of them on the mouth. Then he told them his liver had never once moved for his brother.
When God formed Adam and commanded the angels to honor him, Ha-Satan, the Accuser, refused. Formed from fire, he would not bow before dust.
Rachel had given Leah the signs and saved her shame. Later she envied not Leah's sons, but the deeds she thought had earned them.
Every man in Susa bowed when Haman rode past. One man at the gate stuck out his knee instead, so that Haman could read what was written on it.
On his deathbed, the patriarch Simeon gathered his children and named the force that had once brought him to the edge of fratricide: not hatred, but envy.
The conflict between Joseph and his brothers had nothing to do with a coat. It was about two mothers, two marriages, and which one Jacob loved.
On his deathbed, Simeon confessed he had planned Joseph's murder in his heart and traced the same spirit back through Cain to the first morning of the world.
David rides toward Nabal with four hundred men and blood in mind, and Abigail rides toward him with bread and the truth about burning candles.
A trap meant to burn Maimonides alive closes on his accuser, he turns into a lion to break cruel decrees, and Ibn Ezra comes hunting his equal.
After the flood Noah warned his sons they already walked toward ruin. Ham left cursed and built a city; Japheth saw it and built in envy.
He copied the dove's delicate step until he nearly broke his bones. The other animals laughed, and his own hop never came back.
Korah measured Kohath's sons and decided Elizaphan's prince-seat belonged to him. From that envy he tried to unmake Moses, Aaron, and the boundaries of light.
Robbers and sores empty Abimelech's pride. He comes to Isaac with captains and half a peace, while Isaac sows charity, digs living water, and outgrows Gerar.
At the water jars they asked why it was always his face at the tent door. The ground opened, and mothers pulled their children back from the crack.
Angels try to burn Adam for his gifts. Ha-Satan (the Accuser) refuses to bow, demands a wit contest, and loses when only the man of dust can name the beasts.
