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Home
and Family
It's Always Greener
by Rosally Saltsman
I have a very good friend in Bnei Brak, one of whose good traits is
modesty and simplicity. She dresses modestly, she lives modestly,
she lacks any hint of ostentatiousness and for many years, she didn't
own her own apartment. My friend was quite happy with her frugal lifestyle
but she wanted an apartment for practical reasons.
For my part, I envied the simplicity of her life and although I had
an apartment, my constant worry over debts and mortgages made me feel
that perhaps she was the richer one. Especially since she always lent
me money. Well, the wheel turned. I decided I couldn't support my
apartment any more, sold it, and began looking for a rental which,
baruch Hashem, I found, and which didn't entail a major move
or a drastic change in lifestyle, only that of property ownership.
At the same time, mammash, my friend and her husband, after
much deliberation, had the good fortune to buy an apartment in a new
area. They took on a mortgage and started packing.
The problem is, I'm still jealous. Only now, I wistfully recall having
an apartment I called my own, even though I'm still temporarily living
in the same premises. For her part, she's nervous about the commitment
and the work of having a new apartment.
What happened to us? It's simple. We got what we wanted. Now we long
for what he can't have. It's human nature. That's the yetzer
hora. And it's perfectly normal.
I truly wish my friend and her family well in their new apartment
and look forward to visiting her on Shabbos (we're that close that
she invites us). I'm sure her chicken soup will taste just as good
in her new environment. I share her excitement and empathize with
her fears about owning an apartment, while she always asks with sincere
concern how my moving plans are going. I feel secure that one day,
I'll have an apartment again, hopefully with no mortgage, if that's
what Hashem wants for me, and thinks is good for me on my spiritual
odyssey.
I am well aware that the only place I should be worried about securing
is my permanant place in olom haba. Most important, though,
is that while the grass always looks greener, I know that both my
friend and I are going to be where we belong.
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