Please Sir, may I have some more? – B’chukkotai
A verse in the sidra reads, “You shall eat your bread until you have had enough, and you shall dwell in your land in safety” (Lev. 26:5).
In line with a rabbinical comment that says this applies to the righteous, the Baal Shem Tov quoted from the Psalms the words, “Let the humble eat and be satisfied” (Psalm 22:27).
Those who are not so humble, he suggested, should not eat too much. Otherwise their full stomachs will be accompanied by such a puffed-up sense of their own importance that they will be unable to live at peace with the world.
This applies to other things as well as food. The more you have, the more you want. You can never be at home or feel safe in a world in which you always want more.
When Oliver Twist said, “Please Sir, may I have some more?”, he was hungry – not greedy. Greed is the problem.