GEN1222 Envy exacerbates strife. Philistine envy of the success of Isaac in finding water led, according to the Bible, to discord and an end to friendly neighborly relations [this verse]. In the agony of her childlessness, Rachel expressed her envy of the fertility of her sister Leah Genesis 30:1. The result was a strain on their sibling relationship. Ethical condemnation of envy mandates an obligation to avoid creating situations which are likely to provoke envy another people. Parents who single out one child for more favorable treatment are guilty of generating sibling rivalry, envy, and hatred. Jacob, for reasons of his own, made Joseph an object of favoritism. The Bible describes the unhappy consequences.  “When his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him” Genesis 37:4. Drawing the proper conclusion from this incident, Rav (3rd cent.) issued a timely warning: “Let no man show favoritism in the treatment of his children” Shabbat 10b. Parents may properly reward a child for a meritorious act but should not habitually offer one child preferential treatment in a discriminatory manner. Similarly parents have a right to punish a child who is guilty of wrongdoing. However, they should refrain from imposing a penalty which will irretrievably attach a stigma to a child for the rest of his life. Parents who this disown a child in their will in a moment of great fixation sow the seeds of chronic envy and hostility among siblings.   BLOCH 111