GEN1308 R. El’azar  haKappar said: Envy, inordinate desire, and [the search for] glory remove a man from the world.   Pirkei Avot IV:28   R. El’azar haKappar uses one short word: קנאה But what depths of irrational emotion and depraved thinking can lie behind it.  The commentary MaGenesis Avoth quotes from Mivhar P’ninim “a fine parable about envy and craving: Satan once met two humans, one an envious person, the other a man of strong desires.  Said he, ‘Let one of you ask for something, and it will be granted him; but the other will be given twice as much.’ The envious one would not take the initiative and ask for anything, for he begrudged his companion the double portion that other would receive. But the greedy man yearned for the double gift, and so he pressed the envious one to speak his request first.   At last this bitter man asked that one eye of his be gouged out—so that the greedy one would lose two!”   Out of this parable has come the Yiddish proverb, “Better for me [to lose] one eye, as long as the other [loses] two.”   True, such a gruesome thing may never occur literally; but are not many ready to act in analogous ways for the sake of spite born of envy? But this mishnah leads to another thought.   Our Sage clearly condemns these three qualities or attributes: envy, inordinate craving, and the quest for glory (or its possession).   And yet these are, apparently, aspects of human nature, that can rise to the surface in anyone and everyone. Then they must be considered part of the human being, and hence part of the Almighty’s own creation “in His image.” If the human being is a miniature replica of Divinity, how can we utterly condemn any part of his nature as absolute evil? … these three “vices” are not evil in themselves.   As they generally “operate” in people they are destructive forces. But they can also be used, channeled, to serve good purposes. … to be envious of another’s joy and serenity that he derives from sacred study, acts of faith in communion with the Divine, and simple good deeds, can only move you to emulate him. Such a powerful motivating emotion is good indeed.   In Scripture we read, “Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, and Rachel envied her sister.” [this verse] To the Sages it was inconceivable that this Matriarch of our people literally gave way to base emotion; and they rather interpreted: “she envied [Leah] her good deeds; said she, If my sister were not a virtuous person, she would not be bearing children.” Genesis Rabbah, lxxi 6; Aggadath B’reshith (li) lii; Midrash haGadol This was envy fit for a Matriarch of historical Israel.   SINAI2 190-1