Many people justify their anger by rationalization, he or she did this or that to me,
so now I have the right to be angry, right?
Wrong!
Let’s take a look at what Maimonides the Rambam says about anger in HILCHOT DEOT 3.
Anger is an exceedingly bad passion, and one should avoid it to the last extreme. One should train oneself not to be angry even for something that might seem to justify anger. If he wishes to arouse fear in his children…he should make a show of anger…(Charon-af/flaring of nostrils)but in reality, his mind must be composed like someone who merely simulates it… The sages therefore charged that anger should be avoided to such a degree that one should train oneself to be unmoved even by things that would naturally seem to provoke anger – and this is the good way.”
Let us examine anger some more:
What does anger look like?: Loud, threatening, accusative, disempowering, overpowering, ugly, immature, distorted, unbalanced, selfish and so on.
When do people get angry: When provoked, deflated, dismissed, disobeyed, not recognized, conflicted, blocked, disrespected, cheated, put down………..
All the above have 1 thing in common which is EGO.
Anger is always an aveira, meaning S.I.N Self Inflicted Nonsense, it comes from the E.G.O (Edging, G-d, Out), an incomplete amount of Emunah and Bitachon, in which we rely on our limited selves.
Let’s take it up the ladder to the top:
What does the Ribono Shel Olam/Master of the Universe a.k.a G-d think about anger?
Does he ever get angry? The answer might surprise you.
Most languages only know the word anger, having 1 meaning only, in foreign bibles these Hebrew words are all translated into this 1 word anger :
-Ka’as
-Za’am
-Charon-af
-Ketzef
-Cheyma
-Za’am
-Chamimut
All of them have different meanings.
When the Tanach speaks about G-d’s anger, it is always referring to Charon-af/the flaring of nostrils, exactly like the Rambam was referring to for mankind: If he wishes to arouse fear in his children…he should make a show of anger…(Charon-af/flaring of nostrils)but in reality, his mind must be composed like someone who merely simulates it…
G-d doesn’t get angry, he simulates it for us to know the consequences of our actions.
The habitual track of routine in which we react can be changed by training a new routine upon ourselves, (i can help you with that part personally or by providing the right videos that help explain this matter and how to reframe) combined by working on a higher level of Emunah and Bitachon through study of Torah in which the Rabbi’s can help you of course.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi teaches in his Tanya: Moach Shalit al halev, the Mind rules the heart, just like the position in which we are created, head above the heart as the human that stands straight upon his feet.
Anger is another one of those issues we have to work on as part of creating man in His Image. It doesn’t have to be a 99 out of a hundred but we should make it the aim.
By Yoeri Schepens
Sources: Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot 3
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