Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Shmini
Three times, says Rashi, Moshe lets his temper get the better of him, & each time, the result is that he has a "mental lapse" & errs in judgment:
- At Mei Meriva, Moshe becomes angry at the people for complaining; he then mistakenly hits the rock instead of speaking to it;
- After the battle against Midyan, Moshe angrily berates the generals for their mistake; he then forgets the laws regarding utensils taken from Midyan;
- Finally, in our Sedra, Moshe angrily criticizes the kohanim for failing to eat the meat of a korban & burning it on the altar instead. Aharon explains to Moshe the halachic reasons for his act, & Moshe agrees that Aharon is correct.
Moshe’s anger may have resulted from his (over) zealousness for Am Yisrael to be faithful to Hashem & adhere to the Mitzvot, which is quite understandable for a Jewish leader. But regardless of the merit of his emotion, anger can of itself negatively affect a person – even of Moshe’s stature - & result in a loss of mental acuity.
Many of the great Musar teachers talk about anger, & associate it with 2 basic sources: The first source is an enlarged Ego. When our ego (which is essentially a good thing) becomes over-inflated, we believe everything is coming to us, & we get easily insulted when something does not go exactly our way. We take it personally, as an affront to our honor, & we get mad. ("What, he came 5 minutes late to our meeting, & made ME wait?! What nerve!"). As if we ourselves never come late!
The second source of anger stems from a flaw in our faith system. Not everything in this world functions exactly as we would like it to. Sometimes we do suffer, we do face aggravating situations & disappointments that rile us up. But if we accept that Hashem is running the universe, & He has a plan for the world & for us, then we can hold our anger back & remind ourselves that even if we can’t fathom why certain things are happening, we can have faith that there is a cosmic reason for it. True & abiding anger, say Chazal, is a form of Avoda Zara, for it presumes that there is no G-d ultimately in charge.
Anger has its place, to be sure; when it is in the form of righteous indignation in the face of injustice or inequality, it helps to right society & it motivates us to heal the world. But anger for anger’s sake doesn’t solve anything – it just makes us bitter & brings high blood pressure. So, rather than lose control and go ballistic – be still & chill!
Make Sure your Head Is Straight
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Nissan 23 5781
Fire: Holy and Unholy
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | Adar II 21 5782
Being Embarrassed - Should He or Shouldn't He?
Various Rabbis | Adar 2 5768
