(Chapter 5, Mishna 14)
This mishna divides people into four categories based on their dispositions and temperaments. Note that it does not measure anger using a simple linear scale. There are two primary determining factors according to the Sages—quickness to become angry and the length of time it takes to calm down. These are quite distinct, stemming from entirely different parts of a person’s psyche.
There are those who are edgy and excitable by nature, and who are easily roused to emotional outburst. Others forget quickly what it was they became excited about.
On the other hand, a person might generally be levelheaded, but when threatened or insulted, he will withdraw and sulk for long periods of time—while exhibiting little or no emotion on the outside—bearing a grudge until his dying days.
The commentator Rashi adds a short, eye-opening comment: Why is someone who is quick to anger and slow to calm down deemed wicked? Rashi said, “Because through the anger he will come to sin, as it is stated, ‘Do not become angry and you will not sin.’” (Talmud Brachos 29b).
Rashi, in a few words, makes one thing clear: anger, per se, is not evil. The concern is simply what that anger will lead to.
The Torah does not “forbid” anger for a very simple reason: for some people, that is their nature and the Torah does not ask us to change our nature. Just as we must not tamper with the nature of the physical world by destroying the environment, we are not expected to alter the inherent nature of our souls. If a person has a temper, he is not supposed to cut out a part of his essence. He must accept himself for whom he is and work with his anger.
The Talmud suggests that one who has an angry temperament find a positive outlet for his anger. Violent tendencies are challenges. They certainly harbor dangerous manifestations, but they are a part of the G-d-given nature of certain people, and G-d, as we know, makes no mistakes.
We must distinguish clearly between anger and rage. Anger is, or can be, a controlled, deliberate, and directed response to sin and injustice. Rage is blind and mindless, destructive and animalistic.
There are those who are fighters and zealots—some of Israel’s greatest leaders have been. But they must know what to fight for and why. And they must see it as G-d’s battle rather than their personal vendetta. The key is to consciously decide what to be stubborn about and to focus one’s fervor on what truly counts. Ultimately, such a person will not be angry at all. His anger will not be his own; it will be none other than a reflection of G-d’s anger, and of G-d’s will.
People with tempers have a much greater obligation than the rest of us. They possess iron wills and furious passions. If misused, they are capable of terrible acts of physical and verbal abuse. If used properly, they will use their very same nature in fierce and valiant struggle for Torah—and ultimately they will be numbered among the pious of Israel.
The preceding was adapted from Torah.org and written by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld.
