Elul 9, 5779
September 9, 2019
From our Sources
There are four types of temperaments. One whom is easily angered and easily appeased – his virtue cancels his flaw. One whom it is difficult to anger and difficult to appease – his flaw cancels his virtue. One whom is difficult to anger and is easily appeased is pious. And one who is easily angered and difficult to appease is wicked.
-Pirkei Avot 5:14
Observe that
most people, when they become angry and persist in their anger, do not pay attention to what they do in the great anger, and they do many things in their anger which they would not do otherwise. For anger deprives people of their reasoning, so that they become even angrier and enter into dispute and recrimination. Therefore, it is impossible for angry people to escape great sins…. Our Sages have said, “a person is recognized in three things.” One of them is anger. If our anger overpowers our wisdom and we do things in anger without the guidance of wisdom, in this our anger is recognized. And if our wisdom overpowers our anger, and we hold our tongues and we do not do anything in anger that we would not do were we not angry, in this our wisdom is recognized.
-The Ways of the Tzadikkim,
“The Gate of Anger” (Anonymous, 15
th
century), adapted
Reflections
Of the four types listed in the first source, which are you?
Are you quick to anger, but forgive easily?
Slow to anger but carry a grudge?
How have these qualities affected your life over the past year?
Over the past year, what have you done in anger that you would not have done otherwise?
What would you have done if you had taken some time before reacting?
