The Detrimental Effects Of Anger

All people struggle with intermittent bouts of anger; after all, we live in a competitive and stressful world. However, while some people look to improve on this matter, others seem to simply accept the fact that they have anger issues and they expect the people around them to “live with it”.

In this essay we will discuss the Torahs perspective on anger.  Once you read this and digest the concepts being discussed, we will bezrat hashem all look for ways to improve on this very important matter.  

Our Sages have stressed to us how detrimental anger can be and how much we must avoid it. In fact, the Talmud likens getting angry to the sin of idolatry. To that point, the Zohar asks, what is the connection between idolatry and anger? Would it not be sufficient to just tell us that getting angry is detrimental to our spirituality? The Zohar explains that the effects of anger actually mimic idolatry in a very literal sense.               

The Torah states that when a person gets angry, his soul actually leaves him. A spiritual vacuum results when the soul leaves the body, which is immediately filled with a negative force from the side of tumah (impurity). This exchange is what the Torah warns against when it states, “there should not be found in you a strange god.” The kind of strange god referred to by the verse literally enters the mind of one who allows anger to overcome him. As our rabbis taught, all who get angry are likened to idolaters.

Therefore, a basic incumbency on all Jews is to learn how to control their anger. What benefit is there for the person who works hard to refine his soul with Torah and Mitzvoth if he is inclined to lose his soul in a fit of anger? When the verse states that “Fire shall come (from Above) and consume the thorns,” it likens Divine anger to a consuming fire.

Anger is a fire that can burn away the physical and spiritual gain for which a person toils.  The Talmud teaches us that if a prophet loses his temper, he also forfeits his ability to prophesize. Similarly, if a scholar loses his temper, he forfeits access to wisdom.  We see this with Moshe Rabeinu himself. The Torah tells us that he got angry at Aharon HaCohen and his sons regarding their service in the Mishkan until he was corrected by his brother regarding the law. The Talmud tells us that the reason Moshe forgot the law was because he became angry! 

To further understand these concepts, imagine a parent who strikes his child in anger. Who is responsible for the counterproductive behavior? It is the parent who allowed his temper to banish his soul. As a result, the parent is inundated with a negative force that further stokes his temper until he takes it out on his child, chas ve’shalom. An angry parent is relieved of the commandment of educating his or her child since educating via anger is counterproductive.

Another sad reality of anger is that when the person does eventually calm down, he doesn’t necessarily regain his soul. The Zohar explains that once the soul leaves, it takes much repentance and many confessions to retrieve. Even more unfortunate, there is actually no guarantee that the lost soul will even return! The person may receive new spiritual influx based on his repentance, but it is not certain that the original soul returns. This is the great danger and loss resulting from anger.

There is a parable that demonstrates the effects of anger. A pot that boils over first burns the pot handles, and then burns the stovetop and eventually the floor. Similarly, the angry person initially loses his soul. The immediate aftermath is that his spouse and children suffer and then his friends and so on. The Sages explain that all who get angry are met with all kinds of bad. Thus the Torah commands us to stay away from anger.

If we take this message to heart we will find ourselves calm even in tense situations and ultimately we will accomplish much more in a much quicker rate.

May G-d help us achieve peace and stay away from anger, amen.