How Not to Become Angry? Take our Free Course
By Rabbi Moshe Perets
How not to Become Angry?
Every person has natural traits, and there are other traits that one acquires by regularly habituating himself to act in these ways. A person must always evaluate his traits and strive to bring them toward the correct path.
One must especially strive not to become angered or to be an angry person, for these traits are despicable and they destroy one’s life. Therefore, the Sages taught that anyone who gets angry suffers the departure of his intellect, and this type of a life is greatly lacking.
If one is naturally an angry person, he should train himself not to get angry at all, and he should force himself to act with humility and patience toward others by habit, until he permanently acquires these good traits.
Likewise with other character traits, one should evaluate himself truthfully to determine if he acts as a righteous person would, and he should correct himself to act in a way that finds favor in the eyes of God and in the eyes of other people.
A person should not be a buffoon or constantly despondent. Rather one should be happy, and should greet others with a happy countenance.
Similarly, one should not be greedy, rushing for wealth and possessions, nor lazy and an idler from work. Rather, one should look upon others with a favorable eye, and be favorably looked upon by others. One should not have a quarrelsome or envious jealous temperament, or be possessed by desires, nor pursue honor. The Sage Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said (Tractate Avot 4:21):
“Envy, lust and honor seeking drive a person from life in this world.”
. Instead, he should regularly act with seriousness, the opposite of his previous foolish ways.
It is forbidden for a person to tell lies, or act in a smooth-tongued and luring manner in order to deceive or persuade. One should not speak one thing outwardly and think otherwise in his heart. Rather, his inner self should be like his image that he shows to the world. He may not deceive people, and instead he should always pursue truthfulness.
A person should direct his heart and the totality of his behavior to one goal, which is becoming aware of God, and searching to be close to Him and His just ways.
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Rabbi Moshe Perets is the President of the Noahide Academy of Israel, Founder and Executive Director of NoahideAcademy.org, the world’s largest Noahide informational website. He accomplished his Rabbinical Studies at the Chabad Yeshiva and his medical studies at the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.
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