The Mesillas
Yesharim teaches us that there are four bad middos, all of which are beyond the
reasoning of sechel and wisdom, and each one can bring a person to do serious
aveiros.
One of them is ka’as
(anger), and as we already learned in EmunahSpeak:
The Most Serious Character Flaw, the
Ramban explains that anger is a most serious character flaw which causes one
to sin.
Rabbi Yisroel
Brog explains there that while there are myriad reasons why this is so, probably
the most important of them is that when a person gets angry he loses his
connection with reality, and having done so, even after he calms down he will
still be disconnected from Hashem. Not
only is he, as Chazal tell us, like one who is considered to have worshipped
idols, and therefore as one who has no G-d, but he is also like one who has no
self.
Lest one think
that getting angry at a drunk driver who tore up your front lawn before his car
came to rest half way through the door of your new car qualifies you as a
worshipper of idols, the Ramchal tells us otherwise. He opens our eyes as to what Chazal meant when
they placed anger on the fast track to idol worship.
Rabbi Brog tells
us that the Ramchal says that Chazal’s statement only applies to a certain
type of person, and amplifying on what we quoted above from EmunahSpeak:
The Most Serious Character Flaw, Rabbi
Brog says that such a person loses his ability for rational thinking and if he
had the power he would destroy the world.
The only thing driving him is ka’as, and he will go wherever it
will bring him, even aveiros.
Query: What is your reaction when someone doesn’t do
what you want?
Do you take it
in stride or do you do your very best imitation of Pearl
Harbor from the Japanese perspective?
If you’re prone
to going ballistic when things of an interpersonal nature don’t go your way
then give a look at the mirror and smile at the certain type of person that
the Ramchal identified as the one that Chazal considered to have worshipped
idols.
In a certain sense,
ka’as is a reactive mechanism that is put into play when one’s gaiva
(arrogance) hits a speed bump. A person’s
gaiva causes him to want his way, and when his way is not
forthcoming he loses it in almost as many different permutations as there are
people.
Rabbi Brog puts
this gaiva/ka’as continuum in its proper perspective by informing us
that every ka’as in the world is an expression of Watch Me Now How I
Deal with the Way Somebody Acts (when those actions fly in the face of my gaiva).
And if what you’re
watching is uncontrolled rage, it’s the wrath of a fool who is no better than a
dog responding to a tug from his master’s leash.
