Anger Management, Alcoholism & Shopping

Luzzatto ends his treatment of anger with a quote from the sages:

"A man is recognized through his wallet, his goblet, and his anger" (Eruvin 65b).

(In the Hebrew, the list is a rhyming alliteration: בכיסו, בכוסו, ובכעסו.)

It is a delightful quote, but what exactly does Luzzatto want to do with it? He cites it as if it is consistent with his earlier teachings, but if anything, the Talmud seems to contradict him. Describing the most extreme loss of temper, Luzzatto wrote, "a man in such a state would destroy the world if he could, for reason has no hold on him whatsoever and he is as irrational as a beast of prey." How can we "recognize" a person by his anger if he is totally out of control?! According to Luzzatto, the Talmud should have asserted the exact opposite: Do not judge a man when he is angry! 

Our question applies with even greater force to another item on the list. "A man is recognized through... his goblet." This refers to the consumption of alcohol, but can we really recognize a person when he is drunk? If you want to observe the true nature of a man, he obviously must be sober! 

The answer is clear. The Talmud is not talking about anger or drunkenness per se, for no man should be judged in such a state. Rather, the Talmud is talking about triggers and frequency. If you want to learn about a person's character, find out what makes him angry and find out when and why he turns to alcohol. When you know the answers to those questions, then you know the man.

This sheds light on the first member of the set, the "wallet." Keeping in line with the other items on the list, the "wallet" here refers not to the act of spending money, but to the triggers and the frequency of shopping. Some people turn to shopping as a way of dealing with stress and unhappiness - just like anger and alcohol. And like alcohol (and possibly anger), shopping can become an addiction. What you buy and how much you spend says a lot about you, but even more revealing is the knowledge of what exactly is motivating you to spend money in the first place. 

Luzzatto's quote from the sages can now be marshaled in support of his opening statement about the negative traits. 

It is almost more difficult to be clean of [negative] character traits than to be clean of sin, for human nature impacts our Middos even more than it impacts our behavior. This is because temperament and personality either strongly assist or strong resist [the negative traits] and any battle waged against human nature is going to be a major battle.

Anger is not an isolated character flaw. A man is recognized by his anger; an anger management problem is a personality disorder. As the sages said, "One who loses his temper is akin to an idolater." The battle against it must be waged with no less resolve.

God, Envy & World Peace

Bemoaning the ignorance of people who suffer from envy, Luzzatto writes:

If they only knew and if they only understood that man is incapable of touching even a hairsbreadth of what has been reserved for his fellowman and that every single thing comes from Hashem, in accordance with His wondrous counsel and His unfathomable wisdom, they would have absolutely no cause for distress at their friend's success. 

In an apparent non sequitur, Luzzatto continues with a prophecy from Isaiah.

This is what the prophet promises us about the future. In order for the good fortune of Israel to be perfect, God will first remove this ugly trait [of envy] from our hearts. Then no one will be distressed when someone else does well and the successful man will have no need to hide himself and his business from others, for [fear of arousing] envy. This is what the verse states, "The envy of Ephraim will be removed... Ephraim will not envy Yehuda" (Yeshaya 11:13).

What is the relevance of this prophecy to the discussion at hand? Luzzatto may be bolstering his contention that people lead happier lives when they are free of envy, but surely that is an obvious point which is in little need of evidence from Scripture. I believe Luzzatto has something else in mind here, a point based on a different prophecy by the same prophet.

The verse states about the future: "Together, all flesh will see that the Mouth of Hashem has spoken" (Yeshaya 40:5). This means that our comprehension will be refined to the extent that we will merit to discern and see - even with our eyes of flesh - the expansion of God's words [of creation] into every thing in the universe. (Nefesh HaChaim 3:11)

In the future, Yeshaya tells us, the fact that God created the world will be clear and obvious to everyone. The mere act of looking at an object will betray its divine origin.

Luzzatto told us that the antidote for envy is the knowledge that "every single thing comes from Hashem." If in the future everyone will recognize the Creator, it follows that envy will disappear. Yeshaya's two prophecies are thus united and together they provide the perfect proof for Luzzatto's first point: faith kills envy. 

Luzzatto's next point is that the death of envy will bring peace in its wake.

This is the peace and tranquility of the administering angels, all of whom happily perform their service, each one in his position, no one feeling the slightest envy of his fellow. For they all know the ultimate truth and are [thus] delighted with the good that they have and are happy with their lot. 

Luzzatto uses the angels in heaven to illustrate the kind of society destined for mankind in the envy-free future. This peace and tranquillity happens to be another prophecy of Isaiah, his most famous vision of the Messianic Era. 

The wolf will live with the sheep and the leopard will lie down with the kid... for the earth will be as filled with the knowledge of Hashem as water covers the seabed." (Yeshaya 11:6,9)

This prophecy is a metaphor for world peace (cf. Rambam, Melachim 12:1,5). Peace will reign when envy disappears and envy will disappear when the knowledge of Hashem fills the earth. Just as Luzzatto said.

Nothing To Get Hung About

...The trait of Hillel the Elder, however, transcends all these [levels]. He was not particular about anything and even a stirring of anger did not occur within him. This is a person who is, without a doubt, absolutely free of anger.

Luzzatto is referring to the famous story about Hillel's boundless patience. In short, a man took a bet that he could make Hillel angry. As Hillel was preparing for Shabbos, this fellow repeatedly disturbed him, knocking on his door and asking trivial and irrelevant questions. But Hillel never did get angry and the man lost the bet (cf. Shabbos 30b). What was Hillel's secret? The Ramchal tells us.  לא היה מקפיד על שום דבר, "He was not particular about anything."  

What does this mean? Hillel did not get angry when someone wasted his time because he just didn't care? Time is precious; time is life! How could Hillel not care?! 

For the answer, we need to review the facts of life. Free men own their time, but if you are a slave, then your time belongs to your master. And it's not just slaves. Earlier in this chapter, Luzzatto wrote about employee obligations and responsibilities. "Someone who is hired by another person for any kind of work, all of his hours are sold to him for the day... and any of that [time] that he takes for his own personal use in any way, is nothing other than absolute theft."  

Hillel was not a freeman. Hillel was a servant of God. 

It was not possible to waste Hillel's time, for Hillel's time was not his. How Hillel should spend his day is entirely up to God and if He decides that Hillel should repeatedly answer the door and talk to a fool, so be it. Hillel had internalized this truth and made no claims on his time; Hillel's only interest was to fulfill Hashem's will. When that's your goal in life, there really never is anything to get hung about.