Avot262

5:
The teaching offered by Rabbi Shim'on ben-El'azar in our present mishnah is fourfold, and each of the items is a piece of homely human wisdom.

6:
Do not placate someone when he is angry. On the one hand anger is a very human reaction; on the other hand it is deprecated by the sages. The kind of anger that the sages deprecate is when the anger burns so strong that a person loses all self-control. In his halakhic compendium Mishneh Torah [De'ot 2:3] Rambam teaches that one should train oneself in all human chacteristics and behaviour patterns to opt for the Golden Mean. However, he says, that there are certain characteristics that must be shunned in extreme – and one of them is anger:

Clearly, the anger referred to here is an anger that is so great that for the moment it consumes every other aspect of a person's personality: they truly are out of control because their anger has taken complete control. They are worshipping the vilest of all idols: they are worshipping themselves. Rabbi Shim'on ben-El'azar says that in such circumstances there is no point in trying to placate the irate or to reason with them. There must come a time when the anger burns itself out. Only then will that person be able to listen to reason and reasons.

7:
Do not offer comfort when his dead is lying before him. We have spoken before of the burial customs in the time of the sages. When we studied Berakhot 3:1, for example, I wrote:

In a country which is blessed with hot weather and in an age that had no mechanical means of refrigeration it was essential for the honour of the dead and for the peace of mind of the surviving family that the burial take place on the day of death or very soon thereafter. The closest relative of the deceased was charged with the arrangements for the burial and was absolved from all ritual duties until that duty had been performed. The body was carried on a stretcher [litter] to the place of burial and deposited in the cave. Only after the entrance to the cave had been blocked once again would the moment for consolation arrive. Those attending the burial would form two lines and the mourners would walk between the lines receiving the comforting condolences on their bereavement. Then the mourners would go home and start sitting shiv'ah – the statutory week of intense mourning.

It should now be clear why condolences were not to be offered until after the burial: the bereaved was to be occupied solely with the arrangements for the disposal of his dead.

To be continued.

In Avot 258 I brought the story of how Rav Kahana bolted to Eretz-Israel and had been forewarned by his teacher not to enter into halakhic debate with Rabbi Yoĥanan. Amnon Ron'el says that this advice turned out to be "advice of Aĥitophel" [see the story in 2 Samuel 15] "because Rav Kahana had now to make do with a weak study companion."

I respond:

Woe to the ear that hears this, woe to the eye that reads! The study companion to whom Amnon refers was Resh Lakish, one of the very great Amora'im of Eretz-Israel. You can read about him in Sanhedrin 021, #8.