Avot324

1:
Our mishnah continues the series devoted to the number four and this time the topic is anger. Some people anger easily, some people are very patient and docile. In his commentary on our mishnah, Tosafot YomTov, Rabbi YomTov Lippmann Heller points out that one condition is not mentioned at all, and that is the characteristic that one never get angry. That someone should never lose their temper is a human impossibility. He points out that even Moses lost his temper. The Torah [Numbers 31:14] states quite explicitly that

And on yet another occasion [Numbers 20:10] Moses lost his patience. We read that

This is the language of someone who is quite out of patience.

2:
So, everybody loses their temper at one time or another. Our mishnah categorizes quite simply:

There are some people who lose their temper very easily. Of course, this is not a good thing. Each of us should have a modicum of patience. While it is sometimes praiseworthy to upbraid a wrongdoer – especially in the field of education – this should not be in white hot anger, but with a controlled temper.

3:
Our mishnah teaches that when one loses one's temper easily that is a fault. When one is easily appeased, when one generously accepts a sincere apology and restores calm and amicability that is certainly a merit. If one loses one's temper easily and is also ready to make peace easily one has, as it were, 'lost on the swings what one has gained on the roundabouts': the merit of making an easy peace has been cancelled out by the fault of losing one's temper easily. Of course, if one is prone to swift anger and adamant against appeasement one is, according to our mishnah, wicked.

4:
Then there is the other side of the equation. Some people lose their patience and get angry only after severe provocation. This is, of course, a great merit. However, if this merit is cancelled out by a similar disinclination to let bygones be bygones once again one has 'lost on the swings what one has gained on the roundabouts': the merit of only losing patience with difficulty has been cancelled out by the fault of being recalcitrant with regards to restoring peace and harmony. Of course, if one is both slow to anger and swift to restore harmony one is what our mishnah calls a saint.

5:
Thus, we note that so far in this series of mishnayot a wicked person is characterized as someone who habitually steals and trespasses and is also prone to swift anger and reluctant to make peace. The saint is happy to share what he possesses with others and is very patient and forebearing.

6:
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.