Anger

The theme of this daf (Nedarim 22) is anger. The dof start talking about the bad and evil consequences of anger and how it can lead you to gehinnom. At the end of the dof we learn that anger can be used sometimes for a positive reason, as we see Rav Sechorah got “angrier” and angrier at Rav Nachman for making a neder. This was a basis for a pesach. There is a second story again how anger was used for a positive purpose at the Rabbis deliberately got themselves mad by walking from the shade to the sun (See the Mefaresh). Anger can be used in a positive way or can be a very negative middah. We see Moshe Rabbeinu used anger in a positive way when he broke the luchos to teach Bnei Yisrael a lesson and to spur them to t’suvah. We see one can “pretend” to be angry to perform a mitzvah or encourage t’suvah.

by Rabbi Yosef Dov Karr