For the last four summers, I have attended the ten day Rabbinic Torah Seminar at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. One hundred and seventy-five rabbis from around the world came together this summer to study Jewish texts and wrestle with some of the most difficult philosophical questions facing Israel and the Jewish people today.

We learn alongside some of the brightest minds in the Jewish world. This summer, our theme was “Being Human.” One of the most memorable sessions for me was “To Be Human: Anger and Compassion,” taught by Masua Sagiv.

Masua opened her lecture with a remarkable story that moved me to the core. Here it is.

There was a horse trader in 16th century Germany named Michael Kohlhaas. A nobleman illegally seized two of Kohlhaas’s horses and abused them. Kohlahaas repeatedly tried to seek justice through the legal system. But because the nobleman had important connections, Kohlhaas was no match for him, and so the case went nowhere.

Kohlhaas became obsessed with obtaining justice and decided to take the matter into his own hands. He organized a violent rebellion. His quest for justice became destructive and caused people considerable suffering. He was captured and sentenced to death. 

But then, remarkably, just before Kohlhaas was executed, he was told that his lawsuit had finally been decided in his favor. He received compensation for his losses, and, most importantly, the nobleman was sentenced to two years in prison. 

The Elector asked Kohlhaas before his execution,  “Are you satisfied?” And Kohlhaas replied he was overjoyed. His deepest wish was fulfilled but he had to pay the price for his own crimes. Kohlhaas went calmly to the execution block and was beheaded. He died content because, at the very moment of his death, justice had finally been done.

We can only imagine how much anger this man was harboring if the news of justice were enough for him to accept his own death. In other words, for him, achieving justice was more important than preserving his own life.

In her article “What is Angering Michael Kohlhaas?”  Eva Illouz writes, “Anger raises a troubling moral question: when should we stop defending our sense of justice? Anger raises the possibility that a world of Kolhaases – a world of people obsessed with retribution and justice – would become a world drained of grace and humanity.”

What Eva Illouz is saying is that at some point, even if you are wronged, you cannot let anger get the best of you because it has the potential of distracting you and anyone close to you – your family, your friends. 

At the same time, if we suppress our anger, that too could lead to a disaster. 

Maimonides seems to contradict himself. In Mishneh Torah, he calls anger an “exceptionally bad quality,” yet elsewhere he says that we should not become “like the dead, without feeling,” and that anger may be appropriate when something serious demands it.

Perhaps Maimonides is teaching us that the answer is neither uncontrolled anger nor indifference. We need to feel anger when injustice demands it—but we........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)