[Avodah] Not livid with anger

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger asked:

> Now I realize that I was supposed to only express anger,
> not actually feel it. However, thinking about the
> situation, that seems wrong. There should be some kind of
> strong negative feeling in that circumstance. One can't
> be apathetic kalter-Litvakim when faced with injustice.
> So, if anger is not the appropriate emotion when dealing
> with injustice, particularly injustice meted out to others,
> what is?

Simple answer: Sympathy and rachmanus for the victim.

The tricky part is how to convey those feelings in a way that those around you will both (a) pick up on it, and (b) be sufficiently motivated to act on it. It's difficult, because sympathy and rachmanus are quiet and soft; I have no idea how to do that in a loud way so that the others around you would notice.

There's a famous story about the Chofetz Chaim an a bochur who was smoking on Shabbos. The CC could have gotten angry, but instead he sat down with the bochur and sadly wept for "Shabbos... Shabbos..." That mussar was very effective, but it worked because they were in a one-on-one environment. There was no guarantee that the bochur would *accept* the CC's words, but there *was* a guarantee that he'd at least *hear* them.

I don't know how you could have gotten the attention of the others so that they'd even hear you. Whatever you possibly might have said would have gotten blank stares. I probably would have flown off the handle as you did.

Akiva Miller

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