Remove Anger from Your Heart

by Rabbi Avraham Tubolsky

Rabbi Chaim Vital: Middos are embedded in the lower soul of man… and they are the seat, foundation, and root for the higher intellectual soul, in which the 613 mitzvos of the Torah are rooted. This is why [correcting] character traits is not mentioned among the 613 commandments. However, doing so is the primary preparation for the fulfillment or violation of the commandments. The intellectual soul does not have the ability on its own to fulfill the mitzvos with the 613 parts of the body; rather, it does this through the lower soul, which is attached to the body itself …. Therefore, bad middos are worse than sins themselves. Chazal taught: “Anyone who gets angry is considered to worship idols,” which is equivalent to violating all 613 mitzvos. They also said: “An arrogant person is considered to deny the existence of the Creator; he deserves to be torn down like an idolatrous tree, and his dust will not stir [with the revival of the dead],” and other such statements. This must be understood: Since character traits are the principles and foundations, they are not counted among the 613 mitzvos that are dependent on the intellectual soul. Hence, a person must be more careful to stay away from bad character traits than to fulfill the positive and negative commandments, because if he possesses good character traits, he will easily fulfill all the mitzvos.