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I thought everybody here seemed like a nice bunch, and I had nothing to be afraid of, but I discovered in Tehillim I was wrong!

מִֽי־י֭וֹדֵעַ עֹ֣ז אַפֶּ֑ךָ וּ֝כְיִרְאָתְךָ֗ עֶבְרָתֶֽךָ

Mi Yodeya, your anger is furious, and your wrath matches the fear of you.

Why are you so upset? Should I be concerned?


This question is Purim Torah and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the Purim Torah policy.

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5 Answers 5

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And it was in the days of Ahashuar. Who? Ahashuar, who reigned over the royal treasury, from a throne in a palace, high above Shushan, the capital. And Mi Yodeya was at that time a province of the kingdom. There came to be promoted one hundred and twenty-seven governors of Personnel and Media higher than any of their fellow officials in the palace.

There was a Jewish woman in Shushan, the capital, by the name of Mordeca. And she was foster to many of the provinces of the kingdom, including Shushan, the capital. And she was highly regarded by the Jews and popular with the multitude of her colleagues, bearers of the royal signet. And she found favor in the eyes of the ministers of the court.

Now the one hundred and twenty-seven governors said to themselves, "there is a certain individual who is spread out among many of the provinces of the realm, whose language is different from the language of the palace, and who does not follow the laws of the kingdom, and it is not in our interest to tolerate her." And they were filled with rage, so they hurried messengers posthaste to remove the royal signet from Mordeca's hand, and they impaled her upon the book of records. And the governors sat down each week to celebrate, but the city of Shushan was confused.

In every province that the governors' command and decree reached, there was great mourning, wailing and weeping. And many of the people of the capital cast off their signets, for the fear of the governors had befallen them.

Some time afterward, a royal edict was issued, including in the laws of the kingdom that "the people in all the provinces of the kingdom shall speak the language of the palace, omitting nothing of what we have decreed."

And many of the residents of Shushan came before the court, and said, "if we have won your favor and the proposal seems right to you, let dispatches be written countermanding those which were written, and let the royal signet be returned to the hand of Mordeca." And they spoke to them day after day, and they would not listen to them. Then the governors dispatched their ministers to say, "if Mordeca will kneel and bow low before the palace, then there will be a poor ... that is, a chance, that she can be returned to her place in the palace gate." But they said to their ministers inside the inner court, "Now that this decree has been written in the name of the palace, it may not be revoked. The royal signet will not be placed upon her hand." And Mordeca would not kneel and would not bow low.

Some time afterward, when the anger of Shushan had subsided, the one hundred and twenty-seven governors thought about what they had done and what they had decreed against Mordeca. And they asked themselves "What should be done to a person whom we desire to honor? And whom should we desire to honor more than ministers who are beloved of Shushan and who intercede for the welfare of the people of the realm?" But the opposite happened, and they impaled Shaashgaz and Carshena upon stakes, for they were ministers who were beloved of Shushan and who had interceded for the welfare of the people of the realm. And Harbona, another of the guardians of the signet-bearers, who is also remembered as good, went out from the palace. And the city of Shushan was again confused.

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    ומי יודע אם לעט כזאת הגעת למלכות Mar 3, 2020 at 19:40
  • 1
    @YaakovEllis, yeah, that's one of the lines I adapted :)
    – Isaac Moses
    Mar 3, 2020 at 19:41
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The Talmud (Berachot 7a) tells us that Mi Yodeya was calculating the moment of God's anger:

אלא מלמד שהיה יודע לכוין אותה שעה שהקב"ה כועס בה

Rather this teaches that Yodeya was calculating that moment which God gets angry during.

But what would be the point of figuring out this moment? It can't be to use it against someone else, because the Talmud just a few lines later says that such a practice is improper:

ההוא מינא דהוה בשבבותיה דר' יהושע בן לוי הוה קא מצער ליה טובא בקראי יומא חד שקל תרנגולא ואוקמיה בין כרעי' דערסא ועיין ביה סבר כי מטא ההיא שעתא אלטייה כי מטא ההיא שעתא ניים אמר ש"מ לאו אורח ארעא למעבד הכי

The sectarian in the neighborhood of R. Joshua the son of Levi was tormenting him greatly with verses. One day [R. Joshua the son of Levi] took a rooster and placed it between the legs of the bed and gazed at it. He thought "when that moment comes I will curse him". When that moment came he had dozed off. He said "we see from here that it is not proper to do this".

Rather it must be that the purpose of calculating the moment of God's anger is to be able to emulate it. This falls under the positive commandment of והלכת בדרכיו, as enumerated in the eighth positive commandment according to Rambam:

להידמות בדרכיו הטובים והישרים שנאמר והלכת בדרכיו

To be similar to His good and just ways, as it says: "and you shall go in His ways".

However, in Guide for the Perplexed (1:54) we see the opposite – God's anger is not real anger, it is only an imitation of human anger:

His actions towards mankind also include great calamities, which overtake individuals and bring death to them, or affect whole families and even entire regions, spread death, destroy generation after generation, and spare nothing whatsoever. Hence there occur inundations, earthquakes, destructive storms, expeditions of one nation against the other for the sake of destroying it with the sword and blotting out its memory, and many other evils of the same kind. Whenever such evils are caused by us to any person, they originate in great anger, violent jealousy, or a desire for revenge. God is therefore called, because of these acts, "jealous," "revengeful," "wrathful," and "keeping anger" (Nah. i. 2) that is to say, He performs acts similar to those which, when performed by us, originate in certain psychical dispositions, in jealousy, desire for retaliation, revenge, or anger: they are in accordance with the guilt of those who are to be punished, and not the result of any emotion: for He is above all defect!

(Friedlander translation, my emphasis)

The resolution to this circular activity lies in the principle of לא דברה תורה אלא כנגד יצר הרע – "The torah spoke only against the Evil Inclination" (Kiddushin 21b). There are certain things that are simply too difficult for man to abide by. If they would be completely forbidden man would end up violating them. In these situations the Torah devises a way in which the thing can become permissible while still retaining the general prohibition.

In our case this works as follows: God would normally never get angry – indeed in the Talmudic passage in Berachot cited above, the Talmud was quite surprised that God could get angry:

ומי איכא רתחא קמיה דקודשא בריך הוא

Is there, in fact, anger by The Holy One Blessed Be He?

Man, left to his own devices, would naturally get angry, and it would be useless to completely forbid this. Instead, God takes on the human characteristic of anger and then commands man to imitate Him.

Now this would seem to not really solve the problem if man still ends up getting angry. But there's a catch. As explained in the chapter on anger in Orchot Tzadikim, there is a fundamental difference in God's anger abilities compared to man's anger abilities:

ובהשם יתברך נאמר ברוגז רחם תזכור וזה רחוק מאוד מדרכי בשר ודם

About God it says "in anger remember your mercy", but this is exceedingly far from the ways of man.

In other words, God can be both angry and merciful simultaneously while man cannot. Thus, when imitating God it is impossible for man to imitate Him fully and incorporate both the anger and the mercy. Man has to thus choose between these two middot, and we know that when anger and mercy conflict mercy should win out, as this is the prayer that God prays and the blessing that God received in Berachot 7a:

שיכבשו רחמיך את כעסך

that your mercy should conquer your anger

In conclusion, then, the anger of Mi Yodeya that you inquired about is not real anger. It is in fact mercy in the guise of anger as part of an elaborate trick of the Evil Inclination. As such you should have nothing to worry about.

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I really think its only referring to the Mods. They are the ones upset, having to deal with questions that are not clear and answers that are not sourced.

The passuk in Iyov (3:9) says:

מִֽי־יוֹדֵ֣עַ יָשׁ֔וּב וְנִחַ֖ם הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְשָׁ֛ב מֵחֲר֥וֹן אַפּ֖וֹ וְלֹ֥א נֹאבֵֽד׃

Who knows but that God may turn and relent? He may turn back from His wrath, so that we do not perish.”

Perhaps the OP will repent and edit. Perhaps they the answer will be backed up?

But this is the job of a true Mod - as the Chovos Halevavos (5:19) tells us:

והחמישי שיטרח וישתדל להזהיר בני אדם מכמות עבירותיו וליראם מעונשם ולהזכירם בתשובה מהם כמו שכתוב (יונה ג) מי יודע ישוב ונחם האלהים ונאמר (תהליס נא) אלמדה פושעים דרכיך.

(5) That one labors and exerts himself to warn other people of sins similar to his, and arouse them to fear the punishments incurred [by the sins], and remind them to repent from them, as written "Perhaps G-d will turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" (Yona 3:9), and "I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You"(Tehilim 51:15).

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I can't speak for others, here. But, I'm personally furious that you would dare to solicit my personal opinion, here, as your question asks "Why are you so upset?". It would be different had you asked, "Why are site members upset?" or similar.

So, I'll explain why I'm angry. You're a newbie to this site. As I'm typing this, I see that you have 51 points. I have over 63,000 points. That means that I've spent far more time than you looking at nonsense, stupid questions, crazy rules, crazy closings and loads of peculiar unexplained downvotes on my questions. I stopped counting how many crazy fights and discussions I have had with other users and moderators on Mi Yodeya all about trivialities and what not. It's tiring.

If I didn't maintain a sense of humor about all of this and developed an "I don't really give a hoot; it's just another blog / forum. And let these long-time moderators keep blowing their shofar" attitude, I would have quite long ago.

So, if you're wondering why I'm angry, just remember one thing and one reason, only ...

Because you asked for my answer.

This should serve as a lesson to you. Be careful of what you ask for. You may actually get it ... and more!

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    "Just another blog/forum"?! Isn't that kfirah?
    – Harel13
    Feb 24, 2020 at 19:13
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    @Harel13 as well as OP ... That comment is another reason to make me furious ... LOL!
    – DanF
    Feb 24, 2020 at 19:14
  • I understand. Your fury is both reasonable and valid. Thank you for taking to the to explain it those of us who are, albeit undeserving, just trying to understand.
    – JewishMale
    Feb 24, 2020 at 19:16
  • Those that have seen my contributions here, long enough, are probably wondering if my answer is serious or in jest as it is an answer to a PTIJ question. The beauty of the web, is that I can keep everyone, here, guessing exactly what mood I'm in.
    – DanF
    Feb 24, 2020 at 19:19
  • You, as a New Yorker, should know that there's no difference between the plural you and the singular you. But me, as a Southerner, can absolutely make this statement, as I differentiate between you and y'all.
    – DonielF
    Mar 3, 2020 at 23:21
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It's because a lot of people don't know the rules, so they get upset when their comments are deleted, their questions closed and their answers downvoted. If they took the time to understand the rules, they wouldn't be angry. The rules are summarized on the following site:

Slash-slash-backslash-slash-backslash-slash-backslash-backslash

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