Moshe’s One Major Weakness

In numerous places in the Mussar books of discipline, the importance of overcoming anger is emphasized. Once anger is controlled, good things will follow.

As the Ramban wrote in his famous letter to his son, once כעס, or anger, is conquered, one can achieve himility and fear of Heaven. These are the keys to success in life.

We see from Moshe Rabbeinu, that “Ka’as” has another detrimental effect on a person. When one is overcome with rage, he becomes forgetful and unaware of his surroundings. We see this in the Parsha dealing with the spoils of war that were taken in the battle with Midyan.

Moshe Rabbeinu became very angry when they brought back the Midyanite women. He felt that they should have been put to death for their role in not only seducing Jewish men, but convincing them to participate in a repulsive act of idol worship.

The Rabbis tell us that נתעלמה ממנו הלכה, that the Halacha escaped him, because he allowed himself to reach a negative level of anger.

This is the source in the Torah for dipping new utensils made by a non-Jew in a Mikva. It is also the source for purging utensils that have absorbed a forbidden taste of food, or a mixture of milk and meat.

In any case, we see how anger can be a very destructive personality trait. This was probably the only major weakness that Moshe Rabbeinu had. We must learn from him, the importance of doing serious work at real anger management.