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with Hashem because his attribute of
mercy is infinite. It is no harder for
Hashem to forgive the 10th time than the
first time or even the millionth time.
>> Really because
>> on a scale of infinity,
1 million is no bigger of a number in in
comparison to to infinity than than than
one. So the first time, the millionth
time, Hashem doesn't get sick and tired
of us because Hashem doesn't get tired.
You can't deplete his mercies. And can
we ever do anything? God Selma has asked
me this question as well. Does God get
angry, Mommy? Can we make him angry? And
what do we do if we make God angry? Now,
I can tell you my answer to this, but
you're probably going to have a better
one because
>> No. What's your answer?
>> Well, I think it's very hard to make God
angry. Um, I don't think he's quick to
anger. I don't I think he I think he
gets like it's it's it's it was a tough
question for me to answer. I don't I
don't imagine God as being angry. Well,
unless it's me who's committing the
infraction. I think objectively I
imagine him as not being angry. But then
of course
>> for everybody else, God is very
forgiving for yourself.
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> He gets mad at me in my own head, but
that's not God. That's my projection. So
I don't do Yeah, it's my projection. Do
we really attribute anger to God?
Because isn't anger such a human
emotion? I mean, in in the Torah, the
word is used,
the flaring of of anger, but the way
that it's explained is that, like you
say, it's a human emotion. So, we're not
describing God. We're describing our
experience.
>> So, we may experience something that
feels like anger. Like, why are you so
angry? Well, I'm not actually angry, but
I understand that that's how you're
experiencing it.
>> Yeah. So I'm going to say something a
little bit scary which is there is cause
and effect in God's world and reward and
punishment is not artificial or
arbitrary. It is actually organic. It
flows from our own choices.
>> So sometimes if we god forbid set in
motion a negative
uh process through choosing what goes
against God's will and it may blow up in
our faces inevitably it will. So we
experience that as divine retribution
but it's not spiteful or vengeful. It's
the consequences and that's what we
might experience as divine anger
>> and it's protective. I mean it's not
it's like to put us back in the right
place. It's not to spite us or to hurt
us.
>> It's never to spite us or to hurt us.
>> It's never vengeful.
>> It's always to correct us. It's always
to give us an opportunity to become more
authentic. meaning to get back again,
like I said, that native state of
connection with God. That's always the
the the purpose.
>> Look, I mean, I think about as a parent,
right? I think of myself as a parent,
and we're going to talk about your
parenting course here in a little bit
because I took it and it's amazing and I
want everyone else to take it, too, and
it's coming up. I think about myself as
a parent, and when I get angry, I I'm I
made a mistake. I I should apologize or
or that's not ideal. I mean, I don't
want to get angry as a parent. If I get
angry, it means I've lost control. I've
lost my I'm not in control anymore
because I'm frustrated and I'm
overwhelmed.
>> Angry anger isn't the retribution for my
child's misdeeds.
>> The there's you know what you were just
discussing. There are natural
consequences of my children's actions
and my job is to be steady. My job is to
be there and to facilitate them
understanding that when I get angry I
lose it. I nothing happens that's
positive. I end up having to go back. So
I I imagine God is similar if not, you
know, I'm I'm just a microcosm here. So
how could God get super angry? How would
that make any sense if
>> or lose control? Cuz that's what you're
really describing. What is really so
egregious about getting angry at our
children? What's so egregious about it
is you're the adult. You're supposed to
be in control of at least of yourself.
You're supposed to be in control. Uh and
then their rage is allowing you to lose
control which is very destabilizing for
the home for the child. So that's the
real problem with it is when we're out
of control.
>> Right. Right. Yeah. So I don't imagine
and children are afraid of it. So that's
why they're afraid that God could get
angry at them and it's this they don't
they cannot distinguish between okay you
are angry with me but you still love me.
Well, I might say like this, tying it
back into what we said about before
about Tanya describing God as infinitely
compassionate and we can't wear out his
compassion. I might even say like this.
It's not right when a parent gets
angry. You know, parents have to have
self-control. It's not right. But when
it happens, what's happening is that the
the mommy or daddy's getting frustrated.
It's not right. It's not an excuse, but
what's happen? They're getting
frustrated and they're past their
capacity.
And it happens to children, too.
Children get overwhelmed, over
stimulated, right? They need to have
some
>> quiet time to calm down, to
self-regulate. So, so what's important
to know is that when we say that Hashem
is infinite, which sounds like such an
abstract con, it is an abstract concept.
But one practical takeaway from that is
that Hashem's not going to get
overwhelmed or overstimulated or
frustrated
or not know how to handle you because
what you did is so big that he can't
tolerate it. Yeah,
>> that's what it means that Hashem is
infinite.
