Helpful religious advice:

        Don't get this G-d upset.

        There is a view, false in my opinion, that the Hebrew Bible portrays a rather violent G-d, at least as contrasted with the loving and kind one found in the New Testament. Though I have read the New Testament, I am certainly no expert, but I can tell you that I have never seen G-d in the Torah as anything but loving, kind and merciful. A G-d who loves humanity and cares for all of us.

         Really?

         "My anger shall blaze forth."

         "I will put you to a sword."

          G-d has some anger issues there, Victor.

          But hear me out.

          The Torah sees the G-d of Israel as passionately concerned about a lot of things. In other words, he gets awfully angry at people and warns them concerning: Idolatry. Sorcery. Blasphemy. Pork.

            And woe to the person who gathers wood on the Shabbat.

            But this same G-d gets equally angry for a lot of good reasons: Oppression. Tale bearing. Rape. Bribery. Injustice. Mistreating animals. Turning a blind eye to the poor. Mistreating the stranger.

            Afflicting the widow.

            And the orphan.

            As one sees from the sentence above from this week's Torah portion, Heaven help you if you cross that line.

            I think people forget that anger is not always a bad thing. Especially if it is teaches us what animates 

             I have no doubt what the ancient Jews must have thought about this "vengeful" and "angry" G-d. They probably felt quite comfortable reading such attributes. In their world, gods routinely wiped out nations for idolatry (or so they explained). That's what the ancient gods of the world did to humans. Give them proper homage or watch an earthquake hit your city. Give those gods the correct sacrifice or see your village destroyed.

            But imagine what the Israelites thought of the G-d who liberated them from Egypt. This same G-d, they were told, was equally outraged over how they mistreated their neighbor. Angered by the brutalizing of the stranger in their midst. Burning with wrath at the exploitation of the orphan and widow.

            What did you think the Israelites made of that?

            Maybe it offered them a lesson to take to heart. This G-d cared not just how they treated sacred objects but how they treated each other. Acts against the helpless were equally outrageous and evil in the eyes of the Creator. That this G-d equated the affliction of widows and orphans to idolatry. That this G-d loved all of humanity and blazed with anger at those who oppressed the weak and poor. Burned with anger at the mistreatment of the innocent just as strongly as when people failed to keep the Sabbath.

              As if to teach that how we treat the most vulnerable was just as important to G-d as how we worship.

 

              Maybe it is. 

              And maybe it is also worth us getting angry over.