LEV554 Hatred and vengeance are also very difficult to escape, since one's heart is very easily enticed [by them]. A person is very sensitive to his humiliation and feels extreme anguish. [Under these conditions] vengeance becomes as sweet as honey since it is his only respite. Therefore, if he finds the strength to flee the urgings of his nature and to override his own feelings so as not to hate the one who has evoked the hatred within him, and he neither takes revenge when the opportunity arises nor bears a grudge, but instead he disregards all this and removes it from his heart as if it had never existed, there goes a strong and courageous individual. This is something which is easy only for the ministering angels, among whom the aforementioned traits do not exist, but not for dwellers of the physical world who were formed from the earth. Nonetheless, it is the King's decree, and the verses are clearly spelled out and need no elucidation [this and following verse]: "You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must not take revenge, nor harbor a grudge against the members of your people." Concerning vengeance and bearing a grudge, we know that vengeance means refraining from acting kindly toward someone who has denied him kindness or has actually harmed him. And bearing a grudge means that while repaying a harmful deed with a good deed, one reminds the other party of the harm that he committed.