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The Angels in My Life
“You are an angel!” I often exclaim when people
show up at the right time in the right place. Today two such ‘angels’ knocked
on our door. The first was a new neighbor – that I didn’t know I had – who
needed milk for his coffee. It turned out that this newlywed young man had
experience in painting houses. When he entered Friday afternoon, Levi, our
family home-improver, was about to finish changing the floor tiles in our son’s
bedroom. We had been postponing changing our cracked floor tiles for many
years, as it just seemed to unmanageable a project to move out all our
accumulated stuff from each room. This year we just jumped into the cold water,
trusting that somehow we would get through it. After having carried all the
exorbitant amount of stuff – mainly Torah books – out of our son’s bedroom, it
became clear that the room needed a serious paint job, and if we didn’t do it
now we probably wouldn’t do it for at least another ten years, if ever. In
order to avoid living one more day with all my son’s stuff in the living room,
the painting had to happen ASAP, and it turned out with amazing Divine
providence that our new neighbor was available to get the job done right away.
The second ‘angel’ was a 10-year-old-son of a different neighbor who asked if
he could collect our garden clippings for his goats. Now, my husband had just
been pruning various bushes, and I had not managed to hire anyone to pick up
after him, so this boy was truly an angel sent to clean up our garden in honor
of Shabbat. Do I really mean to say, that these various wonderful people are
actual angels? What is an angel anyway? In Hebrew, the wordמַלְאַךְ
/malach – ‘angel,’ also means
‘messenger.’ Angels are messengers of G-d, sent into this world to accomplish a
particular mission. The word malach is mentioned 67 times in the Tanach.
The first instance was the angel that Hashem sent to Hagar to help her return
to her mistress, Sarah. Every time I step into my car, I pray to Hashem to send
His protective angels to help me arrive and return home safely!
Avraham’s Angelic Visitors
Each angel can only perform one errand (Midrash
Bereishit Rabbah 50:2). This is because the identity and essence of each
angel is the mission for which it was created. If two angels would carry on the
same mission, they would become one angel, while one angel performing two
missions would become two angels (Maharal, Bereishit 18:2). This
principle is exemplified in the opening of this week’s parasha when Hashem
sends Avraham three angels in the form of men:
ספר בראשית פרק יח פסוק א וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו הָשֵׁם
בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא וְהוּא ישֵׁב פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם:
(ב) וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה
שְׁלשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים נִצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיַּרְא וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח
הָאֹהֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָרְצָה:
“Hashem appeared to him in Alonei Mamrei, while he
was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of day. He lifted his eyes
and behold, three men were standing beside him, he saw and he ran towards them
from the entrance of the tent, and he prostrated himself to the ground” (Bereishit
18:1-2).
These ‘men’ visiting Avraham were angels, who each
were charged with a particular mission: One to bring the good tidings [of
Yitzchak’s birth] to Sarah, one to overturn Sodom, and one to heal Avraham.
Raphael, who healed Avraham, went from there to save Lot (Rashi, Bereishit
18:2). If an angel can only perform one mission, how can the same angel both
heal Avraham and save Lot? According to Rashi, healing and saving is the same
kind of mission (Siftei Chachamim Ibid.). Although many kinds of angels
expire as soon as they have completed their mission, the ministering angels,
who have multitudes of underlings, continue throughout the ages performing
their particular kind of mission. The Talmud explains: “Who were the three
‘men?’ – Michael, Gavriel, and Raphael. Michael came to bring the tidings to
Sarah; Raphael [which means ‘healer of G-d’], to heal Avraham; and Gavriel
[‘strength of G-d’], to overturn Sodom. But is it not written, “The two
angels came to Sodom in the evening” (Bereishit 19:1)? – Michael
accompanied him to rescue Lot (Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 86b).
Thus, there is a discord between the Talmud and Rashi whether it was Michael or
Raphael that went to rescue Lot. Rabbeinu Bachaya explains that the mission of
each of the three ministering angels visiting Avraham was according to their
particular midah – character. The mission of Michael, the angel of chesed
– ‘kindness,’ came to tell Sarah the good news, although according to
nature she was unable to conceive; and to save Lot, although he didn’t deserve
it. Raphael, the angel of gevurah – ‘severity and judgment’ – came to
overturn Sodom, whereas Raphael – whose mission is rachamim –
‘compassion,’ came to heal Avraham. If you have any doubt whether the three
‘men’ visiting Avraham indeed were Michael, Gavriel and Raphael, our Torah
verse alludes to this identification as follows: וְהִנֵּה שְׁלשָׁה/v’hine shelosha – ‘behold three’ has the numerical value
of 701. This equals the accumulated numerical value of, אלו
מיכאל גבריאל ורפאל – These are Michael, Gavriel
and Raphael (Ba’al HaTurim Ibid.).
Do Angels Have Free Will?
“He ran towards them from the entrance of the
tent.” Why did Avraham run towards the angels rather after them, as we would
expect when the men were passing by his tent and Avraham wanted to invite them
in. Since angels don’t have a backside, therefore, Avraham would not be able to
run after them. Luckily, his tent had four entrances; therefore, it is possible
that he ran towards them to the opposite entrance (Toldot Yitzchak). It makes
sense to me that angels don’t have a back, since all our unrectified negativity
and doubts reside in the back. Because angels do not have free choice, they
need no backside as they can only move forward to fulfill their mission. For
the same reason angels are depicted with only one straight leg. “Their legs
are a straight leg” (Yechezkiel 1:7). They do not need two legs
to move forward, since they are created to reach their goal automatically.
Being static, they only need one leg as a stand, without even a knee to bend.
If angels don’t have a free choice then how could they possible come to sin as
was the case with the two angels in our parasha who came to Sodom? They were
punished for being arrogant when they exclaimed, “For we are destroying this
place” (Bereishit 19:13). Consequently, Gavriel was forced to admit that
ultimate power is only in Hashem’s hand as it later states, “Hasten, flee
there, for I will not be able to do” (Ibid. 22). This is the angels’ punishment
because they said (verse 13): “For we are destroying,” and they attributed the
matter to themselves (Rashi Ibid.). According to the Midrash, they were
punished and left to wander the world for 138 years. They were permitted to
return only at the time of Ya’acov’s dream. This is why the verse first says
that the angels were ascending and only afterwards descending (Bereishit
28:12); (Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 68:12). Since angels do not have a yetzer
hara (evil inclination), they cannot sin by deliberately opposing the will
of G-d. However, only the Creator is perfect, in contrast to the imperfect
creation. Since angels are also creations of G‑d they are imperfect
like any other creation even the highest intellectual beings. They too in some
way conceal the ultimate reality. Therefore, although an angel cannot sin, it
can nevertheless make a mistake or at least present
a distortion of the truth (Rabbi Yeshaya Halevi Horowitz, Shnei Luchot
HaBrit (Shelah).When an angel is sent on a divine mission, it is
meant to fulfill that duty while putting its own identity completely aside.
Although the angels who were sent to destroy Sodom did indeed fulfill their
mission, they spoke as if they themselves were going to destroy the city. This
was a distortion of the truth of their role, due to their imperfections. Thus
angels can sin only through mistaking their mission or trying to reach levels
of revelation where they do not belong (Rabbi Eibshitz, Ya’arot Devash, vol. 1 lecture
2).
Are there Female Angels?
In the Torah, angels never appear
as women. The angels that visited Avraham were all male, and no angel is ever
referred to in Scripture as any gender other than the masculine. One of the ten
categories of angels are even called אִישִׁים/Ishim – ‘men’ (Rambam, Mishna
Torah, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah 2:7). However, we would expect
the spiritual world to reflect the male and female creatures of the physical
world according to the spiritual rule: “Hashem has made one corresponding to
the other” (Kohelet 7:14). In essence, the angels are completely
genderless and therefore do not engage in procreation. This is why the Torah
was not given to the angels, as its laws such as the prohibition against
adultery do not apply to them (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88b). If the
angels are neither male nor female, then why are they depicted as males in the
Torah? According to Kabbalah, male and female is relative. The male is
essentially the influencer, whereas the female is the receiver. The same being
may be considered male in one world and yet female in relation to another
higher world (Zohar part two, 4a). Since the angels are sent down into
this world to perform a mission of enacting a particular divine influence they
are described as males in this world, while they would be female in
relationship to Hashem. Even if some may claim that the “two women, with the wind in their wings” described in Zechariah 5:9 are
an example of female angels, yet, these women in Zechariah’s prophetic vision
are not called angels, but נָשִׁים/nashim –“women.”
By contrast, the angel that Zechariah was speaking to is called הַמַּלְאָךְ/hamalach
– “the angel.” Similarly, there are those who claim that the angel Laylah in
charge of conception and birth is a female angel. Although the name, Laylah,
has a female ending and its function is apparently feminine, it is described in
the male gender, לַיְלָה שְׁמוֹ/Laylah
shemo – “Laylah is his name” (Babylonian Talmud, Nidah 16b).
Nevertheless, I was happy to find the mention of female angels in the writings
of the Arizal who asserts that also among the angels there are two aspects,
male and female. The female angels are the powers of judgment in holiness.
These female angels sing praises to Hashem including the Song of the Sea and
they are rectifications for the Shechina (Divine Female Indwelling Presence).
Whenever we perform a mitzvah below it creates an angel above: “He who fulfills
one mitzvah, acquires for himself one angel-advocate…” (Pirkey Avot
4:11). Certain mitzvot create female angels whereas others create male angels (Me’il
Hakadosh on Etz Chaim, gate 16). The female angels are part of the
entourage of the angel Sandalphon (Arizal, Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Prayer
chapter 7). Sandalphon is considered the soulmate of one of the main awesome
angels called Metatron (Sefer Emek HaMelech gate 14 chapter 95). These
two angels are possibly the two כְּרוּבִים/Keruvim
– ‘Cherubs’ that resided upon the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (Pardes
Rimonim gate 23 chapter 11). The angels Metatron and Sandalphon are the
twin souls – male and female that unite Heaven and Earth. Thus, we women can be
a comforted to know that the feminine is not absent among the heavenly hosts.
Baruj Hashem for Their Ángela!
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