Parashat Vayetze
When Jacob flees from Beer-sheba, he camps the first
night in the desert. Gathering some stones for a pillow, he goes to sleep and
dreams of a stairway reaching from the ground to the sky. On it "angels of G-d
were going up and down.”
Later in the Torah portion, (Genesis 31:10-13) Jacob
tells Leah and Rachel that he has dreamed of an angel who explained to him how
the streaked and speckled flocks were increasing to his advantage and that he
should return to his homeland.
Who are these angels appearing to Jacob?
Actually, the Torah contains many mentions of angels:
When Hagar, Sarah's maidservant, flees to the desert to avoid further
confrontation with Sarah,an angel comforts and counsels her (Genesis
16:7-12). Two angels visit Lot in Sodom and urge him to escape from the city
with his family (Genesis 19). Just as Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, an
angel appears and tells him, "Do not raise your hand against the boy” (Genesis
22:11). An angel speaks to Moses out of a burning bush and commands him
to return to Egypt and to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage (Exodus
3:2-10). It is also an angel who announces to Samson's mother-to-be that she is
to have an exceptional child (Judges 13).
Angels are G-d's entourage. In the famous scene of
Isaiah 6, G-d is seated on a throne with the angelic host arrayed on the right
hand and the left. Angels often appear in the Apocryphal literature(books
written by ancient Jews which were not made part of the Bible), such as the
books of the Maccabees. In that literature and the Pseudepigrapha (literature
written in the name of an ancient and important character), angels grow in their
importance. Enoch 3 explains the function of various angels in a long list,
such as "Ram'amiel, who is in charge of thunder, Ra'asiel, who is charge of
earthquakes, Shalgiel, who is in charge of snow,”etc. Although
these texts did not become normative in the Jewish tradition, they do reflect
what ancient Jews were contemplating regarding angels.
In the Talmud, rabbinic commentary encompassing both
Jewish law and legend written in the years between 50BCE and 600 CE is
full of stories about angels. Angels argue with G-d, making a persuasive case
that human beings should not be created. Angels are also guardians of the very
people they thought should not exist! In the traditional prayers before
bedtime, we imagine Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael surrounding our bed.
Michael is commander in chief, Raphael is the healing angel, Gabriel is
the master of courage and Uriel is the angel of light.
The rabbis teach that two angels, one good and one
bad, follow us home on Shabbat. If we have prepared for Shabbat with candles,
challah and grape juice, the good angel exclaims, "May it be this way next
Shabbat as well” and the bad angel responds, "Amen.” If the house is not
prepared, the bad angel exclaims, "May it be this way next Shabbat” and the
good angel is required to affirm "Amen."
An angel is a "mal-ach” a messenger. Within Judaism,
angels are believed to be slightly superior to human beings and to work as
G-d's agents. At the same time, we have the ability to benefit from and to
beangels in our own lives based on our actions. We learn from the
4-5th century text, Tanchuma, Mishpatim, 19:
"If one
does a mitzvah, a commandment, one is given one angel. If one does two
commandments, one is given two, and if one does all the commandments, one is
given many angels. And who are these angels? They guard people against bad
things happening, they make peace for them.”
Wishing you many angels.
Shalom,