Julius What Are Angels?
What Are
Angels?
The Jewish belief in angels goes as far back as
the Book of Genesis, where we read about angels calling out to Abraham at the
binding of Isaac, angels appearing in Jacob's dream, Jacob fighting with an
angel, and many more accounts of angelic activity. Angels are then mentioned
numerous times throughout the other books of the Torah, Prophets, and
Scriptures.
According to Jewish tradition, an angel is a
spiritual being and does not have any physical characteristics. The angelic
descriptions provided by the prophets – such as wings, arms etc. – are
anthropomorphic, referring to their spiritual abilities and tasks.
Angel Names
The first angels mentioned by name in the Bible
are Gavriel (Gabriel) and Michael, in the Book of Daniel. In earlier books of
the Torah, when people asked angels to disclose their names, they refused; such
as in the abovementioned encounter of Jacob with the angel, and the story of
the angel who appeared to Samson's parents in the Book of Judges. The Jerusalem
Talmud comments that reference to angels by name only became common in the
period following the return of the Jewish people to Israel in 348 BCE. In the
Talmud and Kabbala many more angels are identified by name. Some other commonly
known names of angels include Uriel, Reziel, Metatron, and Laila.
Maimonides explains that all angels fall under one
of ten ranks. Namely: Chayot Hakodesh, Ophanim, Erelim, Chashmalim, Seraphim,
Malachim, Elokim, Bene Elokim, Cheruvim, and Ishim. These ranks refer to the
degree of the angel's comprehension of G d; some have a greater understanding
of G d and His ways than others.
Angel Functions
The Hebrew word for angel is "malach,"
which means messenger, for the angels are G d's messengers to perform various
missions. Every angel is "programmed" to perform certain tasks; such
as Michael who is dispatched on missions which are expressions of G d's
kindness; Gavriel, who executes G d's severe judgments; and Rafael, whose
responsibility it is to heal. Some angels are created for one specific task,
and upon the task's completion cease to exist. According to the Zohar one of
the angels' tasks is to transport our words of prayer and Torah-study before G
d's throne.
Another type of angels are those that are created
through the deeds of man. In the words of our Sages: "He who fulfills one
mitzvah, acquires for himself one angel-advocate; he who commits one
transgression, acquires against himself one angel-accuser." These are
formed from the (intellectual and emotional) energy which one invests in the
performance of a mitzvah, the study of Torah, or in prayer—or, conversely,
energy applied in the execution of a sin.
According to some schools of thought, the term
angel in Jewish literature can also refer to the rules of nature, which –
though ostensibly "natural" powers – are also G dly endowed powers;
His messengers that perform His will.
In our daily prayers we refer to the songs of
praise which the angels sing before G d. The angels have "shifts,"
singing at designated times of day or night. The type of praise they sing
reflects the particular angel's spiritual status. The angels' singing is
alluded to in the abovementioned story of Jacob's fight with the angel, at the
end of which the angel pleaded with Jacob to free him "for the dawn has
risen." According to the Midrash, the angel's rush was because his shift
to sing before G d had arrived. Similarly, according to the Midrash, when Moses
spent forty days studying with G d, he knew what time of day it was based on
the changing shifts of the angels' singing.
Assuming Human Form
There is some debate among the great Jewish
philosophers whether the angels that the Torah describes as appearing actually
assumed a visible physical form, or they appeared in the course of a spiritual
vision or prophecy—in which the angels appeared as physical beings. According
to all approaches, however, seeing an angel requires extra-sensory perception,
as the bodies of the angels are not comprised of all the basic elements of a
physical being.
Angels vs. Humans
Notwithstanding the great spiritual level of the
angels, the holiness of the Jewish soul supersedes that of the angel. Only the
Jewish soul has the ability to descend to this physical and corporeal world and
refine and elevate it. For the human's divine soul is a "veritable piece
of G d Above," a "piece" of the Creator; as opposed to the
angels which are creations—albeit very holy ones.
This reflects itself in that fact that angels are
one-dimensional: each angels has one specific form of Divine service. The human
soul, on the other hand, serves G d in many different ways, expressing itself
through love, awe, etc.
In the Tanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi writes
that he heard from his masters that "if one angel were to stand in the
presence of a gathering of ten Jews, even if there were no words of Torah
[being discussed] between them, such a boundless and infinite terror and dread
would then befall him on account of the Divine Presence that abides over them,
that he would become utterly nullified!"
Furthermore, angels have no free-choice and are
pre-programmed to serve G d, whereas the human is entrusted with the mission of
serving G d—but is given the freedom to choose to do otherwise. As such, the
mitzvot performed by the human are of much greater value than the angels'
service, and propel him or her to infinitely greater spiritual heights, as
opposed to the angels who are "trapped" in a consistent level of
spiritual consciousness.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch once described
the feelings he experienced while reciting the daily morning prayers:
"When I recite the part of prayer which describes the praise that the
angels sing before G d, I envy them. But when I read the Shema, the praise that
the Jew sings before G d, I wonder: 'Where have all the angels gone?'"
Footnotes
The first explicit mention of angels in the Torah
is in Genesis 16:7, when an angel appeared to Hagar when she was fleeing her
mistress Sarah's home. In the Midrash, however, angels appear much earlier in
history. According to differing Midrashic accounts, angels were first created
either on the second or fifth day of creation.
Ariel your Representee,
Representee of Ephraim and adviser (not a rabbi but friendly adviser) for Bet Yisrael international on the Har HaBayit and to all the Israeli people.
I am born in Holland and became on a later age a Ba’al Teshuva: Originally, the term referred to a Jew who transgressed the halacha (Jewish law) knowingly or unknowingly and completed a process of introspection to "return" to the full observance of Elohim's mitzvot. Read my story.
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