Vayishlach: Angels Among Us 4. Jacob sent angels ahead of him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. - Bereshit 32:4
ׁשלַח יַעֲק ֹב ַמלְָאכִים ְל ָפנָיו אֶל ֵעׂשָו ָאחִיו ְ ִ ַוּי.ד :ׂשעִיר ׂשְדֵ ה אֱדֹום ֵ ַארצָה ְ
Jacob sent angels. “Literally, angels,” Rashi insists, as the Hebrew word malachim could also be defined as “messengers,” which would make much more sense. Later that night, Jacob wrestles a “man” all night, despite the text telling us that he (Jacob) was alone. Several sources (Rabbi Hama ben Hanina, Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer) write that this “man” is actually an angel. What is an angel? What are these sometimes corporal, sometimes energetic manifestations that arrive to deliver our messages, save us from harm, and keep us up all night in a struggle? I.
Angels as manifestations of righteousness
Rashi’s claim that Jacob sends angels is supported with a citation to Bereshit Rabbah 75:4. There, the Rabbis explain that it is Jacob’s righteousness and status as “beloved” that gives him this ability to gather and dispatch angels. Indeed, Rashi’s commentary on last week’s parsha describes Jacob as having “beauty,” “splendor,” and “majesty,” as a result of his righteousness. These qualities cling to Jacob when he enters a city and leaves with him when he departs. In Psalm 34:8, we are told that angels of the Divine “surround those who are in awe of God.” Something about Jacob was so kind, awake, and connected that he manifested angels around him. I think angels in this context are a type of loving presence that follows truly holy and openhearted people. Spiritual giants like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Abraham Joshua Heschel are often remembered as much for the content of their teachings as for the light they embodied and spread to others. “After an encounter with him,” Samuel Dresner wrote of Heschel, “it was not unusual for people to come away with the feeling that one of the prophets of Israel had suddenly risen up before them.” Why? Because, Dresner explains, “he wrote what he thought and lived what he wrote.” (I Asked for Wonder, xii). People can sense and feel this type of spiritual integrity and wisdom, and frequently want to be around that energy.
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If we are lucky, some of us have encountered people in our own lives whose kindness, authenticity and generosity gives them the spiritual “splendor” that Rashi describes. To me, these people’s presences often feel spacious, loving and light, and they inspire us to bring our own light into the world. Perhaps these cycles of love and goodness are the angels’ breeding ground. Perhaps it was this type of energy (or humans inspired by this type of energy) who served as Jacob’s messengers at the beginning of the parsha. II.
Angels as saviors
There are many instances of angels as saviors in the Torah. An angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac in the akedah. An angel takes Lot and his wife by the hand and forcibly removes them from their burning city. An angel speaks to a crying and distraught Hagar in the desert, directing her eyes to water and sustenance. In these instances, angels are the machinery of compassion that emerge when danger is present. I’ve had several run-ins with these types of angels in my life. A gentleman once tapped me on the shoulder in a busy airport, waking me up right as my flight was about to take off. Someone returned my wallet to me after it fell out of my bag on a crowded New York City street with all the contents intact. Perhaps my most vivid angel encounter, however, was when I began to faint on the subway on the way to work many years ago– a combination of low blood sugar and the onslaught of the flu. Coated in sweat, vision blurring and my limbs going numb, I made my way off the train car and onto the platform. Suddenly, by my side, a woman appeared who helped me find a seat, opened up her lunch box, and supplied me with food and water while staying with me for the next 30 minutes until I could properly walk again. Of course, I’m not suggesting this woman was an actual emissary from heaven (although one can never be sure), but the strength of her kindness when I was in a frightening and difficult situation was so powerful and left such an indelible impact on me that it felt graced with something divine. Psalms 8:5 asks, “What is man, that you should remember him, and the son of man, that you should be mindful of him? Yet You have made him slightly less than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and majesty.” These saviors, menches, and givers of love in the world truly exemplify that spirit – acting with goodness only “slightly less than the angels.” III.
Angels as Transformation
We are still left with the enigmatic nameless angel with whom Jacob wrestles all night long. Who or what is this angel trying to communicate? What message was he sent to deliver?
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In the wrestling match, Jacob insists that the angel give him a blessing: 27. And he (the angel) said, "Let me go, for dawn is breaking," but he (Jacob) said, "I will not let you go unless you have blessed me." 28. So he said to him, "What is your name?" and he said, "Jacob." 29. And he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with [an angel of] God and with men, and you have prevailed." - Bereshit 32:27-29
ּׁשחַר וַּי ֹאמֶר ֹלא ָ ׁש ְּל ֵחנִי ּכִי ָעלָה ַה ַ וַּי ֹאמֶר.כז :ׁש ֵּלחֲָך ּכִי אִם ּב ֵַרכְּתָ נִי ַ ֲא :ּׁשמֶָך וַּי ֹאמֶר יַעֲק ֹב ְ וַּי ֹאמֶר ֵאלָיו מַה.כח ׁשמְָך ּכִי אִם ִ וַּי ֹאמֶר ֹלא יַעֲק ֹב י ֵָאמֵר עֹוד.כט יִׂש ְָראֵל ּכִי ׂש ִָריתָ עִם אֱֹלהִים ְועִם ֲאנָׁשִים :וַּתּוכָל
Jacob finds his blessing in the struggle with the angel. He leaves the wrestling match a transformed man- in body, with a dislocated hip, in name, Israel, and in spirit : "I saw an angel face to face, and my soul was saved," he says (Chapter 32:31). He is closer to God. He is able to reconcile with his brother. He becomes spiritually mature. Rabbi David Cooper beautifully describes this transformative quality of angels in his book, Invoking Angels, and on his blog: It is said that every blade of grass has an angel hovering over it, calling to it, saying: “Grow!” The instant the angel calls forth a single urge to grow, it fades away. In the next moment another angel appears over the blade of grass, and it calls out, “Grow!” It too then instantly disappears, while yet another and another and another angel appears, fresh in every moment, urging the grass to Grow! Thus, every single blade of grass has untold trillions of angels attending it, urging it to live. So too every leaf, every living being, and indeed every atom has its angels urging it to move, to fly, to be whatever it is.
Jacob’s angel shows up as his wrestling partner in order to whisper the “grow!” that Jacob needed to hear. Although limping and in pain from the fight, Jacob emerges as who he is meant to be – Israel – the father of our nation.
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