The Angeles Micha'el, Gabriel, and Rephael in the Bible

Micha’el in the Bible
In this article, we will concentrate on the names of the three angels: Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el. The name Micha’el appears 13 times in the entire Tanach (Bible). Since 13 is the gematria of “love,” in Hebrew (אהבה ), this is a beautiful example of self-reference, as Micha’el is the angel of loving-kindness whose inner experience is love. It is also the gematria of “one” (אחד ), thus completing the reference to Abraham as well, as Abraham is called both “Abraham, who loves Me [God]” and “Abraham was one.” As we shall see, 13 appears prominently in everything related to Micha’el.


Three out of these 13 appearances are as the name of the angel Micha’el and the remaining are names of men. All three times Micha’el is the name of an angel appear in the book of Daniel and if we take the sum of “Micha’el” and “Daniel,” we get a perfect square, a numerical sign of wholeness: מיכאל דניאל = 142 = דוד · דוד


The first time that the name appears is in reference to one of the spies1 that Moshe Rabbeinu sent to the Land of Israel. The verse there is: “For the tribe of Asher, Stur, the son of Micha’el,”2 למטה אשר סתור בן מיכאל . The verse divides neatly both grammatically (based on where a comma would be) and numerically (the two halves are both multiples of 13), based on the golden ratio (2:3 words and 7:11 letters, in this case). The first two words, למטה אשר equal 585 = 13 · 45, or אהבה · 45, while the last three words סתור בן מיכאל equal 819 = 13 · 63 or אהבה · 63 (819 is also the gematria of “simple oneness,” אחדות פשוטה , an important idiom describing the Oneness of the Almighty); both 45 and 63 are fillings of God’s essential Name, Havayah.


Since the name “Micha’el” appears as both the name of a man and the name of an angel let us look at these two words. The word “angel,” in Hebrew, מלאך is equal to 91, which is also r13, the triangle of 13, or the sum of integers from 1 to 13. The word for “man,” אדם is equal to 45, or r9. These two triangles divide the word “one,” אחד , along a golden ratio, in this case 3:2, as all three letters together, אחד = 13, and the first two letters אח = 9. Adding the two words together אדם מלאך we get 136, which is also a triangular number, 16.


Looking at the 13 appearances of this name in the Tanach, we find that 3 times it appears with the conjunctive “and” before it: ומיכאל . The sum of all 13 times, 10 times מיכאל and 3 times ומיכאל is 1331 = 113. 1331 is also משיח in mispar kidmi (אבגדהוזחטיכלמ אבגדהוזחטיכלמנסעפצרקש אבגדהוזחטי אבגדהוזח = 1331).

Gavri’el and Repha’el in the Bible
The name “Gavri’el” appears twice in the Tanach, both in the Book of Daniel and both times as the name of the angel. If we add these three names together: “Daniel, Micha’el, Gavri’el” דניאל מיכאל גבריאל we get 442 = טוב · יהוה , or “good” times “Havayah.” The initials of these three names spell מגד .
Repha’el appears only once in the Tanach as the name of a man.


From this we can say that it is indeed Micha’el who is the angel that connects the heavens and the earth (angel and man) together.
Let us sum all the appearances of the names of the three angels. We have: 13 · מיכאל ┴ 3 · גבריאל ┴ רפאל = 2116 = 462! Indeed, 46 is the midpoint of 91, the numerical value of “angel,” מלאך .

Micha’el the minister
It is from the book of Daniel that we learn that Micha’el is the ministering angel of the Jewish people. When speaking to Daniel, the angel Gavri’el mentions Micha’el three times:


The first time he describes him as “Micha’el one of the first ministers,” מיכאל אחד השרים הראשנים . The gematria of this phrase is 1275 = 50.


The second time he says: “Micha’el, your minister,” מיכאל שרכם .


The third time he calls him: “Micha’el the great minister,” מיכאל השר הגדול ; “the minister,” in Hebrew, השר is a permutation of “Sarah,” שרה , whose numerical value, as we saw yesterday, is 505 = 5 · מיכאל .


The sum of all three phrases is: מיכאל אחד השרים הראשנים מיכאל שרכם מיכאל השר הגדול = 2590 = 70 · 37, the significance of which will be explained shortly.
The initials of these nine words are: מאהה מש מהה = 441, or אמת , “truth,” = 212, or אהיה · אהיה , one of the Names of the Almighty. אהיה ┴ אהיה = 42, and there are 42 letters in all nine words.


Indeed, Daniel also saw these same three angels without referring to them by name. He simply describes them as “three people,” שלשה אנשים , which equals 1036 = 28 · 37. Recall, that above we saw that all three descriptions of Micha’el that appear in Daniel also equal a multiple of 37 (2590 = 70 · 37). But these two numbers, 2590 and 1036 share a higher denominator, 518 since 2590 = 5 · 518 and 1036 = 2 · 518. Two numbers that share a common denominator are congruent. Here, the common denominator is 518, while the multiplicands are 5 and 2. 5 and 2 are the most important division of 7, and as mentioned in the recent past, they constitute the numerical essence of the Hebrew word for “gold,”זהב , where the first letter ז = 7, and the last two letters ה and ב equal 5 and 2 respectively, giving us the equation 7 = 5 ┴ 2. Indeed, the common denominator 518 is itself a multiple of “gold,” since 518 = זהב · 37, or: 14 · 37

Micha’el Mission of blessing
Micha’el’s mission was to bring the news of Isaac’s birth to Abraham and Sarah. In the previous article, we saw that the angel Micha’el elevates a married couple to experience fraternal love in their relationship, a necessary component for the procreation of the lineage of the Mashiach. It follows that we should look at the gematria of “Abraham, Micha’el, Sarah”: אברהם מיכאל שרה = 854, which is also the numerical value of the first of the three priestly blessings:3 “May God bless you and safeguard you,” יברכך יהוה וישמרך . The sages explain that the words “bless you” in this blessing refer to blessing you with boys and the words “safeguard you” refer to safeguarding you with girls. Indeed, as explained in length in our forthcoming book on the mathematics of the Priestly Blessing, the three blessings correspond to the three patriarchs; the first of course corresponds to Abraham.


The initials of Abraham, Micha’el, and Sarah are אמש , the three ”mother letters” of the Hebrew language, whose gematria is 341 and the value of the connotation of God with which we end the first benediction of the Amida: “the Shield of Abraham,” מגן אברהם .4

The Hidden meanings of Micha’el
A notrikon is a phonetic method, whereby the syllables that make up a word are taken as separate units that refer to whole words, which usually make up a phrase from the Tanach, or an idiom of the sages. As such, the notrikon of a word is used as one of the principles of analysis of the Torah and has the power to reveal hidden meanings of words. So to end today’s teaching, let us see some of the various notrikons related to the name “Micha’el”:


"Who is like You among the powerful, God”5 – מי כמכה באלם ה'

“Who is like you, a nation whose salvation is in God”6 and “Jeshurun, there is none like God.”7 These two verses, which are part of Moshe Rabbeinu’s blessing before his death, link the greatness of God with the greatness of the Jewish people who believe that their salvation comes from God alone; and in Hebrew: מי כמוך עם נושע בה' and אין כאל ישרון .

“Who is as powerful as You”8 – מי אל כמוך , the first of the thirteen principles of mercy as stated in the prophets. It corresponds to the first principle of mercy stated by Moshe in Exodus, אל , “powerful,” which is the Name of God corresponding to the sefirah of loving-kindness, as does the angel Micha’el.

The most important and revealing notrikon of all is: “Who is like Havayah our God,”9 מי כיהוה אלהינו , which appears in the first of the Psalms that we recite during Hallel. The remaining letters are יהוה הינו , whose numerical value is 97, the value of מהיטבאל , the name that contains the secrets of the unification of מה and בן , as explained in length in the writings of the Arizal. Let us quote this verse in context:

Who is like Havayah our God, Who sits on high, Who stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth….He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyous mother of children, Haleluyah.

That the Almighty “stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth” is an allusion to God entering as the Divine Presence between a man and a woman in order to allow them to procreate, as the sages say: “There are three partners in [the creation] of a human, his father, his mother, and the Almighty.” We have seen that this relates to the angel Micha’el who was given this mission by God. The first barren woman who gave birth is Sarah, who merited giving birth to Isaac. When Isaac was born Sarah said, “God has given me laughter,” indicating her joyous state.
1. See Numbers chapter 13.

2. Ibid. 13:13.

3. Numbers

4. Based on the verse: “Fear not Abraham for I am shielding, your reward greatly.” Abraham’s reward, as explained in the Midrash was that he would have offspring who could shield others, which is where the idea of the shield of David and the shield of Solomon originates. All three shields, Abraham’s, David’s, and Solomon’s were fashioned with a star on them. Abraham’s was an eight-pointed star, David’s a six-pointed star, and Solomon’s a five-pointed star. This is the basis for our design of Eve’s Shield, an elegant gold pendant, which can be seen at: http://www.inner.org/goldjewelry/aboutjewelry/abouteveshield.php.

5. Exodus 15:11.

6. Deuteronomy 33:29.

7. Ibid. 33:26.

8. Micah 7:18.

9. Psalms 113:5.



courtesy of Inner.org

RIGHTEOUS AND JUST

By Simon Jacobson

Identifying a single incident – or statement – that, in retrospect, changed the entire course of history, is one of the most exhilarating discoveries.

We have one such verse in this week’s Torah portion: For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep G-d’s way, to do righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:19).

Indeed, therein lays the secret of Abraham’s eternal success. As the sequence of the verses suggests: The previous verse states, Abraham is about to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed. And the reason is given in the next sentence: For I know him, that… his children and his household will... do righteousness and justice. Abraham and his nation’s greatness and might are a result of their commitment to the just and righteous path.

This may be the first and earliest documented episode of humans adopting the most powerful moral mandate: To do what is right and just.

As benign and correct as this life choice resonates within us, the disturbing fact is that, despite Abraham’s commitment, the path of righteousness and justice would not come natural and easy to the human condition. It would take literally thousands of years for the idea to take hold and become the standard of virtue in the world at large.

Living in our free world today, it may be hard to imagine that institutionalized values of freedom, justices and righteousness are relatively new to our governments and institutions – merely a few centuries old. Before the 18th century nations were ruled by monarchs and despots, some of who may have been benevolent, but most were not and regardless, righteousness and justice was not the Divine right of the masses.

It was the American Revolution that embraced man’s Divine human rights, in its Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Reading this historical declaration and its appeal for “justice and magnanimity” and despair at those leaders “deaf to the voice of justice” provides us with an accurate depiction of the state of world affairs from the beginning of time. The ruling power was not justice and righteousness, but the people in control. From one end of the globe to the other, individuals ruled, often with tyranny and force, and their citizens were subject to their mercy. There were undoubtedly individuals throughout history that chose a path of peace, kindness and justice. From time to time there sprung up movements and life approaches that followed or were inspired by Abraham’s life, which helped plant the seeds of democracy. But these were exceptions, and they definitely did not create generations or nations that followed their personal philosophies.

So it’s quite remarkable to go back 3721 years to the time when Abraham made his momentous move, and pioneered the path to keep G-d’s way, to do righteousness and justice.” And this was not merely his personal choice; this became the defining principle that would shape and permeate Abraham’s “children and household,” for generations to come.

It’s quite amazing when you think about it: G-d knew and trusted that

It’s one thing to make a personal promise. But how many of us can be sure what our children and households would embrace? And not for one generation, but for over 90 generations, till this very day!

Easy it wasn’t. Indeed, this commitment to virtue cost many lives and caused much anguish. For thousands of years empire after empire persecuted those committed to an authority greater than theirs. Righteousness and justice had to be fought for, every step of the way.

Yet, Abraham’s “children and household” held on to the commitment. They maintained it and endured through their Egyptian slavery, through their suffering at the hands of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, and Romans. Their dedication to Abraham’s just path continued despite the hellish Crusades and Middle Ages, through the Inquisitions, expulsions and pogroms. And finally, through the horrors of the Holocaust in the 20th Century.

Through all these nightmares of history Abraham’s “children and household” did not just hold up their commitment; they exported it and spread the light unto nations, even to those nations that tormented them.

A nation with such vigilance and fortitude deserves to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed.

And indeed, who has prevailed? Not the tyrants, not the killers and persecutors. Not they and not their families have remained. The world has become a more righteous and just place. Nations today are ruled by laws guaranteeing human rights, with freedoms unheard of just a few hundred years ago. And Abraham’s “children and household” are here to tell the story.

Many, many lessons can be gleaned from this ultimate story of history. Above all, it is the story of our own lives, or better yet, our own personal choices

Today, we are not asked to pioneer a new path of justice and virtue. We stand on the shoulders of Abraham and his children and students. Yet, in our own way we are all faced with moral choices every moment of our lives. Each of us in our heart knows that the battle is not over. Despite our freedoms and all the great advances made over the millennia, we still are faced with our individual vices, driven by self-interest and greed.

Abraham’s mandate is as important today as ever. And his persistence teaches us the power of one individual’s choice, how much it can accomplish.

When your turn comes – and when does it not? – will you be an Abraham?
~~~~~

When You Feel Dead Inside (the way I do; alot)

B”H

The Desire for Desires

By Yosef Y. Jacobson


Ignorance & Apathy

What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? A man asked his friend.
-- I don’t know and I don’t care, was his response.


Midnight Lecture

A Jewish man is speeding along the highway at 1 a.m. A policeman stops him and asks, "Where are you racing at this hour?"

"To a lecture," the man responds.

"Who will give you a lecture at this hour?" the policeman wonders.

"My wife," he replies.

The Cruse of Oil

This week, Jews the world over will read a biblical tale about an impoverished widow, a kind prophet and a cruse of oil, described in the Book of Kings (1). Here is the story:

"A woman, the wife of one of the prophets, called out to Elisha: 'My husband, your servant, has died, and you know that your servant was G-d fearing -- now the creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves'(2).

"Said Elisha to her, 'What can I do for you? Tell me, what have you in your home?'

"She answered: 'Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a cruse of oil.'

"He said, 'Go borrow vessels for yourself from the outside, from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few.

"Then go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children; pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

The woman obeyed. "They brought her and she poured. When all the vessels were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' He said to her, 'There are no more vessels.' And the oil stopped.

"She came and told the man of G-d (Elisha), and he said, 'Go sell the oil and pay your creditors, and you and your sons will live on the remainder.'"

What’s the Relevance?

On the surface, this is a story about a compassionate prophet willing to lend a hand to help a lone, destitute widow who lost her husband and is about to lose her children. The prophet performs a miracle of an endless oil flow that saves the woman's family and economy.

Yet, a basic axiom of Jewish tradition is that the true significance of the Bible lies not in the historical tales it records or the ancient figures it depicts, but in the messages these tales and figureheads hold for our lives today. The Torah -- including every episode, event and law transcribed therein – as its name indicates (Torah means teachings) was meant to constitute a blueprint for living, a spiritual road map for the complicated, painful and stressful voyage of each human being on our small but very hectic planet (3).

But how can we personally relate to this story? Most of us do not profess to be prophets or miracle workers. Though it would actually be nice to have an Elisha who could secure our oil flow, and spare us from dependency on the Middle East, that is not the case at the moment. So how can this tale of a widow, a prophet and a cruse of oil serve as a source for inspiration and guidance in our contemporary lives?

A Young Man's Cry

Two hundred years ago, in the first decade of the 19th century, a young man entered the chambers of one of the great Jewish thinkers and personalities of the time, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. The young man's question was simple: "I feel numb, frozen and apathetic; my insides are dead. What should I do?"

Rabbi Schneur Zalman, a person of profound love, extraordinary wisdom and intense spirituality shared with his distressed young pupil the tale of the widow and the prophet, and proceeded to demonstrate how this ancient biblical story contained a response to the young man's loneliness.

I wish to present to you -- in my own words -- this insight of Rabbi Schneur Zalman (4).

A Dead Soul

The soul of a human being has been compared to a woman -- a wife of G-d, as it were (5).

Why? Because the soul represents that part of our identity that is in a perpetual relationship with G-d, described as “the husband.” A husband and a wife, even when they have issues with each other, are still in a relationship. They can love each other or hate each other, but they can't be indifferent to each other. The soul is that part of our self that cannot ignore G-d.

But then comes the day when the woman cries out about her husband's death -- the death of her divine spark. She turns to the prophet, representing G-d, and says, "My husband, your servant –- the divine energy-field within me -- has died and you know that your servant was G-d fearing." The Hebrew term for "my husband" (eishi) may also be translated as "my fire." This is the cry of many a human being: My soul used to have a flame, but today it is completely extinguished. I have become apathetic to any deeper, spiritual reality of life. I am numb, detached and lifeless. G-d has become meaningless to me.
If Boredom is the desire for desires (as Tolstoy put it in Anna Karenina), this soul can be described as genuinely bored. Gone is the sense of mystery, the quest to embrace.
“I’d rather die of exhaustion than of boredom,” a wise man once remarked. Indeed, the death that comes from boredom and apathy could be extremely painful.

An Enslaved Heart

Even worse, cries the soul, "the creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves."

Love and awe, closeness and distance, affection and discipline, these two polar forces have been dubbed in Kabbalah as the two "children" of their intellectual progenitors. Emotions are born and molded by awareness and cognition; the mind is the parent and the heart is the child. The two primary emotions, or children, are attraction and rejection, since every existing emotion is either a form of attraction or a form of rejection (6).

Everybody experiences attraction and rejection in his or her life. Everybody loves and everybody despises. We gravitate and we recoil; we love and we fear. The question is, toward whom and toward what?

Do you love people or do you love gossip? Do you love truth or do you love addiction? Do you love depth or do you love superficiality? Do you love justice and righteousness or do you love instant gratification and crave the transient? Are you attracted to your soul or are you drawn to externality or even promiscuity? We all have fear. But from what? From losing our human dignity or from exposing our true selves? From people or from G-d?

Thus is the cry of the numb human being: My soul is dead, and my emotions have been manipulated and enslaved. I do not own my love or my awe anymore. I have been robbed of them; they are owned by forces outside of me. "The creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves."

Whence the Romance?

A similar outcry is often heard from a couple struggling in a relationship.

Perhaps over the years you shared magical moments with each other; there were times when heaven bestowed its grace on your union, and romance flowed from your lips like milk and honey. You were madly in love.

But now, the relationship is suffocating. The love is gone and the magic dead. Your heart is devoid of any feelings and your spouse drains you. At such a dreadful moment, you turn to G-d, or to a friend, or a marriage counselor and you cry out: Whence the romance? Whence the electricity? What happened to that part of me that could explode in love toward my partner?

An Artificial Heart

A similar cry may often be heard from an emotionally crippled adult.

You grew up in a dysfunctional environment. Your father or your mother (or both) never uttered the words every child craves to hear and feel, "I love you." You have never been taught to feel your emotions and express them in an appropriate fashion. Now, when it is your turn to build relationships with your children, you find yourself incapable of experiencing and expressing real emotions. You're locked. You feel that you possess an artificial heart and you hate it.

The Human Story

"Said Elisha to her: 'What can I do for you? -- Tell me, what have you in your home?'

She answered: 'Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a cruse of oil.'"

The first and most moving divine response to an impoverished soul is, "What can I do for you?" In effect, the response seems to mean that I can't really be of help to you!

Why? Because the drama of human life lay precisely in the fact that it is the only story not written by G-d. G-d can inspire it, create all of the revolving circumstances and even predict it, but never write it (7).

The real question, G-d is saying, is not "What can I do for you?" but rather "What do you have in your home?" You must search within yourself for the answer to your crisis. The answer to human pain must ultimately come from man himself.

"I have nothing," the woman cries. "There is nothing left of my soul. I am spiritually and emotionally dead."

Really? If you were truly dead, why are you in pain? If you don't care, why do you care about the fact that you're don’t care?

The woman thus qualifies her previous statement. "Yes, I do have something left in my home that was not taken away." A cruse of oil (8).

Who Are You?

What is the uniqueness of oil? When you mix pure oil with any other liquid the oil remains aloof, never forfeiting its identity in the conglomeration of many other liquids (9).

Oil, therefore, represents the core of cores of human identity -- a dimension of self that remains unsoiled and untouched by all of life's experiences (10).

Can you close your eyes, take a deep breath, meditate for a few moments, and then describe your core? When all the layers, including the subconscious layers, are stripped, what will emerge?

Jewish mysticism gives us four cardinal laws to characterize the human core (or any core), termed "etzem" in Hebrew: It is undefined, unchangeable, indivisible and non-experiential. The most innate dimension of a human life is not defined by anything or anybody outside of itself. It is not a composite of distinct forces that combine to make up the final product called man. Rather, it is a self-contained reality that is defined exclusively within and by itself.

If you attempt to describe your essence, to capture it in words, feelings, or awareness -- it is not the core anymore. The only thing that can capture essence is the essence itself. The moment you attempt to "capture" it, to put it in a "box" and transport it to another domain, you have lost the pristine core.

This unshakable core -- the essence of human dignity -- is the "cruse of oil" that could never be taken from you. It is what makes you -- you; it can't be understood, mimicked or manipulated by anybody else. It can't be manipulated even by you yourself.

Why Are We In Therapy?

It may be that the primary cause for the deep insecurity and lack of confidence that plague countless women and men today is their lack of identification with this inner "cruse of oil."

Many of us have come to believe that we are merely a conglomeration of various genes, chemicals and DNA. But does my “self” own a core that is uniquely mine? Judaism teaches that at the core of all the forces governing our lives lays a tiny but untouchable "cruse of oil" bestowing upon us an inexhaustible source of self hood.

Your emotions may be faint and your soul may be dead, but your "cruse of oil" is always present. That part of your life that stands face to face with G-d's essence -- essence to essence -- never dies. It may be buried for decades but it is never dead.

Hollow Vessels

Now, the prophet Elisha turns to the widow and says, "Go borrow vessels for yourself from the outside, from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few. Then go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children; pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

Empty and borrowed vessels serve as a metaphor for uninspired robot-like actions that are empty of passion and enthusiasm, actions which we could never call "our own" since our heart and soul are not present in these actions.

"Go borrow vessels from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few," says the prophet of G-d.

Act, act more and act even more.

Continue to perform G-dly, moral and sacred deeds, many good and G-dly deeds, even if they seem borrowed and empty to you.

As for an empty marriage -- make sure to act lovingly, though you may feel that your spouse is a burden. Fill your life with thousands of empty vessels, with numerous acts of "borrowed love" in which your own heart is not present. Husbands: Go out and buy roses, wash the dishes, put the kids to sleep, pick up the groceries, write cards. Each and every day perform acts of love and kindness toward your women.

As for a closed-heart parent attempting to educate his or her children -- approach your children, embrace them and tell them how you much love them. Your heart may be locked and your emotions stifled -- we do not care. We want empty vessels. As many empty vessels as we can get.

What's the Point?

You know what happens next?

"Go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children," says Elisha. "Pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

"They brought her and she poured. When all the vessels were full she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' He said to her, 'There are no more vessels. And the oil stopped."

Every so often in life (it may be once a month, once in three months, or once a year), our "cruse of oil" emerges, if only for a few fleeting moments. If it has no "vessels" to fill, it emerges but then "returns" to its hiding place in the core of cores of the human identity. We remain hungry for our core, but we have no way of accessing it again till the next time it emerges.

But if when the essence of your soul emerges it finds "waiting" for it hundreds or thousands of empty vessels, it will begin to flow and flow until every empty vessel is filled with the dignity, depth and meaning of the divine essence of the human spirit.

Praying When You're Not in the Mood

This, then, was Rabbi Schnuer Zalman's response to a young man, attempting to live a Jewish life based on the principles and guidelines of the Torah and its mitzvos, and yet feeling indifferent and uninspired.

Who among us can't relate to this man's quandary? How many of us could claim that each morning as we awake we are in the mood of wrapping tefilin (phylacteries), meditating on the soul and praying to G-d for an hour? How many mitzvos in our daily lives become an exercise in boredom and sluggishness?

At some point many a person asks himself, "What's the point? If I would feel G-d, living a life of Torah and mitzvos would be an awesome experience. But most of the time I don't feel G-d; my mitzvos are hollow, empty acts!"

Yet, a day not too far away will come, when your "cruse of oil" will indeed emerge. Those who with sweat and toil constructed "empty vessels" in their lives, when their matching moment arrives, their days and nights shall become filled with the endless profundity and dignity of their Divine core.
For many of us, it is impossible to live a life of perpetual inner vitality and inspiration; but we are capable of filling our lives with empty vessels, with a schedule saturated with meaningful acts and experiences. When the moment will come and your soul will peek out from its inner core, its life force and inspiration will fill all of your empty vessels with life.
~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:
1) Kings 2 chapter 4.
2) According to our sages, the widow was the husband of the late prophet Obadiah who spent all his money on oil for the lamps that lit the two caves that hid the last 100 Jewish authentic prophets from the wicked king Ahab and his, even more, evil wife Jezebel. This story takes us back about 2720 years, in the Jewish year 3040 since creation, or 720 BCE (around 300 years before the first temple was destroyed).
3) This fundamental axiom concerning the Bible is beautifully explained in Zohar vol. 3 53b.
4) Published in Maamarei Admur Hazalan Haktzarim pp. 136-138. Quoted and explained in Likkutei Sichos vol. 5 pp. 332-335; Sefer Hammamrum Melukat vol. 4 pp. 43-50.
5) See Maamarei Admur Hazakan ibid. Cf. Song of Songs and many of the commentaries to the book. Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah chapter 10. Many ideas in the Talmud, Midrash and Kabbalah are based on this metaphor.
6) Tanya chapter 3.
7) See Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah chapter 5.
8) This explains why the widow first stated that she has nothing, and then proceeded to say that she possesses a cruise of oil. In the soul's mind, she has nothing left to call her own. Yet her very pain about it demonstrates that the situation is far from hopeless (this idea, a beautiful addition to the discourse of Rabbi Schnuer Zalman, was presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe during a 1964 talk. Likkutei Sichos vol. 5 ibid.)
9) See mishnah Tevul Yom 2:5.
10) See Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat vol. 6 p. 72 and references noted there.
11) The significance of closing the door is, that if you wish that your cruise of oil fill your life with inner meaning and fulfillment, you must put a stop to your addictive hobbits and your immoral actions. You must shut the door and now allow your urges and impulses become enslaved to foreign forces.

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Angelic missions

Our insights into parshat Vayeira will focus on the three angelic visitors that appear to Abraham three days after his circumcision and then continue on to Sodom to destroy it and save Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Undoubtedly, one of the most interesting topics to those interested in spirituality is angels. What exactly are they? How do they function? What is their role?, etc.

In this article, we will focus on a well-known limitation of angelic action: one angel cannot perform two missions. Seemingly, for this reason, three angels were sent to Abraham in order to perform three different missions. This limitation may surprise many people because it means that angels have been delegated a very one-track existence. An angel, a true messenger of God, cannot veer left or right. It is always committed to fulfilling its purpose, but that purpose is relatively more simplistic than the purpose of a human soul.


In any case, the definition of what constitutes a mission (to which an angel cannot add another mission) will be our topic today.


The second verse of our parshah reads:1


And he [Abraham] lifted his eyes and gazed, and behold, three men were standing before him; he saw, then he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent and prostrated himself to the ground.


Explaining the three words, “behold, three men,” in the verse, Rashi writes:


One [man] to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah, and one to destroy Sodom, and one to heal Abraham, because one angel does not perform two missions. This is understood because throughout the entire narrative, scripture refers to them in the plural: “they ate,” “they said to him.” But, when the news [of Isaac’s impending birth] was given it says: “He said: ‘I will surely return to you.’” And when Sodom was destroyed, it says: “For I will not be able to do anything” and “I will not destroy.” And Raphael, who healed Abraham, went from there to save Lot. This is also in accordance with the verse: “It came to pass that when they took them outside, he [the angel] said, ‘Flee for your life.’” From all of this it is apparent that only one [of the angles] acted as a deliverer.


On this same subject, in the Talmud we read the following:


And who were these “three men?” They were Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el. Micha’el came to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah; Repha’el came to heal Abraham; Gavri’el went to destroy Sodom. [Asks the Talmud:] And yet it says “The two angels came in the evening to Sodom” [so there were two, not one who went to destroy Sodom]? [The answer is] that Micha’el accompanied him [Gavri’el] in order to save Lot. And this [that only Gavri’el destroyed Sodom] can be gleaned from the verse that says: “And he destroyed these cities,” and it does not say “And they destroyed.” Learn from this!


The Tosafot, the medieval collection of commentaries on the Talmud write in their gloss:


“He who went to save Lot.” This is perplexing, for in Bereisheet Rabbah it says that a single angel does not perform two tasks. We must therefore say that here Micha’el performed only one task when he came to bring the news to Sarah. And when he left [Sarah] and went to Sodom, a new task began; in one place an angel does not perform two tasks.
Now, in Bereisheet Rabbah it says that the angel that came to save Lot was Repha’el, and the healing of Abraham is not accounted for. But, even if he [Repha’el] came also to heal Abraham, this would still be considered a single task, because healing and saving are considered the same matter.
Our master, Rabbi Elchanan raised a difficulty: From the verses it seems that there were two angels involved in saving him [Lot]. It says: “And the men held his hand,” and it says “they took him out and left him outside the city.” And only later does it say that the angel that came to destroy Sodom said to him: “For I will not be able to do a thing until you get there [to Tzo’ar].” So we have to say that both of them [Micha’el and Gavri’el] took him out of the city; Micha’el escorted him to Tzo’ar and Gavri’el urged him to make haste.


So now, let us clarify the different opinions we have seen so far. The main dispute revolves around the question of the identity of the angel who saved Lot. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, writes that it was Repha’el who saved Lot. But, the Talmud writes that it was Micha’el who saved Lot. So, who is correct? Who was the angel that actually saved Lot?

Types of Missions
To further understand the point behind the two opinions on which angel saved Lot, let us now turn to the Maharal in his commentary on the Torah (Gur Aryeh). We will quote from his commentary somewhat in length and then take a few moments to focus on his main point. The Maharal’s commentary always begins with Rashi’s words. In this case, the Maharal focuses on Rashi’s statement: “…Raphael, who healed Abraham, went from there to save Lot….” He writes:


These words are difficult, for an angel cannot perform two tasks.


There are those who say that once the angel has completed one task, it can go on to perform a second task. But this is incorrect. Because if it were so, it would have been enough for God to send two angels [instead of three]—one to heal Abraham and one to give the news of Isaac’s birth to Sarah—and then the two of them could go on to perform another task each.


Then there are those who say that healing and saving are the same matter. But, this too is a difficult opinion, because in the Talmud it says that it was Micha’el who had given Sarah the news was the one who went to save Lot. But, clearly, giving news and saving are not comparable.
Therefore, it seems that we have to say that there are three categories of tasks involved here, and it is of these categories that we say that one angel cannot perform two categories of task.


The first category is pure loving-kindness, pure goodness. The second category is pure judgment and negativity, which is required to destroy and annihilate. And, the third category is like a median between the first two; it balances them by sustaining everything in a natural fashion, in the normal manner of the world.


Now, in order to give the news to Sarah about the impending birth of Isaac—actually to open her womb, as she had been sterile until now—for this, one angel was needed. To destroy Sodom, there was one angel, which was responsible for complete death and destruction. And, to heal Abraham so that he may continue to live, this is neither total goodness nor total destruction, it is simply sustaining the normal course of nature. Because these three tasks involve different categories, therefore we say that “one angel cannot perform two tasks,” because one could not take on the task of another.


Therefore, it was the angel that came to heal Abraham that went to save Lot, because saving is merely sustaining life, the person [Lot] is already alive and by saving him, he is kept alive. This is neither an act of pure loving-kindness nor an act of pure destruction or annihilation. [This explains the Rashi who says that it was Repha’el who both healed Abraham and saved Lot]


But, now the Talmud says that it was Micha’el was the one who went to save Lot, and it is correct to say this, because Lot was saved by the merit of Abraham, as the verse says: “And God remembered Abraham [and he saved Lot from the destruction].”2 So it was in relation to Abraham that this kindness of saving Lot was performed, therefore, saving Lot cannot be considered simply sustaining life.


Furthermore, we have to say that saving Lot was an act of loving-kindness because not only was Lot was not worthy of being saved, but everything was destroyed and only he alone remained. As Lot himself said: “Your loving-kindness has overwhelmed me, in order that You could save me.” Since every other place was destroyed, this must be total loving-kindness. Looking at the heralding of Isaac’s birth, this is also pure loving-kindness, because it is not natural for an old man and woman [as Abraham and Sarah were] to give birth. So, Micha’el who is an angel of loving-kindness went to save Lot, who was completely evil and could only be saved in the merit of Abraham. So this too was pure loving-kindness. But, [it could not have been] Repha’el who healed [Abraham], the healing is not called loving-kindness, because [Abraham’s] healing was natural.


But, the opinion of Bereisheet Rabbah, that it was Repha’el who saved Lot, is based on the notion that saving is similar to healing, because saving is also saving from some calamity, which does not necessarily strike everyone. But, Micha’el who gave Sarah the news of the upcoming birth, this was an act of free loving-kindness. And this is the point of their contention.

Angels and the Sefirot
It is known that in Kabbalah, the three angels Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el correspond to the sefirot of loving-kindness, might, and beauty, which are represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So let us now see how indeed each of the angels performed a task that corresponds with its sefirah.


Our parshah begins with Sarah being informed that she will beget Isaac. Everyone agrees that it was the angel Micha’el that was the messenger for this task. Micha’el is also considered the advocate of the Jewish people. Every nation in the world has a particular angel that is its spiritual minister. The ministering angel of the Jewish people is the angel Micha’el. Indeed, Sarah’s name in Hebrew stems from the same root as “minister.” Chassidut explains that the power of procreation is the embodiment of the infinite capacity of the Almighty within the human being. By making our first matriarch and patriarch fertile, Micha’el performed the ultimate task of loving-kindness, as the sefirah of loving-kindness represents a state of no limits (infinite, as such). There is no greater loving-kindness than to make the bounded vessel of a sterile man and woman, unbounded and able to give birth.


Gavri’els mission, to destroy Sodom is clearly an act revealing tremendous might. Its relationship with Isaac is that Isaac’s name in Hebrew literally means “he will laugh.” Isaac’s inner experience is one of rejoicing.3 As the verse says, “when the wicked are destroyed, rejoice.”4


Rapha’el in Hebrew stems from the root רפא , meaning “to heal.” But רפא also permutes to spell פאר , the root of the name of the sefirah of beauty, תפארת , the sefirah of Jacob.

Angels and the patriarchs
Since Isaac and Jacob (and their essence as the archetypal souls corresponding to might and beauty) were still in potential in Abraham’s procreative energy [and even Abraham’s own essence as loving-kindness had not yet been fully revealed] the revelation of the three angels illustrated for Abraham what his offspring would be like. As the verse says: “For, within Isaac, you will find your seed.”5 The word “within” limits Isaac, for of Isaac’s sons, only Jacob is considered to be the seed of Abraham. And all three patriarchs were represented by the angels that came to visit Abraham.


This connection and correspondence between the angels and the patriarchs is illustrated beautifully in gematria. There is an important principle in the mathematical analysis of the Torah that square numbers, wherever they are found, represent a consummate wholeness. If we add the names of the patriarchs to the names of the three angels, we get:


אברהם יצחק יעקב מיכאל גבריאל רפאל = 1296 = 362 = 64.

Where the 6 here suggest the 6 names whose sum we have calculated.
1. Genesis 18:2.

2. Ibid. 19:29.

3. Zohar I, 229b.

4. Proverbs 11:10.

5. Genesis 21:12.


Courtesy of Inner.org