“YOU NEVER SAW AN ANGEL!”
Have you ever seen an angel?
Once, when I was publicly discussing my personal spiritual history, I said that it is possible that I saw an angel on January 10, 1966, the day I first discovered the Existence of Hashem. Following my remarks, a prestigious person from the audience came up to me in anger, and said, “You never saw an angel!”
OK, perhaps that person was correct. I do not want to pretend to be on a high madreiga of ruchnius. I am not the type to try to pass myself off as a mystic. (I once met someone like that, dressed all in white, who charged high prices to dispense his brachas and “miracle cures.” It was a sham and a chillul Hashem!)
So let’s discuss this rationally.
In last week’s Parsha, Yaakov Avinu blessed Ephraim and Manasseh with these words: “Hamalach ha goail …. May the angel who redeems me from all evil bless the lads ….”
My dear friends, Chazal teach us a yesod: “[Mar b’rai d’Rav Huna] said [to Rav Kahana]: a verse never departs from its plain meaning.” (Shabbos 63a)
Do you think that Yaakov Avinu was engaging in hyperbole? Yaakov Avinu was “ish taam,” a straight person, for whom it was literally painful to deviate from the exact truth. If he said that a malach had accompanied him who protected him through all the minefields and vicissitudes of his life, then that is what he meant.
When Dovid Hamelech says, “The angel of Hashem encamps around His reverent ones and releases them ….” (Tehillim 34), do you think he is exaggerating? G-d forbid! Dovid meant every word he said. That is what makes his words so powerful!
Think about the thousand “near misses” we have all had! We have all escaped serious accident and injury by a hair’s breadth! And sometimes we are actually – G-d forbid! – overcome by tragedy. It is all from Shomayim. Hashem directs every event in this world.
Every Friday night, we greet the Shabbos angels! Are you telling me they are not real? I am telling you that the peace and light they bring are real. Whether we see them or we don’t see them, they are real!
How do you explain the continued existence of Am Yisroel, the Torah Nation, in this barbaric world? How do you explain the continued existence of the “defenseless” sheep among the wolves? Are you telling me that angels don’t walk by our side to protect us?
I say that it is an absolute article of faith that we are surrounded by malachim who are sent by Hashem to protect us. We need to know that they are there in order to survive in this deadly world. We could all give up if we didn’t know this to be true! This world is too much for us …. except that Hashem sends His protection.
During Lecha Dodi, why do we say, “Pnai Shabbos?” What is this “panim,” this “face” that we welcome? Why not just say, “Welcome Shabbos!” I want to say that there is a Real Presence which comes to us on Shabbos! Maybe we see it and maybe we don’t, but we have to know it is there!
What about when we ask Hashem to bring “Dew and rain … al p’nai ha adama ….?” What is this “pnai ha adama?” Does the Land have a “face?” Yes, my friends, the Land of Israel is also alive! It has a face and a Being, just like each blade of grass, which has its own angel who tells it, “Grow!”
All of this world is infused with Life given to it by the Master of Creation. If we want to live in darkness, G-d forbid, we can live in darkness. But if we want to see Hashem’s Hand at work in this world, we can also see that!
So now, on this Shabbos which is approaching, the Shabbos of the 18th of Teves, the Day on which Hashem’s Existence was first revealed to me exactly fifty-nine years ago, I am going to say “Thank you, Hashem” for all your miracles which are constantly with us “erev vavoker v’tzaharaim … evening, morning and afternoon ….”
Who am I? I am nothing! But “Hashem protects the simple. I was brought low, but He saved me!” (Tehillim 116) Did I see an angel on January 10, 1966? I don’t know, but one thing I do know: he was there!
“B’shaim Hashem, G-d of Israel: may Michael be at my right, Gavriel at my left, Uriel before me and Raphael behind me, and above my head the Shechina of Hashem!” (Bedtime Shema) If we know these malachim are there, we will sleep well!
Hashem sends His Messengers everywhere to protect us. May he send the Redeemer soon in our days!
Minefields of life
Each blade of grass has its own angel
Shabbos Lights
GLOSSARY
Brachas: blessings
Chazal: the rabbis of the Mishna and Gemora
Chillul Hashem: Desecration of G-d’s Name
Madreiga of ruchnius: Level of spirituality
Malach: angel
Shomayim: Heaven
Yesod: Fundamental thought
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