People and Angels
Which is loftier, people or angels?
A basic difference between man and angels is that "angels only have one foot", as described by the prophets and the classical rabbis. "Angels stand, people walk."
It's a very existential thought. In the case of a table, the essence preceeds its existance. If
you know enough about the wood, the blueprint, the contruction, etc... the table can be fully known before it even exists. OTOH, with people, existance preceeds essence. Who and what I am now is a newer evolution than the fact that I exist at all.
This is a key part of free will, the power to choose in which direction to evolve. As Rav Dessler writes about the flow of time, every moment is the realization of light or occlusion in one's soul. Human change, in fact time as we know it, is a product of having bechirah.
Angels, for all their holiness, are static. An angel can be "Refa'el" (G-d's healing), or "Gavriel" (G-d's Might). A word, a static thought, can capture who they are and who they will be. At the end of their all night battle, Jacob asks the angel, "What is your name?" Until then, the angel is called in the Torah "the man". Jacob thought it was a person he encountered on his trip. When he realized it could an angel, and therefore fully apprehended by a word, he asked "What is your name?"
Angels serve G-d, but not from free will. The have service of the soul, presence in heaven, but not creative beings in the image of G-d. Without the tension of both body and soul and choices to be made, one is ironically further from G-dliness.
See also Mesukim MiDevash for Tetzaveh, where the same triad is used to explain the layout of keilim in the beis hamiqdash. Of the keilim that lack crowns, it is only the menorah, representing the perfection of wisdom, that is in the heichal. The kiyor, made from the mirrors the women used in Egypt to beautify themselves for their husbands, where the kohahim washed off this world in preparation for service, represents this world. The mizbei'ach where animals were offered, Divine service. Both were outside the actual building.
And of the three crowned keilim, the mizbei'ach hazahav (golden incense altar) and shulchan (table of showbread) are in the heichal. Pure intangible service, the ultimate relationship with the One in heaven. Concern for the nation, the 12 breads, the royal relationship with others in this world. But the aron, the self perfection shown by the love of the keruvim and the Divine Presence of the pillar of cloud flowing from the tablets, is in the qodesh haqadashim (holy of holies). The soul's ability to have a mind is held to be loftier than its being a resident of heaven.
A basic difference between man and angels is that "angels only have one foot", as described by the prophets and the classical rabbis. "Angels stand, people walk."
It's a very existential thought. In the case of a table, the essence preceeds its existance. If
you know enough about the wood, the blueprint, the contruction, etc... the table can be fully known before it even exists. OTOH, with people, existance preceeds essence. Who and what I am now is a newer evolution than the fact that I exist at all.
This is a key part of free will, the power to choose in which direction to evolve. As Rav Dessler writes about the flow of time, every moment is the realization of light or occlusion in one's soul. Human change, in fact time as we know it, is a product of having bechirah.
Angels, for all their holiness, are static. An angel can be "Refa'el" (G-d's healing), or "Gavriel" (G-d's Might). A word, a static thought, can capture who they are and who they will be. At the end of their all night battle, Jacob asks the angel, "What is your name?" Until then, the angel is called in the Torah "the man". Jacob thought it was a person he encountered on his trip. When he realized it could an angel, and therefore fully apprehended by a word, he asked "What is your name?"
Angels serve G-d, but not from free will. The have service of the soul, presence in heaven, but not creative beings in the image of G-d. Without the tension of both body and soul and choices to be made, one is ironically further from G-dliness.
See also Mesukim MiDevash for Tetzaveh, where the same triad is used to explain the layout of keilim in the beis hamiqdash. Of the keilim that lack crowns, it is only the menorah, representing the perfection of wisdom, that is in the heichal. The kiyor, made from the mirrors the women used in Egypt to beautify themselves for their husbands, where the kohahim washed off this world in preparation for service, represents this world. The mizbei'ach where animals were offered, Divine service. Both were outside the actual building.
And of the three crowned keilim, the mizbei'ach hazahav (golden incense altar) and shulchan (table of showbread) are in the heichal. Pure intangible service, the ultimate relationship with the One in heaven. Concern for the nation, the 12 breads, the royal relationship with others in this world. But the aron, the self perfection shown by the love of the keruvim and the Divine Presence of the pillar of cloud flowing from the tablets, is in the qodesh haqadashim (holy of holies). The soul's ability to have a mind is held to be loftier than its being a resident of heaven.
posted by micha @ 2/17/2005 09:40:00 PM
