Parshat Beshalach

The Angel and the Cloud

When Israel left Egypt "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to cause it to lead them on the way and at night in a pillar of fire to give them light, [they thus could] travel day and night" (Shemot 13:21).

Nevertheless, within a few days, the Egyptian army had caught up with them and was ready to strike when they were trapped at the sea.

Before the sea split, giving Israel an escape route, God created some distance between the advancing Egyptians and the escaping Israelites. He did this by moving the pillar of cloud that was leading the people and moved it behind the people.

"Then the angel of God, who had been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them. It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there were the cloud and the darkness, and it illuminated the night, and one did not draw near the other all night long" (ibid 14:19-20).

This first passuk seems to be describing two movements, that of the pillar of cloud and that of an angel. Yet then the second passuk is in the singular, describing the result of the movement.

This means that there was only one movement and that the pillar of cloud was the angel. What does this mean?

When we think of angels, we generally imagine humanoid beings. Indeed, these types of beings were encountered by Avraham and Lot (Bereshit 18-19), Yaakov (ibid 32: 24-30), Bilam (Bemidbar 22:31) and many others.

Nevertheless, the term angel in Hebrew is "malakh" – it actually means messengers (see Bereshit 32:30, Bemidba 20:24, 21:21, Shoftim 11:12 and many others).

A messenger of God gives a message from God. That messenger, therefore, does not have to be humanlike, it could take any form, from humans to animals and even inanimate objects.

When Devorah said to Barak (this week's haftarah on Mount Tabor: "Does not the Lord go out before you?" (Shoftim 4:14), she was not seeing God Himself coming out towards them. She most likely saw rain clouds beginning to come out or even the rain, that would flood the Kishon wadi and sweep away Sisera's army (see ibid 5:4,21).

She interpreted the clouds as a messenger of God, giving Israel victorious tidings.

So too in our case, the angel was not a physical manifestation of human, but a cloud.

The Torah is teaching us an important message. In an age where we lack prophecy, we still do not lack the message of God. He is constantly giving us messages. Like Devorah, we have to be prepared to see Him in them.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Beshalach, entitled: "The Miracle at the Sea" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2008/01/parshat-beshalach-miracle-at-sea.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat Beshalach, entitled: "The Shorter Way" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/01/parshat-beshalach-shorter-way-ive.html.

A further Sedra Short on Parshat Beshalach, entitled: "The 3 Day Game" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/02/parshat-beshalach-3-day-game-it-was.html

Parshat VaYishlach

Seeing the Face of God

The night before meeting Esav, Yaakov struggles with a man at Nachal Yabbok. As it turns out, the man is a divine being. He gives Yakov a new name: Yisrael. We have discussed why a divine being was fighting Yaakov in the first place and the significance of Yaakov's additional name in a previous Sedra Short (see http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/parshat-vayishlach-wrestling-with.html).

This week, I would like to discus Yaakov's reaction. "Yaakov named the place Peniel (lit. the face of God), for [he said,] "I saw an angel face to face, and my soul was saved" (Bereshit 32:30).

It is clear from this statement that Yaakov expected to die. Seeing divine beings is meant to be beyond the human narrative and so when he saw the angel, Yaakov should not have continued living.

Indeed, Moshe asks God "show me your glory" (Shemot 33:18), God responds that "you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live (ibid 20)."

In fact, the first time that Moshe encountered God, he almost died. Moshe sees a burning bush in the wilderness and is surprised that the bush is not being consumed. He decides to have a better look. "The Lord saw that he had turned to see" and so quickly calls out saying "Do not come close" (Shemot 3:4-5). To be sure, as soon as Moshe realizes that God is within the bush, he "hid his face because he was afraid to look toward God (ibid 6).

Gidon also saw an angel and thought he was going to die. At first, Gidon thought that the angel giving him the mission to save Israel was an ordinary person and so Giodn refused to accept the mission. The angel decides that Gidon needs to understand that his mission is from God and so he reveals himself by performing a supernatural act and then disappearing.

Gidon then realized that he was an angel and said: "Alas, O Lord God! Because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face" (Shoftim 6:22). He assumed he was going to die, so "the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you, fear not, you shall not die (ibid 23)".

Manoach and his wife, Shimshon's parents, also met an angel. Manoach also did not believe that he was an angel until the angel revealed himself.

"Manoach (then) knew that he was an angel of the Lord. Manoach said to his wife, 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God" (ibid 13:22). However, his wife seemed to be more intelligent than him. "But his wife said to him, "If the Lord wanted to kill us, He would not have received from our hand a burnt-offering and a meal-offering, and He would not have shown us all these things; and at this time He would not let us hear (such things) as these (ibid 23)".

While seeing only God himself would lead to death, as happened with Aharon's two sons, Nadav and Avihu (see Shemot 34:10-11 and VaYikra 10:1-2), seeing angels would not lead o death.

Nevertheless, as is clear from the episodes recorded here, people, including Yaakov, were frightened about seeing all divine beings.

Perhaps the Torah is trying to give us a monotheistic message. Only God is truly a Divine Being. Everything else, including angels, is just his tools. They are not worthy of worship.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlah entitled: "Israel and Shechem – a Varied Relationship" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/11/parshat-vayishlach-israel-and-shechem.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlah entitled: Reuven and Bilha" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/12/parshat-vayishlach-reuven-and-bilha.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlach entitled "Struggling with the Present", appears at: http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/parshat-vayishlach-wrestling-with.html