An Angel is a messenger - "malach" in Hebrew. An Angel has no free will, they are intermediaries between G-d and the world.... so there is no point "praying" to an angel as advised by some "spiritual" sites. We pray to G-d and only G-d.
There are good and bad angels. The Satan is the worst of all.
Angels can come to earth when sent on a mission. As angels are only made of the elements of air and fire, it is very difficult for an angel to come to earth, they have to concentrate very hard, to focus themselves here. That is why they vanish suddenly when their mission is complete.
Sometimes only one person will see the angel..... sometimes many will see it. You will not realise it is an angel, it may have taken the form of a human in order to carry out its task. Often people are given tests by angels, appearing as beggars, asking for money or help.
The angels such as those who spoke to Abraham and Jacob were purely spiritual forces which appeared in human form.
Before a baby is born, an angel teaches the baby Torah in the womb:
The Talmud says :
A candle is lit on his head and he is able to see from one end of the world until the other end .... There isn't a better period for a person than these days [in the womb] ... They [the angels] teach him all of Torah ... and as he enters the world, an angel hits him on his mouth and he forgets it [to be recalled later throughout the course of his life through learning]. [Niddah 30b]
For every mitzvah (or good deed) a person does, an angel is created. This angel defends you in the Heavenly Court. And when we sin, or tell lies, or harm others.... we create for ourselves a prosecuting angel.
According to Maimonides, the degree of Divine Providence you experience is directly proportional to your attachment to God, and therefore the commandments which create that attachment are the true "guardian angels" of a person.
Rebbe Meir says: "If a person does one commandment, he is given one angel to guard over him; if he does many commandments, he is given many angels."
The angels that accompany us, watching over us, are our own, the ones we have created with each commandment we do. We might imagine that when we leave this world we'll be accompanied by millions of angels, but our Sages teach us otherwise. We are told that the quality of the angel depends on the quality of our mitzvah. It's a long way to the World to Come, and sometimes a person can arrive there with only one angel because all the others fell by the wayside, too weak to complete the journey. In order to create a powerful angel, we have to do each commandment "like fire," in Hebrew, K'AiSh, K = Kavanah (intent), A = Ahavah (love), and S = Simchah (joy), with deep intent, love, and joy.
Everything is by Divine Providence. If a leaf is turned over by a breeze, it is only because this has been specifically ordained by G-d to serve a particular function within the purpose of creation. [Ba'al Shem Tov]
The Talmud teaches that in many matters G-d controls the world through intermediaries (angels). In fact, the Talmud states that there are only three keys that G-d didn’t give over to intermediaries. They are: the Key of Rain (parnosa/sustenance), the Key of Childbirth, and the Key of Techias HaMaisim (the Revival of the Dead).
10 comments:
"send me an angel
send me an angel
right now
right now"
Real Life, Australia! 1983
Yes, I used to work in the recording industry, loved that song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R6WIbx8ysE
In a past life (and by that, I mean when I was a teenager), I used to like that song too.
I feel like I've re-entered my past teenage life with all these posts. Must be something in the air... I feel 16 again.
Excellent post Devorah. I believe that I have seen angels. I believe that I interacted with two. I spoke with my rav about this and he believes this to be the case.
My brother had died and I was at work. I was not yet frum and I was visited by one and had an interaction with "her"(disguised in female exterior human form) and to me it was obvious. To others at my job it was obvious to them as well.
The lead up to the meeting was also obvious. I also had an out of body experience when this same brother died(at the moment of his death) and a malach came to me and I saw my neshama and we telepathically "spoke."
It is the element that brought me to frumkeit....
Thank you for this post. Very spiritual and enjoyable.
That's amazing Leah. Can I ask you, what was it about the female that made it obvious she was an angel?
My brother had died and I had asked Hashem for a sign that he I can take with me and he gave me the sign and it was clear and obvious as well as the way she looked at me and I felt that I was drawn into her. I wasn't "in the mood" to work with a customer in customer service a I was beside myself with grief and my asst. manager insisted that I help her.
When I have received out of body type experiences there is a certain "feel" to the air and a certain "intensity of hues in color and brightness" and I was feeling that.
Everyone, and I mean every single person, customer you name it emptied out of the department and I remained alone with "her." It was a ladies department at a store I worked for. She had a sunny yellow shirt was purchasing a yellow item and had blond hair and a clear bright face. Her cheeks were rosy and she winked at me. Her manner looked at me like, 'Yes, you want to come to the help desk and assist me." I immediately got up to my feet, being drawn to her and that "feeling of out of body came to me."
I had asked Hashem for a sign the night before I returned to work when shiva would be ending. It was an odd sign , a funny sign with my brother's personality and he gave me the sign so clearly. She winked with both of her eyes and smiled a knowing smile when I realized it. I even projected my voice differently to intimate that I understood.
Right in front of her I looked away for a millisecond and looked back and "she" was gone. Vanished. No rustling of her purchase bag. Nothing. All of a sudden a buzzilian people come into the dept, asking me for items in their size and I started to feel the waning of the out of body exp that I know. I looked around and left to see where she went. Nothing.
I called the inter-store line to see if her name was on the credit bureau as she had just used her credit card. (I waited a few days to do this.) They told me no one existed with that name. Nothing.
Devorah, she looked at me with intent on having me help her and I received the sign I asked for.
When my father died years later on the same day of the month, I asked Hashem for a sign and he gave me the sign to my question. My rav was involved as well and I asked him for clarification on it, too.
My best friend at the time lost her father 6 weeks earlier than I lost my brother and she came to the shiva house that I had at my apartment. She and I were alone. She is about as atheist as one can get and I started to get "that feeling" and she stood up and cried and said, 'Do you feel that? Why didn't I have that with my father when he died?" She went in to the bathroom to cry.
When she left the room I felt his presence(it is said the neshama of the dead comes to the shiva house to hear what is said etc.
I saw the difference in the hues in the room and felt the "sound?" of his presence(that is one that is difficult to describe and to have others understand)
I never preach to another, yet I will say that I know "she" was an angel- a malach .
I came to frumkeit as a result of my brother's death and I spoke with my rav on this. He agrees with what my assessment is of this. Many other signs happened with my brother's death that are interesting and spiritual. (My clock started to work again (with the same atheist friend) around who knew my clock didn't work. It had not worked in years and I never changed the battery. It stopped again on the time of my brother's death. There had been a question if he died at 4:20 or 4:21 am. My clock arm stopped in the middle between 4:20 and 4:21. Totally. Things that are out if the normal and cannot be duplicated by humans...
Sorry to be long winded.....
What a great read thank u Leah - really appreciate you sharing that
For those who haven't yet seen an angeL: Want to see an Angel? Here's how Gidon did it
Have a beautiful Shabbat!
Post a Comment