Seeing, and Being, Angels

Our Torah portion this week is Vayeira, and once again we have waaaaaaaay more going on in here than we can possibly cover. So, what stands out to me this week is angelic visitors.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the angels, let's grab a little context. Abraham had just accepted his task of being Father of a new nation unlike any that had come before, and as a sign of his acceptance of this covenant with G!d, he circumcised himself.

Ouch.

Considering his age and the lack of anesthetics and pain killers, Abraham was, no doubt, in excruciating pain. The last thing he needed were guests to his tent that he needed to smile and play nice host in welcoming them.

And not to write Sarah out of the picture either. Sarah, the barren one, had watched her maidservant, Hagar, become surrogate mother to Abraham's son, Ishmael. As the mother of Abraham’s firstborn, what kind of relationship did Hagar and Abraham have? What is the nature of the relationship between the two women? It could not have been easy for Sarah to watch this unfold.

I know how challenging it is for me, especially on certain events and holidays, to watch everyone else I know talk about their children and grandchildren, and here I am, never knowing any of that. I don't even have my own nieces and nephews. So I can well imagine how challenging this was for Sarah.

Both Sarah and Abraham were not feeling all that hospitable. Yet, here Abraham is, in pain, yet, "And he lifted up his eyes and he saw, and behold, three people were before him" (Breisheet 18:3).

The first thing we notice here is that Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked out. How often do we focus on ourselves, or on our own families, our own agendas, our own needs and schedules, absorbed in our own thoughts and our own little bubble of technology? If we want to be of service to others, we must first have the courage to look up and see, even if we are down for the count or busy up to our necks with our own schedules.

When Abraham looked up and out, he saw three people. They looked like three people to him, anyway. In the Talmud we are told, "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."

Angels.

The root of Gabriel is gevurah, “strength” or “restraint”, which is why Gabriel often appears in difficult situations, or acts of destruction. The root of Raphael is refuah, “healing”, so he appears whenever a recovery is required. Michael is the guardian angel of Israel, as we read explicitly in Daniel 12:1. Michael stands at the gates of Heaven, admitting the righteous and guiding their souls. Similarly, he was Israel’s guide during their forty years in the Wilderness, being identified with the “angel that will go before you” in Exodus 23:20 and 32:34.

One view of our tradition tells us that each of the three angels has a particular task to carry out. While it takes a village to raise a child, it takes at least three angels to carry out three missions.

Did Abraham look up and out and see angels, or people?

“In a place where there are no people,” the wise Rabbi Hillel teaches, “strive to be a person” (Pirkei Avot 2:6). This is often interpreted to mean, “In a place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader.” In the context of this Torah portion, we might say, “In a place where there are no angels, strive to be angelic.” Or, as I have written several times before, in a world that is angry and hurting and in need of kindness, act as if you are one of the holy "36" whose righteous deeds of kindness save the world.

What might it mean to be angelic? The great Rabbi we call Rambam offers a useful insight into what it means to be angelic, noting (in his Guide for the Perplexed, pt. 2:6:4) “Before the angels have accomplished their task they are called men, after they have accomplished it, they are angels.”

What is your mission? Instead of looking for something BIG and BOLD and IMPORTANT and LIFE-CHANGING, we need look no further than the smallest act of kindness to others, like Abraham offering hospitality, even in the midst of his painful recovery, to the three strangers traversing the desert.

Maybe our mission is right here in front of us, like these three people/angels. But if we don’t pay attention to it, if we don’t stop and look around to see, we may never know that the strangers before us are angels, as they were for Sarah and Abraham.

These aren't the only angels showing up in this parashah, which is just more reason to be open to both being an angelic presence on this earth, and treating others as if they were angels in disguise.

I do have a remarkable angel experience of my own, but as this is long enough, perhaps I shall share it at another time.

Who are the angels in your life, and to whom are you an angel? Do you take the time to look up and see?

Even while writing this, I had an incredible experience of knowing that I am being watched over by angels. All the more reason for me to act as if, as much as I can, I am one of the 36 l'vavniks whose tiny acts of kindness and concern can literally change the course of the world.