Quite an Appearance

We encounter many angels in the Book of Bereishit, each of our patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ lives are dramatically changed and sometimes even saved through them. In this week’s portion of Veyara they are particularly conspicuous. The opening has them ostensibly interrupting Avraham’s entertaining of God no less. Later, they save Lot and his family, and as seems to be the expectation, their appearance is enigmatic. In the opening of chapter 19, almost paralleling the opening of Chapter 18, like Abraham his uncle, Lot is awaiting perhaps seeking guests to provide warm hospitality, 19;1-2

וַ֠יָּבֹ֠אוּ שְׁנֵ֨י הַמַּלְאָכִ֤ים סְדֹ֙מָה֙ בָּעֶ֔רֶב וְל֖וֹט יֹשֵׁ֣ב בְּשַֽׁעַר־סְדֹ֑ם וַיַּרְא־לוֹט֙ וַיָּ֣קׇם לִקְרָאתָ֔ם וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּ אַפַּ֖יִם אָֽרְצָה׃

The two messengers arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground,

וַיֹּ֜אמֶר הִנֶּ֣ה נָּא־אֲדֹנַ֗י ס֣וּרוּ נָ֠א אֶל־בֵּ֨ית עַבְדְּכֶ֤ם וְלִ֙ינוּ֙ וְרַחֲצ֣וּ רַגְלֵיכֶ֔ם וְהִשְׁכַּמְתֶּ֖ם וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֣ם לְדַרְכְּכֶ֑ם וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ לֹּ֔א כִּ֥י בָרְח֖וֹב נָלִֽין׃

He beseeched , “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night, and bathe your feet; then you may be on your way early.” But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.”

What becomes fascinating if not disconcerting is the interplay where the “angels”  are depicted as Malachim and where they are depicted as Anashim. When do angels become “people” and when do people become “angels”? Is it defined by the position they are taking, the task they are carrying out? Are angels inserted into the story, where “man” fails to show up? If Abraham succeeded in rescuing his nephew in a lightning raid against four kings that had defeated the five kings in the first regional war recorded in the Bible, surely driven by this zeal, he, as opposed to angels could have rescued Lot once again from the annihilation that was about to be meted out on Sodom?

There is a famous midrash that recounts the creation of humanity; When God began to create the first human, the angels banded into groups, some saying “Let them be created,” and others saying, “Let them not be created.” Can we imagine an analogous tale where humankind are debating the value of creating angels? Ultimately God unilaterally creates both, Humanity and Angels, they often play interchanging roles and appear to be the same. Perhaps it is this very ambiguity that was created. 

Too often for over more than a year now, we have been pushed beyond our limits, forced to cope with what appear to be insurmountable trials, and yet we persevere and tenaciously confront the torment.The angels that usher us through the trauma of Vayera, with the בֵּן הַנֶּעֱקַד the son bound upon woods and fire, about to be sacrificed, continue to hold us and perhaps more poignantly be us.