Letters of Light. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein

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81. Maʾor va-shemesh, 23b.

82. Midr. Gen 3:4.

83. Midr. Gen 1:1, referring to Prov 8:30, and m.ʾAbot 3:14.

      Vayishlaḥ

      Angels84

      “Jacob sent messengers ahead (to his brother Esau).” (Gen 32:4) [The word, malʾakh, could indicate either “angel” or “messenger.”]

      Rashi maintained that they were really angels. And one must consider the precise meaning of lefanav (“ahead of him”), which would seem to be superfluous. In addition, it is difficult to grasp how the wicked Esau would be able to see angels sent from on high. Did we not find that Rashi commented on the verse “(to see your face is) like seeing the face of God” (or “the face of angels,” Gen 33:10), as Jacob’s informing Esau that he saw angels in order to make his brother fearful. From this it would appear that to perceive angels was something threatening to Esau, and now Jacob himself sent angels to Esau!

      But one might first consider something found in the Zohar as well as in other holy books: anything of a spiritual nature that comes from a higher realm to this lower world must assume a physical character to a degree through a garment (malbush) in order that this world might be able to bear it. And even when God gave our holy Torah to Israel for the lower world, it was necessary that the Torah, similarly, assume a more physical character and be clad in the form of narratives, as is explained there in the Zohar.85