Ahead of the Angels

Angels are spiritual beings that are totally devoted to G-d. Because they have no free choice they are in a constant state of devotion to Him. Obviously, humans who have inclinations for evil are spiritually inferior to angels. However, when G-d shows His love for the Israelites—as He did at the time of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds— G-d removed the angels from their pre-eminent position ahead of the Israelites and put them behind. By doing so, G-d demonstrated that the Israelites were truly superior to the angels. BESHALLACH BESHALLACH

Moving the Angels

Right after Moses was instructed by G-d to strike the Sea of Reeds so that the sea would split, the Torah states:

“The angel of G-d, who has been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them.”

Rashi and other commentators explain that the function of the angels at this point was to serve as a shield for the Israelites, to protect them from the arrows and spears of the pursuing Egyptians.

Several questions come to mind that have been raised by Biblical commentators:

First, why did G-d have to move the angels from their position in front of the Israelites to the back? Couldn’t G-d have just simply sent other angels to take up the position behind the Israelite lines?

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Why ELokim?

Second, there are two names that are used in the Torah for G-d. One is the four letter name, known as the Tetragrammaton, also known as the essential name of G-d, as well as the name of G-d that is associated with His attribute of mercy. The other name is Elokim, which connotes G-d’s attribute of justice.

In this narrative, when describing the angels that took their position behind the Israelites, they are described as the “angels of Elokim.”

Why the use of this name, which usually describes G-d in His mode of judgment, and not the name that expresses G-d’s attribute of mercy? Isn’t the act of sending angles to protect the Israelites from the assaults of the Egyptian army an act of Divine benevolence rather than an act of Divine judgment?

We are Superior to Angels

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev provides a novel insight into the positioning of angels here that will shed light on the forgoing questions. What follows is an exposition of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s commentary based on his work Kedushas levi:

BESHALLACH

Angels are spiritual beings that are totally devoted to G-d. Because they have no free choice they are in a constant state of devotion to Him. Obviously, humans who have inclinations for evil are spiritually inferior to angels. However, when G-d shows His love for the Israelites—as He did at the time of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds— G-d removed the angels from their pre-eminent position ahead of the Israelites and put them behind. By doing so, G-d demonstrated that the Israelites were truly superior to the angels.

We must still try to understand the changing of the status of angels. If the angels are indeed superior to the Israelites why did G-d He reverse that by placing them behind the Israelites? What did they do to place them ahead of the angels?

The Anatomy of Angels

To understand this we must preface Maimonides’ interpretation of angels. In addition to the simple explanation that angels are spiritual forces, angels are also metaphoric terms to describe the laws of nature. Up until the critical moment when the Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites, the fledging Jewish nation was subject to the laws of nature. True, miracles did happen. The ten plagues that BESHALLACH devastated Egypt were clearly beyond the realm of nature. However, they were G-d’s way of interjecting Himself into nature. It did not mean that the Israelites had the ability to transcend nature.

This, then is the symbolism in the stationing of the angels of G-d-Elokim ahead of the Israelites. “Angels of Elokim” means the instruments of the Divine name that is associated with nature. Indeed, the name Elokim is numerically equivalent to the word hateva, which means nature. By placing these angels before the Israelites, G-d was telling them that they were still subordinate to the laws of nature.

This, however, changed for good once they were ready to cross the Sea and sever their ties with the Egyptian people and way of life. At this point, G-d elevated the Jewish nation to a new status. They were now going to be ahead of the forces of nature.

Transcending Natural Forces

From that time onward, the Jewish people’s very existence dramatizes their transcendence over the natural forces. By all counts, we should not have survived after centuries and millennia of persecution and assimilation, Yet we did, and flourished as well.

BESHALLACH

The power of transcendence, that was to become the basic nature of the Jewish nation, was finalized at Sinai, but was initiated right before they were to cross the Sea of Reeds.

Whenever we consider the future of the Jewish people and the Biblical promises of the Redemption, we frequently express skepticism: How can we possibly counter the forces of exile. These angels of G-d, the forces of nature, are too formidable for us to overcome.

According to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the message of the angel moving behind the Jews is that we are the masters of our destiny and future and even the angels of G-d, so to speak, will take a back seat. These angels will also separate us from the arrows and spears hurled at us by our adversaries throughout history.

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From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Beshalach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.