“Be careful before him and listen to his voice; do not defy him for he will not pardon your offenses, for My name is inside him.” (Exodus 23:21)
Hashem announced to the Jewish People that He would send his angel before them, to guide them and protect them. This also informed them that at some point, they would sin and be unworthy of having Hashem, Himself, in their midst. Here, Hashem warned them not to disobey the angel, for he would not be merciful.
There is some discussion as to the nature of this angel. Some say it was an actual angel, like Michael or Mitatron, while others say it was like “the angel that redeemed me, shall watch over the lads.” In other words, it was Hashem’s guidance through various forces, but not a direct connection to Hashem like they had previously had.
The Jews are warned to heed the angel and not cross him, for if they do, they will suffer the consequences. The reason given, “for My name is in him,” can refer to the names of Hashem listed in the mitzvos, which the angel was entrusted with guarding. Perhaps the angel was even created by the mitzvos the Jews kept, and that’s how he was infused with Hashem’s name.
The Sforno explains that Hashem’s name is in the angel, meaning that the angel represents Hashem by being His messenger, the angel was bound to uphold Hashem’s honor. He had no power to forgive or allow any slights against Hashem’s name.
This is how the world is set up. There are natural rules of how things work, and when scientists study the world, they are actually studying the structure Hashem put in place. According to these rules, the world operates. Fire burns wood but not stone, gravity functions, and all the other fact and laws we recognize.
There are also spiritual rules. When we follow the Torah, we become worthy of Divine blessing, and when we don’t, we earn the consequences of our actions. The world operates according to these rules because they, like the angels, bridge the gap between the spiritual and the physical dimensions. But there is an exception.
The angel cannot forgive us or give us a reprieve, but Hashem can! When Hashem is the One guiding us directly, all bets are off. When He, not an angel, took us from Egypt, the laws of nature were upended and suspended. When we live on a plane in which Hashem interacts with us, we can rise above nature and achieve miracles.
This, then, should be our approach to life. While we should acknowledge the laws of nature and probability as we go through life, we should never put all our energies or hopes directly on those. We should be aware that Hashem can and wants to be intimately involved in our lives, if we only welcome Him in properly. Then, no matter what we face, there is no reason for despair, because Hashem is the One who makes the rules, and He can break the rules.
A man was writing a sefer on the questions of R’ Akiva Eiger. He had spent much time and rigorous study in trying to answer or explain these issues. One night, his wife awoke to find him jumping on his bed, nearly dancing in joy. “What on earth are you doing?!” she asked.
“R’ Akiva Eiger came to me in a dream tonight and told me that the explanation I wrote today was wrong,” he explained excitedly. “If he said you were wrong,” she asked querulously, “why are you so happy?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” he asked. “I said he told me that what I wrote today was wrong. That means that everything else was right!”
©2024 – J. Gewirtz
