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In each case, there’s an anonymous character who comes out of nowhere and changes the course of the story. Rav Soloveitchik sees this איש as mentioned in תנ״ך as the manifestation of G-d’s hand in history. We usually go through life as though everything is arbitrary, by chance, but sometimes there comes a reminder that ה׳ is in charge. It’s not an overt miracle, but a coincidence that tells us that life has a plot, a purpose.
It’s important to note that this איש is not necessarily and “angel”, even if it is a מלאך, a “divine messenger”. The איש of next week’s parasha is very much flesh and blood; he’s יוסף their brother:
And Rashi also sees this story as the hand of G-d in history:
But what about naming this מלאך, גבריאל?
The name comes from דניאל:
Daniel has just seen the vision of the four beasts, and גבריאל is the one who explains that this is a vision of history, of a succession of empires that will exile the Jews. גבריאל here is the name of the “guardian angel of history”, and in the midrash is the one who intervenes in human affairs:
It’s important to note that the idea of naming angels was taken from Babylonian/Persian culture:
A מאלך, in the sense of a “spiritual incorporeal intelligence, acting to manifest G-d’s will in the world”, doesn’t have a “name”; there’s no continuous existence there. We see continuity in common patterns, and we (as human beings) want to give it a name, so גבריאל is the “manifestation of ה׳'s hand in history”. It’s not “real”. Notably, the drive to assign names came after גלות בבל, with the loss of spiritual awareness that accompanied the חורבן. We need to visualize הָאִישׁ גַּבְרִיאֵל.
I want to end with a Chassish vort from the Kotzker:
And that’s the message we need from seeing G-d’s hand in history.