Moses and the Angels

The Talmud[1] relates that when Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah—an event celebrated annually during the festival of Shavuos—the angels protested vehemently to G-d. "You are sharing your most cherished secret with humans, who will abuse it," they said. "Let your grace remain in heaven with us," they cried.

G-d commanded Moses, records the Talmud, to hold on to His throne and give the angels an answer. Moses responded to their lamentation by demonstrating how many of the Torah's commandments and episodes apply exclusively to the human race and not to angels, such as "You shall not murder" and "You shall respect your father and mother."

The angels acquiesced and Moses returned with the Torah, a Divine blueprint for the Jewish people and for the entire human race. Who were those angels that Moses wrestled with? Angels are not physical white-winged creatures who fly the world, resting in alien galaxies, or something akin to the comic book superhero Superman. In Judaism, an angel is viewed as a being created entirely out of spiritual stuff. An angel is a consciousness, a form of energy, detached from a physical body and physical experience.[2]

These spiritual beings felt that the Torah belonged to them. G-d disagreed. Why?

Lamentations of a Teenager

Let me share with you a story:[3] A teen-age boy once visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, and expressed anguish that his life was full of struggle and disappointment. "Why can't it just be simple and easy?" the pained boy asked. [4] "Because human beings are not angels," the Rebbe replied. Angels are impeccable and flawless, always on target. Human beings, on the other hand, are fragmented and dualistic, vacillating between extremes and shaken by conflicts.[5] Because of man's multi-dimensional and dichotomized composition, he must struggle in order to come to terms with his soul. The teen-ager continued to probe the heart of the master. "But why did G-d create us in such a complicated fashion?" he asked. "Would G-d not have enjoyed us far more if we were like the angels?"

The Soul of Art

The Rebbe, a thoughtful educator, asked the young man if he had a hobby. The boy said that he loved drawing paintings. The Rebbe then asked him: "What is more accurate, a photograph or a painting?”

“Of course a photo,” the boy replied. "A photo captures any given scene accurately, something than a painting can never do.”

“Which one is worth more?” the Rebbe continued to probe.

“A painting. While a photo will cost you a few dollars, the painting of the identical scene may sometimes go for millions of dollars.”

Why? The Rebbe asked. It does not seem fair. The accurate photo should sell for more money? "Because most photographs," the teen-ager explained, "are inanimate, lifeless items. A photo captures and freezes a person or a scene as is. A painting, on the other hand, contains the richness of human imagination, the depth of human emotion and the aesthetics of human creativity. That is what gives a painting its great value. We call it art.”

The Rebbe smiled and said:

"This is the answer to your question. Angels are photos, while human beings are pieces of art." Angels are flawless and faultless creatures; like photos, they are perfect shots of the spiritual realities. Like photos, they never err. Yet it is precisely the fluctuating drama of human existence, the perpetual conflict between our inner light and darkness, and the inner human void searching for meaning and truth—that turns our life, every moment of it, into a piece of art.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that everything we do is meaningful. Our every deed, every word we speak, even a single thought we think, has an effect that reverberates throughout all the worlds and through the whole of history. With every thought and action, you are capable of defining your life into art. Only in the tormented chambers of the human heart can G-d discover genuine, awe-inspiring artwork. It is the goodness and idealism that emerge from human doubt and struggle that bestow upon humanity a dignity and splendor that the highest of angels can never attain.

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[1] Shabbos 88b.

[2] See Rambam Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah chapters 2-3. Tanya chapter 39 .

[3] My thanks to Rabbi Fishel Zaklas (Naples, Florida) for sharing this moving tale with me. Some of the details may be inaccurate (like a piece of art...), since I did not yet trace the story back to its original source.

[4] See Talmud Berochos 61a; Tanya section 1.

[5] See Hemshech 5666 Maamar Seu Es Rosh.

My gratitude to Shmuel Levin, a writer and editor in Pittsburgh, for his editorial assistance.