Parashat Vayechi – Jacob’s New Angel
Ran Oron
Sometimes, if you look back, you can see an angel.
Egypt. Jacob lies on his deathbed after seventeen fulfilling years with all his sons in a foreign land. Prior to his death its time for blessings and reflection. He blesses his grandsons, Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, with the words, “The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,will bless the boys.” He blesses them but cannot foresee their future. Longingly, he tells Joseph about Rachel and asks him to be buried in the Land of Israel. Afterward, one by one, he blesses his twelve sons.
Who is “the angel who has redeemed me”? Is it the same angel with whom Jacob wrestled, before earning the name Israel? Did he miss or remember him? How will the angel bless the boys from all evil? And why the Divine Presence does not allow Israel to foresee the future of his loved ones?
Walter Benjamin, the German-Jewish philosopher, was the owner of the painting “Angelus Novus” (New Angel) drawn by the artist Paul Klee. For Benjamin, the angel belonged to the world of Jewish Kabbalah. This is the Angel of History, he wrote. The angel gazes at us, his eyes wide open, his mouth agape, his wings spread. He flies with his face turned backward. In front of him he sees a pile of memories, events, and deceased people. He wishes to pause, knowing that if he touches the pile with his wings, its fragments will mend, revive and come to life. But he cannot. A strong wind, a storm blowing from Paradise, keeps his wings perpetually open, pushing him with his back toward the unknown future. Benjamin called this wind progress.
Israel faces his sons. His gaze is turned to the past, but his spirit is directed toward the future. He cannot predicte what the future of his sons entails, but their actions of the past are a testemonial of their traits for him. He understands that they will define their destiny. One by one, he blesses them, blessing them while also reminding them of moments in their past. Perhaps hinting that from these moments, some of elation others of misery and condemnation, they can discover their true nature. He clarifies that significant moments in their past will form the foundation of their future and determine their fate.
It is neither the role nor the destiny of the great father to foresee the future, nor is it a time for rebuke. This is the time to part, to impart his wisdom and experience, and to bless. The blessing is his right to offer each descendant a direction and a suggestion for a path . A path that can lead each of them to discover their own redeeming angel. Each child and his own angel – “The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons.” For each of them, a ladder awaits, from which their angels will descend, whom they will struggle with and from whom they will receive their name and earn the key to their destiny.
The struggle and wrestling with angels on a ladder are akin to the Angelus Novus’s attempt to fold his wings. The angelic time facing the storm from heaven is the human place at the foot of the ladder. The struggle, effort, and hardship are the essence of progress. The ability to grow and develop in the tension between the past, memories, and loss, to having faith in an unknown and unforeseen future.
Progress, therefore, is the ability of every person to learn and accept their past, its peaks and its abyss, glory moments and the shameful ones, in order to move forward and improve. To create a better future for oneself and their surroundings through new paths born from their past. One cannot revive the ever-growing pile of history, but one must continue striving and wishing to grow in its presence. Its voice must be internalized, and its light allowed to penetrate us and grow with in. This is Jacob’s blessing, its also the mission of every angel, redeeming and new.
In 1939, Walter Benjamin fled the Nazis from Germany to Portugal. There, he took his own life, mistakenly believing he had been discovered and was about to be arrested by them. Prior to fleeing to Portugal he sent the Angelus Novus, his sole possesion, to his friend, the philosopher Theodor Adorno, for safekeeping in New York. With the establishment of the State of Israel, Adorno believed the angel belonged in the Land of Israel. He sent the angel to Gershom Scholem, Benjamin’s close friend, who smuggled the angel to Israel hidden in his coat lining. Scholem donated the angel to the Israel Museum. His only request was that the museum will take care of his wife Fania until her death.
Today the Angelus Novus resides in Jerusalem
Written by Ran Oron is an Israeli architect who has lived in NY for over 20 years.
