Reset Password
Reset Link Sent
| Blogs > annathewriter > Anna The Writer Writes |
|
Jewish Angels As Matchmakers Somebody asked me if there were any Jewish angels. They thought that angels were more of a Catholic concept. Visual depiction of angels is more common in Catholic stained glass windows because of the taboo forbidding likenesses of human beings which could be worshipped. If I remember rightly - this dates back to the story of Abraham smashing the idols in his father's shop after realizing that statues were powerless and demonstrating the point to his father by claiming that the other statues had been smashed by the chief statue. Looked at from a sociologist's point of view, it is merely an attempt by a more spiritual religion of ancient times to discredit the religion of surrounding and rival power groups. To get back to the angels, yes there were angels. Cherubim and seraphim are concepts which end with the syllable im which is the Hebrew plural. I did a search on the web for angels and Jewish and found web pages which referred to Jacob wrestling with an angel. I then remembered hearing about the idea that everybody had a guardian angel and that marriages are made in heaven when two angels get together and each advocates their protegee as a suitable marriage partner. One of my favourite stories is about Mendelssohn, the one who wrote the wedding march, and his speech to persuaded his bride to be, describing a supposed conversation between their guardian angels. Religions and holy books and encyclopedias about religions are full of scary, sordid and superstitious stories. The turning of the woman into a pillar of salt is only one I can recall from The Bible. The fore-runner of Frankenstein, the Dybbuk -a vengeful soul inhabiting another - to name spooky ideas from later literature. But one of the loveliest images is of the goodwill of the guardian angels lovingly arranging a marriage. |
 |
 |
 |
| Become a member to comment on this blog | ||
 |
×
×