Vayishlach: What is an Angel

Vayishlach: What is an Angel

Strange.  Jacob sends Malochim, messangers,  to Esau. In the common, current usage of melachim,  it means  angels. A short time later, in the same episode, he battles with an ish.  Ish means a man, but in this case ( as with Abraham and Lot concerning Sodom),  it is understood to mean an angel, a divine emissary.  Why this planned confusion? 

Perhaps the distinction is not so clear.  In the Torah,  Jacob seems to have the most extensive experience with angels. They ascend and descend the ladder of his dream, they teach him tricks of animal husbandry,  they encounter him as he leaves Charan for Canaan.  In every case they are called melachim.  Shockingly, the first verse of the parsha reports that Jacob sent melachim.  Now these messangers have a human sender.  Are they still angels? The commentators differ.  Rashi says  מַלְאָכִים מַמָּשׁ     actual angels! Onkelos ( the official translation)  renders this instance  of the word:    אִזְגַּדִּין   [human] messangers,whereas he translated the previous  appearance  as   מַלְאֲכַיָּא   angels.  Clealy there is some ambiguity here.  

In Latin, the word homo - man- and vir have overlapping meanings.  They can each be translated as man, but homo means a regular person, whereas vir means a person of substance, someone to be addressed as Sir. Homo would be called by "hey you:.  I would translate ish as vir, not homo.  When the anashim ( pleural of ish)  are detected by Lot in Sodom, he recognized that these were not ordinary people, 

What is important difference between  a human and an angel? It is in the capability of the latter. The angel can perform miracles, acts that are outside the scope of earthly capability.  It is a moving target. Hank Morgan, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court  would seem to fit the bill. Does Elon Musk? Moses? I would certainly address each of them as Sir.

I come to think that the divine designation is not important.  It is a way of dealing with limited capability.  In the parsha, the divine nature of the ish emphasizes the impossibility of victory in Jacob's struggle and reinforces the lesson of perseverance, even when the odds of success are terrible. 

Through invention we have outstripped the angels of old. Through self-reinvention we can strive to become divine like angels.