dor of the Shekinah sustains the angels. Comp. PK 6, 57a; ShR 32.4 and 47.5. A statement like that of Jub. 15.27 to the effect that certain classes of angels bear the sign of the Abrahamic covenant on them would have struck the Rabbis as blasphemy. Comp. the following note and note 6 on vol. I, p. 50.
63 BR 21.9; Yelammedenu in Yalkut II, 69 and 925; ShR 25.2; PRE 4; Tehillim 104, 442 (in the two last-named sources the angels are wind when performing their duties, in God’s presence they are fire). Comp. also BR 50.1. On angels as shades, see BaR 10.5; perhaps also Baba Batra 91a. In WR 31.5 it is said that the angels are males and not females, i.e., they never assume the form of women; but comp. the parallel passages in Mishle 21, 89, and BR, loc. cit. It is, however, to be observed that Lekah, Gen. 3.24, in citing the last-named passage does not read the word נשים. Men, women, boys, and maidens among angels are mentioned in mystical literature, but this description has hardly anything to do with their forms; it merely expresses the different degrees of their ranks. Comp. Yalkut Hadash, s.v. מלאכים Nos. 63, 93; R. Moses ha-Darshan in Magazin, XV, 80; Hasidim 277. Although the rabbinic sources hardly offer any remarks concerning the forms of angels, many a statement is found in the older literature regarding their size and rapidity; comp. Enoch 40.1; Berakot 4b; Hullin 91b; BR 68.12 and 51.1. As to the material out of which the angels were created, comp. the preceding note, as well as PK 1, 3a–3b; ShR 3.11; BaR 15.8; DR 5.12; Yerushalmi Rosh ha-Shanah 2, 58a; 2 ARN 24, 48–49; Tan. Wa-Yiggash 6; Targum Job 25.2; Pesahim, 118a (bottom). Along with fire which is the peculiar heavenly element, water and snow (also hail) are mentioned as the material out of which the angels were fashioned. On fire, water, and snow as the primeval elements, comp. Index, s.v. The statement found in many passages of rabbinic literature that Michael was created of fire and Gabriel of snow or water (see Index, s.v. “Michael”, “Gabriel”) implies the view that the former belongs to heaven and the latter to the earth. The idea that the residence of the angels is in heaven is unanimously expressed by the Rabbis, as well as by the authors of the pseudepigraphic writings. Philo’s view, De Gigant., 2, and De Somn., 22, that the angels inhabit the air is entirely unknown to the Rabbis (BR 26.5, to which Siegfried, Philo, 147, alludes, has nothing to do with the place inhabited by the angels; this passage was misunderstood by Siegfried; for the correct translation thereof, see note 1 on vol. I, 105). Similarly there is no
22
