A Company of Angels

Image: A parade in New Orleans to celebrate the anniversary of WWOZ Radio. A woman dancer leads the Treme Brass Band in white shirts and hats down Esplanade Avenue. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says that when a person walks on the road, they are preceded by a company of angels who proclaim: “Make way for the image of the Holy Blessed One!” – Tehillim Rabbah 17:8

Every human being contains the spark of the Divine, the image of the Holy Blessed One.

I have it.

You have it.

The people you love the most have it.

The people you like the least have it.

The people who irritate you in traffic have it.

The little boy who kicks your seat on the airplane has it.

Think of the person who annoys you the most. Yes, even that person has it.

It is easy to see in some people, hard to see in others.

It exists, whether we see it or not.

It exists, whether we look for it or not.

It exists. Our approval is not required.

 

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rabbiadar

Rabbi Ruth Adar is a teaching rabbi in San Leandro, CA. She has many hats: rabbi, granny, and ham radio operator K6RAV. She blogs at http://coffeeshoprabbi.com/ and teaches at Jewish Gateways in Albany, CA.

4 thoughts on “A Company of Angels”

  1. i remind myself that we are all created in His image whenever i want to mouth off at someone and the image of angelic beings, His messengers being amongst us emphasizes that truth to me, thank you

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