[Avodah] Angels and Requests

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 06:14:22AM +0000, Toby Katz via Avodah wrote:
:                                                 I don't understand why
: asking malachim for a bracha is any different from asking your father
: to bentsh you, or asking your rebbe for a bracha, or asking a Holocaust
: survivor for a bracha (as the Satmar Rebbe advised people to do).

Well, since we're speaking about the Gra's position, he also heavenly
warns about davening at a qever the wrong way. Can't make requests of
deceased people either.

But even going less extreme, there is another difference:

The gods of the pagans started with mal'akh worship. As per the
Rambam, Hil AZ 1:1:

    In the days of Enosh, the people fell into gross error, and the
    counsel of the wise men of the generation became foolish. Enosh
    himself was among those who erred. Their error was as follows: "Since
    God," they said, "created these stars and spheres to guide the world,
    set them on high and allotted unto them honor, and since they are
    ministers who minister before Him, they deserve to be praised and
    glorified, and honor should be rendered them; and it is the will
    of God, blessed be He, that men should aggrandise and honor those
    whom He aggrandised and honored just as a king desires that respect
    should be shown to the officers who stand before Him, and thus honor
    is shown to the king." When this idea arose in their minds, they
    began to erect temples to the stars, offered up sacrifices to them,
    praised and glorified them in speech, and prostrated themselves
    before them their purpose, according to their perverse notions,
    being to obtain the Creators favor. This was the root of idolatry,
    and this was what the idolators, who knew its fundamentals, said....

To give more weight to this idea... Mercury, the messenger to the gods
in Latin mythos was spun off of Hermes (Greek) who had major influence
from Apis (who had two temples on opposite ends of the country, with
a gold bull in front of each, holiday on the 15th of the 8th month --
sound familiar?), who in turn wouldn't have existed without the precedent
of the Sumarian bull-god who delivered prayers up to the other gods,
and brought their blessings back down to people -- Kirub.

And this keruv-worshipped as a god was even like (but lehavdil) the
faces of keruvim on the chayos of the Maaseh haMerkavah (10:15,22),
in that in the first telling (1:10) that face is that of a bull.

As for a possible reason how the difference between asking a person and
asking a mal'akh for a berakhah may be justified:

People have bechirah chafshi. They can choose whether or not to daven.
When you ask them to do something, you are asking them. And when they
ask Hashem for something, it is they who are asking Hashem for something.

Mal'akhim do not. Anything they do is Hashem's Idea. Asking them for
a berakhah is really asking Hashem for one. But, with the distraction
of not relating to HQBH directly.

To this school of thought, that not relating directly is the essence of
violating the Rambam's 5th iqar: "That He, Yisbarakh, is the one worthy
of serving Him,exalting Him, to make His Greatness known, and do do His
mitzvos, and not to do this to anythink that is below Him in existence,
from the angels and the stars..."

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Strength does not come from winning. Your
micha at aishdas.org        struggles develop your strength When you go
http://www.aishdas.org   through hardship and decide not to surrender,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      that is strength.        - Arnold Schwarzenegger