New Angels Each Morning and the River of Fire

"And he said, Let me go, for the dawn has risen" (Genesis 32:27). "They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:23). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Every single day the Holy One, blessed be He, creates a band of new angels, and they say a new song and then depart. Rabbi Berechiah said: I answered Rabbi Chelbo, but is it not written, "Let me go, for the dawn has risen"? He said to him: Choked one, do you intend to choke me? Michael and Gabriel, they are the princes on high, and all the others are replaced, but these two are not replaced. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah. He said to him: You say that there is no band above that praises and repeats, but each day the Holy One, blessed be He, creates new angels who say a song and depart. He said to him: And where do they go? He said to him: To where they were created. He said to him: From where were they created? He said to him: From the River of Fire (Nehar Dinur). He said to him: What is the nature of this River of Fire? He said to him: Like the Jordan, which does not cease by day or by night. He said to him: From where does it come? He said to him: From the sweat of the living creatures, who sweat from bearing the throne of the Holy One, blessed be He. He said to him, in his refutation: But this Jordan flows by day and does not flow by night. He said to him: I kept watch at Beit Peor; just as it flows by day, so it flows by night. Rabbi Meir says: Who is greater, the one who guards or the one who is guarded? From what is written, "For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11), you must say that the one who is guarded is greater than the one who guards. Rabbi Yehudah says: Who is greater, the one who carries or the one who is carried? From what is written, "Upon their hands they shall carry you" (Psalms 91:12), you must say the one who is carried is greater. Rabbi Shimon says: Who is greater, the one who sends or the one who is sent? From what is written, "And he said, Let me go," you must say the one who sends is greater than the one who is sent. "And he said, Let me go": for the time of my praise has arrived, to give praise. He said to him: Let your fellows praise. He said to him: I cannot; tomorrow when I come to praise, my fellows will say to me, just as you did not praise yesterday, so you shall not praise today. He said to him: I will not let you go unless you bless me. He said to him: The angels who came to Abraham did not depart from him except with a blessing. He said to him: Those were sent for that purpose; I was not sent for that. He said to him: The ministering angels, because they revealed the secrets of the Holy One, blessed be He, were banished from their precinct for a hundred and thirty-eight years; shall I listen to you and be banished from my precinct? In the end he said: I will reveal it, and if the Holy One, blessed be He, says to me, why did you reveal it, I will say to Him, Your children make decrees and You do not annul their decree, yet I was able to annul it. He said to him: He is destined to be revealed to you at Bethel and to change your name, and I will be standing there, as it is written, "At Bethel He will find him, and there He will speak with us" (Hosea 12:5); it is not written "with you" here, but "with us." "And he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob" (Genesis 32:29) (written at remez 81).