7 min read

The Seraphim Veil Their Faces and the Creature Named Israel Sings

Six-winged seraphim hide their faces from the light while the living creatures carry the Throne and a creature named Israel leads heaven in praise.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Stairway of Firmaments to the Throne
  2. The Four Winds Wrapped Around the Glory
  3. The Creature Whose Forehead Reads Israel
  4. The Threefold Holy and the Veiled Faces

Far above the highest firmament, where the light has no source a creature could turn toward, six wings folded across a single face.

The seraphim were not the soft, round-cheeked messengers of a child's prayer. They were fire given a shape, and the shape kept changing. Each of them carried six wings, and not one of those wings was idle. Two wings lay pressed against the face, because the Shekhinah, the radiance of God that filled the place where they stood, could not be looked at. To open those two wings even a finger's width was to be unmade. So they kept their eyes hidden, always, and praised what they could not see.

Two more wings hung lower, covering the feet. And the feet of a seraph, the old telling insists, are shaped like the feet of a calf. They hid them on purpose. They hid them because Israel had once melted gold into the shape of a calf at the foot of a burning mountain, and the heavens had not forgotten. A silent shame, tucked under a wing, carried by beings who had no part in the sin and bore the reminder anyway.

With the last two wings they flew. And the wings were enormous past reckoning. To cross the span of a single seraph's wing, a man would walk five hundred years, the same distance that separates the earth from the first firmament, the same distance through the thickness of that firmament, the same distance from each heaven to the next. They beat those wings and the whole height of creation shuddered, and as they beat them they cried out, "Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory."

The Stairway of Firmaments to the Throne

Below the seraphim, the structure of the heights was a stack so vast that the mind slid off it. Five hundred years from the ground to the lowest sky. Five hundred years of solid firmament after that. Then another gap, another sky, again and again, each measured the same.

And above all those layered floors stood the living creatures, the hayyot, the four that Ezekiel had glimpsed by the Chebar canal and never finished describing. They were not small. The feet of the living creatures matched the full height of everything beneath them. Their ankles matched it. Their shins, their knees, their thighs, their bodies, their necks, their heads, even the horns rising from their heads, each part as tall as the whole tower of skies and distances stacked below. On their heads they bore a firmament like terrible ice, frozen and shining, and on that ice rested the legs of the Throne of Glory. The Throne too matched them, length for length. And above the Throne, higher than the seraphim, higher than the ice, higher than the creatures who carried it, the living and enduring King dwelt, exalted, alone at the top of the world.

The Four Winds Wrapped Around the Glory

When the Holy One built the world, He set it inside four winds. From the east He sent light. From the west He kept the storehouses of snow and hail, and out of them the cold went into the world. From the south He poured dews of blessing and the generous rains. From the north He let the darkness go.

And just as the four winds encircled the earth with the creatures of the world standing in the middle of them, so the four living creatures encircled the Throne of Glory, and the Throne stood in the middle, above them all. The same shape ran through everything He had made. Each thing answered to something set against it, and the fear of the one held the other in its place. He made Israel, and made the nations opposite. He made the cattle, and set the lions and bears and leopards against them so they would not grow proud. He made the small fish, and against them the great fish four hundred parasangs long. Without the arrangement, the strong would have swallowed the weak in a single afternoon.

So the seasons turned like a guard rotation. Through the month of Nisan the Holy One gave strength to the seraphim, and they raised their heads, and their dread fell on the harmful spirits and the demons until none dared move against a creature below. Through Tammuz the beasts of the thousand mountains terrified the lions. Through Tishri the great bird Ziz Shaddai put its dread upon the eagles. Through Tevet the Leviathan shook itself in the deep and the fear of it ran through the whole sea. The fire of the seraphim above and the dread of the monsters below kept the same ledger balanced.

The Creature Whose Forehead Reads Israel

Every dawn the praise began the same way. An angel stood before the Throne, opened his mouth, and said, "The Lord shall reign forever and ever," and all the mighty ones above answered after him.

Then one living creature stepped into the middle of the firmament. Its name was Israel, and the word Israel was engraved across its forehead in letters the hosts could read. It called out, "Bless the Lord, the blessed One." And every host above answered after it, "Blessed is the Lord, the blessed One, forever and ever."

The Threefold Holy and the Veiled Faces

The seraphim completed the matter then, crying the threefold holy that they never stopped crying. The wheels and the holy living creatures rolled and rose until the whole world quaked beneath them, and out of the quaking came the words, "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." The princes of heaven were bound together into one trembling chorus. And at the end, when the noise had risen as high as it could rise, every single host turned toward that one creature with the name burning on its brow, and said to it, the way a people answers its own name being called, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

High above, the seraphim never lowered the two wings across their faces. They had still not seen the light they had been praising since the first morning. They only flew, and burned, and folded the calf-shaped feet out of sight, and waited for the dawn that would call the creature named Israel back into the middle of the sky.

SeraphimLiving CreaturesMerkavahThrone Of GloryAngelsShekhinahKedushah
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 4:172Legends of the Jews

The seraphim are among the most fearsome beings in all of Jewish tradition. These aren't cute, cherubic angels from greeting cards. These are powerful, awe-inspiring beings. The seraphim are described as having six wings. Six! What are they doing with all those wings?

The Legends tell us that with two wings, they cover their faces. Why? Because they can't even gaze directly upon the Shekinah, the divine presence of God. It's too intense, too radiant. Then, with another two wings, they cover their feet. Now, According to tradition, their feet are like a calf's feet. And they hide them. Why? This is to keep secret Israel's transgression of the golden calf. It's a constant, silent reminder of a pivotal moment in our history, a moment of profound failing. A secret shame, held and hidden. Fascinating, isn't it? The angels themselves are implicated in our human story.

With the final pair of wings? They fly! They soar, constantly in motion, fulfilling the service of the Lord. And as they fly, they exclaim, "Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Adonai Tzva'ot; melo kol ha'aretz kevodo", "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." This is from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3), and it's a constant refrain, an eternal declaration of God's holiness and presence.

Get this: the wings of these angels are described as being of prodigious size. How big? Well, according to the Legends, it would take a man five hundred years to traverse their length and breadth, as from one end of the earth to the other! That gives you some sense of the scale we're talking about. These are not small, dainty creatures. They are vast, powerful, and beyond our comprehension.

So, what does this all mean for us? It reminds us of the immense power and majesty of the divine. It reminds us of our own imperfections, our own failings. And it reminds us that even in the face of such overwhelming holiness, there is still a place for service, for praise, and for constant striving to be better. The angels, in their hidden shame and radiant glory, reflect back to us the complexities of our own spiritual journeys.

Full source
Hagigah 13aTalmud Bavli, Hagigah

And Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: There is yet another firmament above the heads of the living creatures, as it is written: "And over the heads of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the color of the awesome ice" (Ezekiel 1:22).

And is it not so that from the earth to the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and the thickness of the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and likewise between each and every firmament?

Above them are the holy living creatures. The feet of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the ankles of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the shins of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the knees of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the thighs of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the bodies of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the necks of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the heads of the living creatures correspond to all of them; the horns of the living creatures correspond to all of them.

Above them is the Throne of Glory. The legs of the Throne of Glory correspond to all of them; the Throne of Glory corresponds to all of them; the King, the living and enduring God, high and exalted, dwells above them.

Full source
Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Konen ('He Established') 3Midrash Konen

Another interpretation: "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth" and so forth. Everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He created others opposite them, and He placed the fear of one upon the other. The Holy One, blessed be He, created Israel; He created the nations of the world opposite them. If not for His arrangement, they would swallow Israel while they were alive. What arrangement did He make? He established princes for them. He created the nations of the world and created their princes. He created Israel and created their princes, Michael and Gabriel. When Israel transgresses the will of the Omnipresent, the princes of the nations of the world stand and accuse Israel, and the princes of Israel stand in supplication and petition before the Holy One, blessed be He. Once the accusation of the nations of the world joins with Israel's supplication, the Holy One, blessed be He, is immediately reconciled to Israel and gives them power so that they grow strong, bring out the princes of their nation, and set them over the princes of the nations of the world. They weaken their strength and confuse their spirit, and they submit before them. If not for this, Israel could not stand before them.

He created human beings and created demons opposite them. If not for the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the arrangement He made for them, no creature could stand before the harmful beings, for they would immediately turn around them. What arrangement is there for them? Throughout the season of Nisan, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives strength to the seraphim, who grow mighty and raise their heads, and their dread falls upon the harmful beings. Thus it says, "He will cover you with His pinion," and it says, "You shall not fear the terror of the night." He created cattle and wild animals, and opposite them He created bears, lions, and leopards. If not for the mercy and kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, cattle and the other animals could not stand before the dangerous beasts. What arrangement did He make for them? Throughout the season of Tammuz, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives strength to the beasts on the mountains of a thousand. They raise themselves up, and their dread falls upon lions and dangerous beasts. If not for this, no animal could stand before them.

He created birds, some in inhabited places and some outside inhabited places. Opposite them He created the peres and the ozniyah, and likewise the eagle in inhabited places. If not for the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the arrangement He made for them, birds could not stand before these. What arrangement did He make for them? Throughout the season of Tishri, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives strength to Ziz Shaddai. It raises its head and places its dread and its voice upon the peres and the ozniyah. He created small fish and large fish, and among them is a fish so great that it is four hundred parasangs long. If not for the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the arrangement He made for them, the small ones would have no strength to stand before the large ones. What arrangement did He make for them? Throughout the season of Tevet, Leviathan raises its head and shakes itself, and its dread falls upon the fish in the sea. If not for this, the small ones would have no strength to stand before the large ones. This is what Scripture says, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth."

Another interpretation: "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth." The Holy One, blessed be He, created His world with four winds: east, west, north, and south. From the east, light goes out to the world. In the west are the treasuries of snow and the treasuries of hail, and from there cold goes out to the world. From the south, dews of blessing and generous rains go out to the world. From the north, darkness goes out to the world. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, created four winds and encircled the whole world with them, while the creatures of the world stand in the middle, so He created four living creatures and encircled the Throne of Glory with them, while the Throne of Glory is in the middle, above them all.

So too was the order of the sons of Jacob when He commanded them to camp by their standards. The east, from which light goes out, should correspond to the one who is light. Thus it is written, "Those who camped before the Mishkan were the tribe of Judah," who is king; with him was Issachar, master of Torah, as it is said, "From the children of Issachar, knowers of understanding"; and with him was Zebulun, master of wealth, as it is said, "Zebulun shall dwell by the shore of the seas." The south, from which dews of blessing and generous rains go out to the world, corresponded to Reuben, master of repentance, for the Holy One, blessed be He, pours blessing into the world on his account; with him was Simeon, who hated sexual immorality, and his measure was the measure of judgment, therefore he killed the people of Shechem; and with him was Gad, master of strength, as it is said, "Gad, a troop shall troop upon him," and so forth.

The west, from which the treasuries of snow, treasuries of hail, cold, and heat go out to the world, corresponded to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh; and the Shekhinah is always in the west, as it is said, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell securely by Him." The north, from which darkness goes out to the world, corresponded to Dan, from whom there came one who darkened the world with idolatry. This was Jeroboam, who went around the whole Land of Israel, and they would not accept him until the tribe of Dan came and accepted him, as it is said, "The king took counsel and made two golden calves, which were in Dan," and so forth. With him were Naphtali and Asher, who gives light over the darkness, as it is said, "Let him be favored by his brothers," and so forth.

This is what Scripture says, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth," and so forth: He created heavens and four winds, and He surrounded them with angels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Michael is in the east before Him, corresponding to the tribe of Levi, for when Israel crossed the sea Moses answered and said, "Who is like You," and afterward, "There is none like God, O Jeshurun." Behold Michael. Raphael is in the west behind Him, corresponding to Ephraim. Why is he called Raphael? Because he is appointed to heal Israel, as it is said, "Please, God, please heal her"; the verse seals the words "heal her." Behold Raphael. Gabriel is in the south, at His right, corresponding to Reuben and Judah, as it is written, "Judah prevailed among his brothers," and from him came a son called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God." Behold Gabriel. Uriel is in the north, at His left, corresponding to Dan, who is darkness. Why is he called Uriel? Corresponding to Torah, Prophets, and Writings. Therefore it says, "He established the heavens with understanding."

Another interpretation: "He established the heavens with understanding," and so forth. The upper beings, whom He created as a remembrance of God, exist to praise His name. How? Every dawn, an angel stands before Him, opens, and says, "The Lord shall reign forever and ever," and all the mighty ones above answer after him. One living creature stands in the middle of the firmament. Israel is its name, and it says, "Bless the Lord, the blessed One." All the hosts above answer after it, "Blessed is the Lord, the blessed One, forever and ever." The seraphim complete the matter and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts." The wheels and the holy living creatures make the world quake and say, "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place," until all the princes above are bound together. Each and every host says to that living creature whose name is Israel, and on whose forehead Israel is engraved: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." This is what Scripture says, "He established the heavens with understanding."

Full source