Turns out, that feeling isn’t new. According to some fascinating threads in Jewish tradition, it was the very reason one righteous man, Enoch, was taken directly to heaven.
Why Enoch? The story, as told in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, paints a picture of a world steeped in sin. People were essentially telling God, "We don't want to know you!" A pretty harsh rejection. This, according to Rabbi Ishmael as quoted in Ginzberg, is why Enoch was "translated" – taken alive – to heaven. He was to serve as a witness. A testament to the fact that even with the impending destruction of the flood, God wasn't acting cruelly.
Imagine Enoch's journey. Guided by the angel 'Anpiel, he ascends from earth to heaven. Now, picture this: the celestial beings – the ofanim, seraphim, and cherubim, all those fiery spirits who move God's throne – notice him. From an immense distance, they detect "the odor of one born of woman." "How did a human get here?" they wonder.
But God has an answer. "My servants," He says, "don't be offended! Humanity has denied Me. They worship idols. I had to move the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)"—that's the Divine Presence—"from earth to heaven. But this man, Enoch, he’s different. He's the best of the bunch. He's the reward I get from that whole terrestrial experiment!"
Before Enoch can get settled into his heavenly digs, he needs a bit of an upgrade. The gates of wisdom, understanding, discernment, life, peace, and yes, even the Shekhinah itself, are opened to him. We're talking a full download of divine knowledge and qualities. The Zohar tells us that gaining wisdom is one of the most important things we can do in life, and here, Enoch is just flooded with it.
He’s not just given knowledge; he's given qualities. Compassion, love, kindness, grace, humility… the works. According to Ginzberg's retelling, he's endowed with more of these excellent attributes than even the celestial beings possess. He's blessed thousands of times over! And his physical form changes too – he becomes enormous, gaining 36 wings and 365,000 eyes, each shining like the sun. I mean, can you even imagine what that must look like?
And then comes the big moment. A throne is erected for him beside the gates of the seventh celestial palace. A herald announces his new name: Metatron. From now on, he is prince and chief over all the princes in God's realm… except for the eight most exalted princes who bear God's name. Wow.
So, what does Metatron do? Well, any angel with a request for God has to go through him. He’s the gatekeeper, the intermediary. The princes of wisdom and understanding are at his service, revealing to him all the knowledge of the celestial and terrestrial realms, past, present, and future. He's also the guardian of the treasures in the heaven 'Arabot, including the treasures of life. The Midrash Rabbah expands on this, noting that the 'Arabot is considered the highest heaven, reserved for justice, righteousness, and treasures.
Out of pure love, God decks Metatron out in a magnificent garment covered in every kind of light. He’s crowned with a diadem gleaming with forty-nine jewels whose brilliance fills all the heavens and the four corners of the earth. This crown, we're told, even contains the letters by which heaven and earth were created! He is then called "the little Lord."
The effect is… intense. Even the highest-ranking angels, including some pretty fearsome figures like Samael (the angel of death) and Gabriel, tremble before him. His magnificence, majesty, splendor, and beauty are overwhelming. The text even lists a whole host of angels, each in charge of different elements like hail, wind, lightning, and constellations – and they all bow before Metatron.
Finally, we get to the truly transformative part. Enoch's body is turned into celestial fire. His flesh becomes flame, his veins fire, his bones glimmering coals. His eyes are torches, his hair a blaze. He is literally consumed by divine fire, surrounded by storms and whirlwinds.
It’s a pretty wild image, isn't it? This transformation into Metatron is more than just a promotion; it's a complete metamorphosis. It’s a story about the potential for humanity, even in the face of widespread sin. It’s about the power of righteousness and the possibility of ascending to unimaginable heights. And it leaves you wondering: what potential lies dormant within each of us, waiting to be ignited?
The sinfulness of men was the reason why Enoch was translated to heaven. Thus Enoch himself told Rabbi Ishmael. When the generation of the deluge transgressed, and spoke to God, saying, "Depart from us, for we do not desire to know Thy ways," Enoch was carried to heaven, to serve there as a witness that God was not a cruel God in spite of the destruction decreed upon all living beings on earth. When Enoch, under the guidance of the angel 'Anpiel, was carried from earth to heaven, the holy beings, the ofanim, the seraphim, the cherubim, all those who move the throne of God, and the ministering spirits whose substance is of consuming fire, they all, at a distance of six hundred and fifty million and three hundred parasangs, noticed the presence of a human being, and they exclaimed: "Whence the odor of one born of woman? How comes he into the highest heaven of the fire-coruscating angels?" But God replied: "O My servants and hosts, ye, My cherubim, ofanim, and seraphim, let this not be an offense unto you, for all the children of men denied Me and My mighty dominion, and they paid homage to the idols, so that I transferred the Shekinah from earth to heaven. But this man Enoch is the elect of men. He has more faith, justice, and righteousness than all the rest, and he is the only reward I have derived from the terrestrial world." Before Enoch could be admitted to service near the Divine throne, the gates of wisdom were opened unto him, and the gates of understanding, and of discernment, of life, peace, and the Shekinah, of strength and power, of might, loveliness, and grace, of humility and fear of sin. Equipped by God with extraordinary wisdom, sagacity, judgment, knowledge, learning, compassionateness, love, kindness, grace, humility, strength, power, might, splendor, beauty, shapeliness, and all other excellent qualities, beyond the endowment of any of the celestial beings, Enoch received, besides, many thousand blessings from God, and his height and his breadth became equal to the height and the breadth of the world, and thirty-six wings were attached to his body, to the right and to the left, each as large as the world, and three hundred and sixty-five thousand eyes were bestowed upon him, each brilliant as the sun. A magnificent throne was erected for him beside the gates of the seventh celestial palace, and a herald proclaimed throughout the heavens concerning him, who was henceforth to be called Metatron in the celestial regions: "I have appointed My servant Metatron as prince and chief over all the princes in My realm, with the exception only of the eight august and exalted princes that bear My name. Whatever angel has a request to prefer to Me, shall appear before Metatron, and what he will command at My bidding, ye must observe and do, for the prince of wisdom and the prince of understanding are at his service, and they will reveal unto him the sciences of the celestials and the terrestrials, the knowledge of the present order of the world and the knowledge of the future order of the world. Furthermore, I have made him the guardian of the treasures of the palaces in the heaven 'Arabot, and of the treasures of life that are in the highest heaven." Out of the love He bore Enoch, God arrayed him in a magnificent garment, to which every kind of luminary in existence was attached, and a crown gleaming with forty-nine jewels, the splendor of which pierced to all parts of the seven heavens and to the four corners of the earth. In the presence of the heavenly family, He set this crown upon the head of Enoch, and called him "the little Lord." It bears also the letters by means of which heaven and earth were created, and seas and rivers, mountains and valleys, planets and constellations, lightning and thunder, snow and hail, storm and whirlwind—these and also all things needed in the world, and the mysteries of creation. Even the princes of the heavens, when they see Metatron, tremble before him, and prostrate themselves; his magnificence and majesty, the splendor and beauty radiating from him overwhelm them, even the wicked Samael, the greatest of them, even Gabriel the angel of the fire, Bardiel the angel of the hail, Ruhiel the angel of the wind, Barkiel the angel of the lightning, Za'miel the angel of the hurricane, Zakkiel the angel of the storm, Sui'el the angel of the earthquake, Za'fiel the angel of the showers, Ra'miel the angel of the thunder, Ra'shiel the angel of the whirlwind, Shalgiel the angel of the snow, Matriel the angel of the rain, Shamshiel the angel of the day, Leliel the angel of the night, Galgliel the angel of the solar system, Ofaniel the angel of the wheel of the moon, Kokabiel the angel of the stars, and Rahtiel the angel of the constellations. When Enoch was transformed into Metatron, his body was turned into celestial fire—his flesh became flame, his veins fire, his bones glimmering coals, the light of his eyes heavenly brightness, his eyeballs torches of fire, his hair a flaring blaze, all his limbs and organs burning sparks, and his frame a consuming fire. To right of him sparkled flames of fire, to left of him burnt torches of fire, and on all sides he was engirdled by storm and whirlwind, hurricane and thundering.
