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ALEPH Ordination Programs
Smicha Week Intensive 2015
Angels in the Field: Sacred Text and Spiritual Practice
Rabbi Shohama Harris Wiener
rebshohama@gmail.com
Rabbi David Evan Markus
davidevanmarkus@gmail.com
Whether understood as messengers, guides, intercessors, divinity’s garments,
myths or energetic projections, angels appear regularly in Jewish canon and liturgy.
Using relevant sources from the breadth of the canon, this intensive will explore
types, narratives and spiritual functions of angels in Jewish life – with corresponding
study of other faiths’ treatment of angels for comparison and contrast. Students will
be invited to expand spiritual toolkits with study, meditation and other modalities.
Texts will be provided in original Hebrew and Aramaic, and in English translation;
advanced rabbinical students will be expected to interact with texts in their original
forms. Successful completion will require a pre-intensive essay, active participation
in classes, and a final paper. This course is eligible for distribution credit in Tanakh
or Jewish Thought, or as an elective (Kli Kodesh).
LEARNING GOALS
1. Explore the diversity, canonical sources and historical derivation of Jewish
thought concerning angels.
2. Articulate rationalist, psychological, mystical and metaphysical approaches to
angelic "functions" in Jewish texts and spiritual life.
3. Deepen fluency navigating text for psycho-spiritual purposes in individual
and congregational settings.
4. Use angelology to deepen and refine one's own personal theology.
5. Use the angelic canon to deepen one's own spiritual experience of liturgy.
6. Understand Jewish approaches to angelology in dialogue with approaches of
historical Zoroastrianism and modern Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.
REQUIRED READING
1. Shapiro, The Angelic Way: Angels Through the Ages and Their Meaning For Us.
Blue Bridge Books: New York (2009).
2. Coursepack from Tanakh, Talmud, Kabbalah, Siddur, Midrash Aggadah and
contemporary sources.
OPTIONAL READING
1. Jewish Encyclopedia article on angels (excellent background but long):
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1521-angelology
2. Cooper, Invoking Angels for Blessing, Protection & Healing. Boulder CO (2006)
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Introductory assignment (due June 14);
2. Active participation in Smicha Week classes and exercises; and
3. Synthesis paper integrating course readings, class discussions and research
(due August 14).
INTRODUCTORY ASSIGNMENT (due June 14)
1. Write 1-2 pages (1.5-space, 12-point font) briefly describing any preconceived
notions of an "angel." Try to be specific. If you've had "angelic" experiences,
describe one that you find meaningful; if not, describe your sense of what an
"angelic" experience might be. If there's something you most want to learn –
or are most concerned about in taking this course – please share it. Set this
writing aside for later (don't send it to us just yet).
2. Read Shapiro's book, The Angelic Way, and the first two brief articles in the
Coursepack (Rabbi Wolpe's "Angels in Jewish Tradition" and Dr. Frankiel's
"Angels in the Jewish Mystical Tradition"). These readings offer a palette of
approaches to Jewish angelology (rational, psychological, textual, mystical)
that will be helpful as the course unfolds.
3. Document 3 in the Coursepack lists Tanakh references to angels. Look up
and read each of these references. Select for deeper treatment five that you
find interesting and different textually, theologically and spiritually. Using
the introductory readings and your own 1-2 page reflection for guidance,
write 5-6 pages (1.5-space, 12-point font) about how the five Tanakh
references you chose depict the roles and nature of angels in Jewish thought.
How might these sources shape or re-shape your understanding of angels as
Jew, seeker and future clergy? Email both writings together – your initial
reflection and this analysis – to the instructors by June 14. This assignment can
be done simply (i.e. as a dry "compare and contrast") or deeply (i.e. as a nourishing
spiritual exercise). You'll get out of this assignment what you put into it, so we
recommend the latter approach.
4. Before the first day of class, read the Course Pack. Pay special attention to
Day One materials and be prepared to address Discussion Questions listed in
the syllabus for Day One.
LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS
Among the many learning goals of this course is the deepening of fluency with text,
using the subject matter of angels as a focusing device. For cantorial and rabbinic
pastor students, we invite you to use the Hebrew to the extent that you have time,
interest and capacity, but we do not expect that you will interact with all materials
presented in the original Hebrew or Aramaic. For rabbinical students (especially
students who have passed Sefer Barrier), this course invites deep textual exegesis in
Biblical, Mishnaic and Medieval Hebrew, as well as selected texts in Aramaic. Your
"take home" experience of the course will depend partly on how deeply you steep in
the original linguistic context of these materials. Thus, advanced rabbinical students
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are expected to use primarily the Hebrew or Aramaic versions of texts presented
bilingually: do not deprive yourself by relying only on the English. The final project
for advanced rabbinical students will require interaction with relevant texts in Hebrew.
“TACHLITIC” REQUEST
Smicha Week intensives are exactly that (intense), so our limited time together is
carefully planned. For that reason, we aim to begin on time each morning. So that
each student and the entire class to receive the full benefit of class materials, please
make every effort to arrive five minutes early to settle in. There will be a brief break
during each class session, and it's important that we resume together on time.
Thank you for your awareness in helping co-create our course container.
ABOUT COMFORT ZONES
At one time or another, hopefully we’ve all experienced the truth that authentic
spiritual explorations and practices challenge us by stretching our comfort zones.
Some aspects of this course may do the same. Not everyone is expected to resonate
with each approach to angels that we will encounter. If a particular text or approach
does not fully resonate – whether because it seems too rational or too non-rational –
remember that it's part of the Jewish canon because someone (or a large enough
group of someones) found it compelling. One of our purposes is to cultivate a palette
of Jewish understandings of angels for the diverse breadth of philosophical, pastoral,
congregational and psycho-spiritual settings we may experience in our service as
Klei Kodesh – whether or not these particular understandings resonate with our own
individual spiritual lives. Another purpose is to deepen our own personal theology
and spiritual awareness of the roles of angels (or angelic myths, tropes or energies)
in our own lives as Jews, spiritual seekers and clergy. In this domain, it is almost
inevitable that we will confront materials that challenge our own beliefs. As clergy,
perhaps our most important challenge – and contribution – in the spiritual unfolding
of individuals and communities is how we navigate the expressions of spiritual life
that challenge us. Know that the challenges – like all of our learning together – are
l'shem shamayim, for the sake of heaven.
In that merit, may you journey through the studies and experiences of this course
with grounded curiosity, a hearing heart open to yourself and the course hevre, a
willingness to suspend any preconceived notions, and a spirit flowing with the deep
wisdom and continuity of tradition.
THE SUPPORTIVE ROLE OF HASHPA’AH
Spiritual practice is bound to bring up emotional and spiritual matters from time to
time. Whether pleasant or unpleasant, these matters can be signs that a spiritual
practice is authentic and effective. (As poet Jason Shinder put it, “Whatever gets in
the way of the work is the work.”) Against the mystical backdrop of angelology,
emotional and spiritual issues can appear like projections on a screen. Our personal
responses to materials can project our internal landscapes onto text. Conversely, text
can elicit powerful emotional or spiritual responses. Such reactions are normal and
often beneficial to clergy spiritual formation: study of this nature is a time-honored
tool of spiritual evolution and discernment.
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For this reason, it is perhaps inevitable that this course will bring up matters
appropriate for discernment in spiritual direction. Before and after the Smicha Week
intensive, please bring to your mashpia(h) any emotional or spiritual matters arising
in relation to course materials. During Smicha Week, please bring these matters to
your instructors, both of whom are trained and experienced mashpi'im.
FINAL PAPER (due August 14)
A final synthesis paper will be required of all students for course credit. This final
assignment will be discussed during the Intensive: the assignment will vary based
on whether a student seeks distribution credit for Tanakh, Jewish Thought or Kli
Kodesh (elective).
We look forward to learning and journeying with you. B'vrachot –
– R. Shohama & R. David
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LESSON PLANS AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Note: "Doc." refers to document number in the Coursepack (CP).
DAY 1
MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015
Readings:
• Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Yesodei HaTorah, ch. 2 (Doc. 4, CP 23-27)
• Markus, "Halachah on Learning and Teaching Mysticism" (Doc. 5, CP 28-31)
• Angel and Amen as Unification: Degel Mishpatim, Tikkunei Zohar 34b,
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Zohar 1:262b (Doc. 6, CP 32)
Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Book 2, ch. 6 (Doc. 7, CP 33-36)
The Angelic Ish: Gen. 37:12-18 & Rashi; Gen. Rabbah 84:14 (Doc. 8, CP 37-38)
Wiener, "Angels and Jigsaw Puzzles" (Doc. 9, CP 39-41)
Rabbinic Imagination and the Throne of Glory: B.T. Chagigah 12b-13a,
Ps. 68:1-5 (Doc. 10, CP 42)
Isaiah 6:1-9 (Doc. 11, CP 43)
Nusach HaTefilah: Shacharit l'Chol, Yotzer (Doc. 12, CP 44)
Ezekiel 1:5-28 (Doc. 13, CP 45-46)
Nusach HaTefilah: Shacharit l'Shabbat v'Yom Tov, El Adon (Doc. 14, CP 47)
Discussion Questions:
1. How are Mishneh Torah's hierarchy and ontology of angels consistent or
inconsistent with the Guide for the Perplexed's description of angels as Intelligences?
With Talmud's? In these understandings, to what extent might angels have form,
identity or free will independent of God?
2. What might Yotzer mean by Kedoshim and M'shartim? See Isaiah 6:2-3.
What position(s) does Yotzer take on the question of whether angels have free will?
3. Using the angelic hierarchies of Mishneh Torah and Talmud (Chagigah) as
heavenly field guides, carefully parse the angelology of Yotzer and El Adon. Notice
which angelic levels are mentioned, where they appear and in what order these
liturgies invoke them. What significance might we glean from this parsing of
liturgy? Based on these perspectives, how might angelology enrich the davvener's
emotional and spiritual experience of these liturgies?
4. If Isaiah and Maimonides could dialogue about their sense of angels in
spiritual life, how might that dialogue sound? If you could add yourself to their
conversation, what might you say?
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