On a Mission from God
Article by Steven Stark Lowenstein in The Times of Israel
I remember the first time I ever heard the expression. It was 1980 and Elwood and Jake, after having a religious experience, said, “We are on a mission from God.” Like the Blues Brothers, I’ve been on that mission ever since. I thought about it all week long last week while riding my bicycle on Wheels of Love to raise funds for Alyn Hospital, a pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation center in Jerusalem.
I always think of angels when I read Vayera – more angels
appear in this Parsha than any other. The Hebrew word for angel, malach, means “messenger.” In the Torah, angels are spiritual beings sent by God to perform a specific mission, often one task per angel. Who knew that angels don’t multitask?! Each angel acts as an intermediary for God’s will, whether it’s delivering good news, providing protection or healing, or executing judgment.