The angel said to Avraham, “Since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” The Gaon, zl, m’Vilna, wonders what the angel meant with the words, “From Me”. If he meant Hashem, he should have said so. “Me” implies that he was talking about himself. Horav Yitzchak Zilberstein, Shlita, cites Maadanei Yosef, who explains that every mitzvah a person performs catalyzes the creation of an angel. The quality, perfection of this angel, depends upon the quality of the mitzvah. A strong mitzvah, ie, one performed solely for the sake of Heaven, with alacrity and the proper intentions, creates a Heavenly angel that will be on a sublime level. If, however, the mitzvah that one performs is, at best, passable, but lacks spiritual substance, stability and energy, the angel will lack those same characteristics.
This is why we say in the Tefillah, prayer, U’Nesaneh Tokef, “Let us proclaim (the mighty holiness of this day),” “The angels tremble, fear and dread seize them.” Why do the Heavenly angels tremble? It is not as if they have Torah and mitzvos to study and perform. What did they do wrong that would give them reason to tremble? When the angels consider that they are the products of the mitzvah performance of man – they worry. If the mitzvah was performed listlessly – and the man repents, does teshuvah, they have nothing to worry about. The man has saved them. If, however, the man goes about his Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in much the same manner as before, his mitzvos are executed perfunctorily, almost as if he were compelled to do so – no love, no passion, no excitement, no life – then the Malach has reason to tremble.
“We now understand,” explains Rav Zilberstein, “what the angel intimated to Avraham: Mimeni, ‘from Me,’ I can tell from myself, from my lofty spiritual plateau, that you, Avraham, did well. You acted with alacrity to fulfill Hashem’s Will. You did not deviate one iota from what He asked you to do. You imbued this mitzvah with fear of G-d, love and pure intention for the sake of Heaven. How do I know? I look at myself – mimeni – as the greatest indicator. I am the product of your mitzvah!”
This is something to consider when we next perform a mitzvah, such as going to shul to daven. When, how and what attitude we manifest determines the angel that we create. We might need that angel one day to be on our side, to support us in a critical time. The last thing we want is an angel that is too “weak” to help us. We will have no one to blame but ourselves.
