Word Prompt – ANGELIC – Adina Broder

The word "angelic" evokes the image of heavenly beings who embody the divine qualities of holiness, purity and perfection. Angels serve as messengers of Hashem, and when they are dispatched to carry out a mission, they perform their task to the letter, without straying in the slightest.

Angels are perfect in obedience, yet they lack free will. This leads to a paradox: while it is true that they are incapable of sinning, they are also unable to choose virtue, being forced to comply with their directives without the option to disobey. By contrast, human beings doubt, stumble, and sin. Yet precisely because of this, a single good deed freely chosen by man has greater spiritual value than the flawless obedience of the angels, according to Avot d’Rabbi Natan.

So, when we describe a person as “angelic,” it implies that, in that moment, the individual has risen above their human frailties and chosen the good – something angels, for all their celestial perfection, cannot do. An “angelic” act, then, is not about imitating angels, but about surpassing them in the one arena where humans hold the advantage: the freedom to choose.