… God will instruct God's malachim to guard and protect you on all of your journeys. 

Psalm 91

Angels in Judaism                             

Malachim  is the Hebrew word for messengers or angels. Like many ancient religions, Judaism has a rich and complex tradition of sacred texts, practices, and folklore that presume the existence of specific beings that carry divine messages and facilitate communication between people and God. The Torah (Five Books of Moses), other parts of the Hebrew Bible, the later commentaries of the Talmud and Midrash, and Jewish liturgy all contain references to and/or discussions about various kinds of angels.

Whether malachim are understood poetically, symbolically, or literally, the questions underlying these traditions are still relevant:

• How do we make sense of incidents or interactions that occur in our lives?

• Are the decisions we make and paths we take purely of our own design?

• Are there other forces in the world in addition to those that we can “rationally” understand or physically experience?

• What gives us spiritual strength as we move through the world?

• What helps us find focus and direction? 

• How do we experience that which is transcendent? 

If you want to learn more about malachim/angels in Judaism:

• Encyclopedia Judaica (found in in major public or academic libraries) has a comprehensive overview entitled "Angels and Angelology." 

• See a short article by Rabbi Louis Jacobs