Wild Angels-Catalog-small-with-cover

W i l d A n g e l s the images of angels in the book of Zohar), but an ironic reflection of the angelic order, whose distorted bodies, childish faces, gaping mouths, and short wings are not designed to carry tidings of a celestial nature. Kafka’s new angel is destined for a hollow silence. The legacy of the angel is “a still, minor voice.” Angels exist in the space defined by Gershom Scholem as Das Nichts der Offenbarung (the nothingness of revelation). Kafka’s story, Rilke’s poetry, Klee’s paintings – all foretell the decline of revelation in a void. Yet, great expectations still exist for signs of its revival. Humans, even the best of them, still hope for the angels’ return. In Nogah Engler’s paintings, we seem to sense these signs. In her works, the angels have returned to roam the earth. There they appear, spreading their magnificent wings; some standing in great beauty. Others parade, marching in line like survivors in gloomy landscapes. They too, have experienced the gift of falling. Have they dropped from heaven? Some have wings that seem extraordinarily heavy. But others soar gracefully, like acrobats on a rope. Some have noble features, but others, wearing death masks, have a disheveled, pale appearance. In these paintings, the angels may also be envisaged as refugees. Perhaps they were sentenced, like those children of treacherous gods; giants driven from heaven, dragging themselves among the humans ever since. What message do they bear? Or maybe we should ask: What is hidden behind their silence? II Let us remember that fallen angels – those messengers who carry important tidings – also include the cursed, the rebels, the defeated ones; those who have failed their divine missions. Since their banishment from heaven, they are doomed to live in this world, roaming the lower land and its abysses. Next to Lucifer and his cronies – the evil-seeking angels – we should recall the other, “fallen” ones: ministering angels and singing angels, whose singing has caused harm. Even the angel who wrestled with Jacob on the ground was one of these singing angels, says the Midrash; an angel created from the Lord’s breath to sing before the heavenly throne before perishing. Angels of this order do not carry a message of eternal life, but the notion of a short life. An angel created for a split second sings a song of glory and praise, before burning up and vanishing from the world. Is this why the angels remain silent? Is it because of the death; the extinction that has occurred in the worlds of creation? Will their singing herald the briefest of life, one as short as a breath? The divine breath created angels to sing praises, and their singing retains that breath. But we should be careful in our reading. In the Hekhalot literature, in the Zohar commentaries on the Torah, and in other sources, the angels chant in harmony. Their singing is like a psalm; a great hymn. Large groups of angels stand in their