angel classes

Distinctions

the lists

Rambam's ten are as above. The Orchos Chaim (Seder Tefillas Shabbos Shacharis §2) and the Kolbo (§37) cite the tradition as nine, dropping malachim, elohim, bnei elohim, and ishim, and adding galgalim, irin, and kadishin. The kabbalistic Masechta Atzilus has ten that follow Rambam but replace chayos and elohim with shananim and tarshishim. Rabbi Moshe ibn Chaviv notes that angels are also called abirim (Tehillim 78:25; the article prints 75:25). Rabbi Dovid Luria, in his glosses to Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 4, understands that midrash to hold ofanim and galgalim synonymous, and kruvim and chayos likewise.

chayos (חיות)

The highest created rank, and the article is careful that they are not the highest of all entities, only the highest of all created entities in the Upper Realms. The anonymous commentator to Rambam brings two explanations, the first of them as what "some explain": they appeared to Yechezkel in the form of chayos, wild animals, because in this world man stands at the peak of creation and animals do not, so the highest of the angels appeared as animals to teach the navi that even the highest creature Above is as an animal beside Hashem. Alternatively they are so called because through them the chiyus, the life-force, is given to all lower creations.

ofanim (אופנים)

Second rank; the word also means "wheel." If the Divine glory is likened to a chariot, as in Yechezkel's visions, the ofan is the wheel that carries it. In several works ascribed to the school of Rabbi Elazar Rokeach of Worms, the ofan is the inside of the wheel and the galgal its outside, meaning its spokes.

erelim (אראלים)

Third rank (Yeshayahu 33:7). The anonymous commentator: the word denotes something strong or important, as the Beis HaMikdash and the Mizbeach are called Ariel and Harel (Yechezkel 43:15). The school of the Rokeach: the erelim tell the other angels about Hashem's decrees. Bar Kappara, a talmid of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, is said to have announced his rebbi's passing by proclaiming that the erelim and the afflicted, meaning the human righteous, both took hold of the Holy Ark, the erelim overpowered the afflicted, and the Ark was captured (Kesubos 104a), the erelim being those charged with carrying out the decree.

chashmalim (חשמלים)

Fourth rank; they reveal themselves to the nevi'im in fiery flashes of light. The Gemara (Chagigah 13b) reads the name as chash (quiet) and mal (speak), because at times they speak of Hashem's glory and at times they remain quiet. The school of the Rokeach reads it as a portmanteau of chashuv (important, on account of their nearness to the Divine glory) and mal (speak, since they speak of Hashem's holiness). In Modern Hebrew chashmal means electricity.

serafim (שרפים)

Fifth rank. The anonymous commentator: they are named for their appearance, which is so awesome that one who gazes on them is automatically burned up (saruf).

malachim (מלאכים)

Sixth rank, and also the general word for every rank, which the anonymous commentator likens to Taharos, the name of a whole seder of Mishnah and also of one masechta within it. The school of the Rokeach takes the rank as those angels sent to this world on particular missions.

elohim (אלהים) and bnei elohim (בני אלהים)

Seventh and eighth. Elohim names any entity in a position of power or authority, and is used of an angel, a judge, a navi, and of Hashem Himself. The bnei elohim are so called because they are secondary to the elohim.

kruvim (כרובים)

Ninth. The Torah commands that two kruvim be made atop the Aron in the Mishkan, facing one another. Many meforshim explain kruv as derived from the Aramaic ravia (lad), found in Targum to Bereishis 21:17 and many other places, the kaf at the front meaning "like" or otherwise marking a simile. That etymology is the basis for the Gemara's assertion (Chagigah 13b, Sukkah 5b) that the kruvim looked like children. Whether the two on the Aron were two boys or a boy and a girl is subject to dispute; other sources say they were in the shape of birds, or some sort of child-bird hybrid. The word also names the destructive angels said to guard the path to the Eitz HaChaim (Rashi to Bereishis 3:24).

ishim (אישים)

The lowest rank in Rambam's list, the angels who speak with human nevi'im. Literally "men," because their level is close to that of the nevi'im they address. Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Movshovitz explains instead that they sometimes act like men, as the three who came to Avraham (Bereishis 18) looked and behaved like people.

irin (עירין) and kadishin (קדישין)

Not on Rambam's list. The school of the Rokeach: kadishin are holy and set apart in that they do not carry out decrees themselves but tell other angels what to do; irin are sent to the cities (ir) of this world to observe men's deeds and to give particular dreams. Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg derives irin instead from eir (awake), since they are always awake and watching what people do.

Rendering guidance

• Transliterate the rank names: chayos, ofanim, erelim, chashmalim, serafim, ishim, irin, kadishin. Gloss each once at first occurrence.
• Kruvim is the exception: cherubim is settled English for the two on the Aron, and reads properly in a sefer.
• Malachim: angels where the word is generic, transliterated where a source is listing the ten ranks and malachim is one of them. This is the place where a translator most easily loses the sense, because the same English word would then appear twice in one list at two different heights.
• Trap: "angel" absorbs every word in this entry. When a passage runs the ranks in order, transliterate the whole list rather than translating any member of it, and let the introduction say "ten classes of angels."
• Trap in the other direction: chashmal is the modern Hebrew word for electricity, so the class name wants a gloss at first occurrence lest a reader hear the modern sense.
• Elohim as a rank of angels is not the Divine Name; render it by the class name and let the context carry it. Where a pasuk's elohim is being read as angels or as judges, say which, since the English cannot show it.
• On malach against shaliach and the general word for a messenger, see the separate entry angel-malach-shaliach.md.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Cherubic Children and Other Angels," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach (2019-02-09): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/8129-cherubic-children-and-other-angels.md. Primary loci: Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 2:7; Orchos Chaim, Seder Tefillas Shabbos Shacharis §2; Kolbo §37; Masechta Atzilus; Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 4 with the glosses of Rabbi Dovid Luria; Yeshayahu 33:7; Yechezkel 43:15; Tehillim 78:25 (the article prints 75:25); Kesubos 104a; Chagigah 13b; Sukkah 5b; Bereishis 3:24 with Rashi; Bereishis 18; Targum to Bereishis 21:17.