In Yitro, this week’s Torah portion, we read about the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Appropriately, the Haftarah selection for this portion retells another account of a vivid divine revelation–Isaiah‘s first vision, in which he was inaugurated as a prophet for Israel. In Isaiah’s vision, God is seated on a throne on high, surrounded by attendants who are six-winged creatures. These creatures, called Seraphs. There we read:

Seraphim stood above for Him, six wings, six wings to each one; with two he would cover his face, and with two he would cover his feet, and with two he would fly. And one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” ( Isaiah 6: 2-3)

The language of “Holy Holy Holy” has made it into our prayers, but for now I am more interested in Isaiah’s phantasmagorical revelation. What is this image of the angel with 6 wings? One set of wings is covering its face, another its feet, and the last one is helping it fly. What is this about?

I looked around for different depictions, but none of what I found helped. I could not shake the similarity between the Seraphim and the three wise monkeys are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”

There are at least two divergent interpretations of the maxim: In the West it is often interpreted as dealing with impropriety by turning a blind eye. In Buddhist tradition, however, it is about avoiding evil thoughts and deeds. This is interesting to me.

In this context it is interesting to compare the images. By covering their face, the Serapharim might get a two for one in the “see no evil” and “speak no evil” categories.

But, why cover up the feet? On this Rashi comments:

and with two he would cover his feet. for modesty, so as not to bare his entire body before his Creator. And in Tanhuma (Emor 8), I saw that the feet were covered because they are like the sole of the foot of a calf, in order not to remind Israel of the sin of the golden calf.( Rashi on Isaiah 6:3)

In this sense it seems that the Seraphim are following the Buddhist tradition in avoiding evil thoughts and deeds. It should model discretion by cover its face and modesty by covering it body.

And why wings for flying? Well, a simple answer is that is what wings were made for. But on a deeper level wings are made to lift us up. If you have not please do listen to Aimee Carty’s One Day You Will Fly Too.

Here she shares about her anxiety and her conversation with a bird. She sings:

He said that he had wings when he was born and he didn’t know why
Said he’d walk among the flowers and he’d look up at the sky
Said that he didn’t think he was like the birds that were up high
Didn’t think that he could fly
So he didn’t even try
Until he started questioning the things he saw as true
Then his worries started lessening and next thing that he knew
He was flying
No denying
There’s often big things hidden in the little things we do

The birds wings represent reflect her potential. We all have the capacity to spread our wings and achieve our dreams.

In this we see something profound in Isaiah’s vision of the Seraphim in terms of revelation. We see the central importance of discretion in covering up our eyes and mouth, modesty by covering up our body, and confidence. We all need to belief in ourselves. We all need to spread our wings to self-actualize, become all we can be, and reveal that to the world.