![]() It is not necessarily a sign of subservience to be a malach. To this effect, both Rabbi Pappenheim and the Malbim explain that the word malach is only used to denote an agent charged with doing the type of mission which the sender would do himself. The difference, then, must lie in the nature of the mission on which the messenger is sent. According to these understandings, the difference between malach and shaliach is not really in the roots of the words, because “go” and “send” are essentially the same. In an approach similar to Radak’s, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740-1814) writes that the root of the word malach is LAMMED- CHAF - lech, “go”. In that language the root of the verb for “sending” is not SHIN- LAMED- CHET (e.g., shlach) like it is in Hebrew, but the root is LAMMED- ALEPH- CHAF, the exact root which Radak claims is at the heart of the word malach! Texts found at the site of the ancient city Ugarit (in modern-day Lebanon) are written in a Semitic language (known by linguists as Ugaritic) that closely resembles Hebrew. ![]() Nonetheless, archeology has proven Radak correct. This understanding is somewhat perplexing because there is no other Hebrew word with such a root. ![]() Radak in Sefer HaShorashim writes that the root of the word malach is LAMMED- ALEPH- CHAF and that the letter MEM at the beginning of the word is not part of the root. In this essay we will explore the difference between the two ostensibly synonymous words - malach and shaliach. Although the word shaliach never appears in the Bible, it is clearly a conjugation of the Biblical root word shlach (“send”). (Rashi adopts the former stance.) Nonetheless, there is another Hebrew word which means “messenger”- shaliach. In fact, the Midrash ( Bereishet Rabbah §75:4) records a disagreement amongst the Sages whether Jacob sent angelic messenger to his brother, or whether he sent human messengers. While the word malach in Hebrew may mean “messenger”, it also means “angel”. 32:4), the Torah says that he sent Esau malachim (“messengers”). A “messenger of G-d” refers to either an angel or a prophet, but what about a “messenger of Jacob”? When Jacob sent a message of peace to his older, belligerent brother Esau (Gen.
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