They had the figures of human beings. (6) However, each had four faces, and each of them had four wings; (7) the legs of each were [fused into] a single rigid leg, and the feet of each were like a single calf’s hoof; and their sparkle was like the luster of burnished bronze. (8) They had human hands below their wings. The four of them had their faces and their wings on their four sides. (9) Each one’s wings touched those of the other. They did not turn when they moved; each could move in the direction of any of its faces. (10) Each of them had a human face [at the front]; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right; each of the four had the face of an ox on the left; and each of the four had the face of an eagle [at the back]. (11) Such were their faces. As for their wings, they were separated: above, each had two touching those of the others, while the other two covered its body. (12) And each could move in the direction of any of its faces; they went wherever the spirit impelled them to go, without turning when they moved. (13) Such then was the appearance of the creatures. With them was something that looked like burning coals of fire. This fire, suggestive of torches, kept moving about among the creatures; the fire had a radiance, and lightning issued from the fire. (14) Dashing to and fro [among] the creatures was something that looked like flares.-d
אָמַר רַבִּי חִיָּיא בַּר אַבָּא אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אֵין צַדִּיק נִפְטָר מִן הָעוֹלָם עַד שֶׁנִּבְרָא צַדִּיק כְּמוֹתוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ״. עַד שֶׁלֹּא כָּבְתָה שִׁמְשׁוֹ שֶׁל עֵלִי, זָרְחָה שִׁמְשׁוֹ שֶׁל שְׁמוּאֵל הָרָמָתִי.
Apropos the righteous, Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: No righteous person departs from this world until another comparable righteous person is created, as it is stated: “And the sun rises and the sun sets” (Ecclesiastes 1:5); before the sun sets the new sun has already risen. Before the sun of Eli was extinguished, the sun of Samuel of Ramah had already shone (see I Samuel, chapter 3), and so on throughout the generations.
(8) I am ever mindful of the YHVH's presence; God is at my right hand; I shall never be shaken.
הלא חי אני?
ומי הוא החיות שלי?
הבורא יתברך!
I am alive
and Who is this Aliveness I am?
Is it not the Holy Blessed One?
song by Rabbi Dovid Zeller, z"l
