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Chashmal

Sources

it was like the color of the chashmal “Chashmal” is an angel bearing that name, and he [Ezekiel] saw [something] like the appearance of its color in the midst of the fire. And so did our Sages say: There was an incident involving a child who was expounding on the account of the Chariot. He perceived the meaning of “chashmal,” [whereupon] fire emanated from the chashmal and consumed him. They said further that the word itself is a combination: When they asked, “What is chashmal?” replied Rav Judah, “Living beings (חֶיוֹת) of fire (אֵש) that speak (מִמַלְלוֹת) …

Rashi on Ezekiel 1:4:4

Rab Hamnuna the elder took this phrase interrogatively, thus: “is there a brightness round about it?”, implying that it may be treated with contempt, since its brightness is concealed within it and is not visible from without. And because the brightness is within, the verse continues, “and out of the midst thereof’, to wit, of the midst of that brightness, “as the form of hashmal” (electrum). The term hashmal has been interpreted as being composed of hash and mal, meaning Hayoth (order of angels), of quivering fire.

Zohar, Vayakhel 12:168

The Gemara raises an objection to this from a baraita: Until where is the Design of the Divine Chariot related? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: Until the latter “And I saw” (Ezekiel 1:27), not including the last verse. Rabbi Yitzḥak says: Until the word “the electrum” (Ezekiel 1:27). Neither of these opinions accord with Rav Yosef’s opinion that the Design of the Divine Chariot continues until the end of the chapter. The Gemara answers: Until “And I saw,” we teach those worthy of it…

Chagigah 13a:10-13b:1

If you will study the writings of Maimonides carefully (Moreh Nevuchim 3,3) you will find that he understood the cherubs in the Tabernacle as corresponding to the cherubs which Ezekiel saw in his vision, i.e. the chayot hakodesh. Even though Ezekiel reported seeing four chayot, in reality they were really only one. We can confirm this from the wording in Ezekiel 10,20 when he refers to them in the singular, i.e. היא החיה אשר ראיתי תחת אלו-הי ישראל בנהר כבר ואדע כי כרובים המה, “they are the chayah which I had seen under the Lord G’d of Israel at the river Kevar…

Rabbeinu Bahya, Shemot 25:18:7

And what renders it endurable in spite of its severity? “The brightness” that surrounds it, the light which encircles it, so that the judgement is not too hard for men to bear.

Zohar, Yitro 19:309

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