Raziel

📷 Wikimedia Commons — domaine public — Francisco de Zurbarán — 1650

SpiritualityMythologyMiddle AgesMiddle Ages — period of Jewish Kabbalah development (12th–13th centuries)

Raziel is an archangel from Jewish Kabbalistic tradition, guardian of divine secrets and celestial mysteries. According to legend, he gave Adam the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, a book containing the secrets of the universe. His name means "secret of God" in Hebrew.

Key Facts

His Hebrew name Raziel (רָזִיאֵל) means "secret of God"
He is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud and in various Jewish mystical traditions
The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (Book of Raziel the Angel) is a medieval Kabbalistic text composed around the 13th century
According to legend, Raziel gave the Book to Adam after his expulsion from Paradise to help him understand creation
He is considered one of the seven principal archangels in medieval Jewish angelology

Works & Achievements

Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (ספר רזיאל המלאך) (13th century (compilation))

The "Book of the Angel Raziel" is the principal text attributed to this archangel. It compiles divine names, protective formulas, astrological treatises, and secrets of Creation, and was used as a protective amulet in many medieval Jewish communities.

Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) (3rd – 6th century)

A foundational text of Jewish mysticism describing Creation through the 22 Hebrew letters and 10 sefirot. Although it predates the codification of the figure of Raziel, it forms the cosmological framework within which his role is understood.

Zohar (Book of Splendor) (Late 13th century)

A summation of medieval Kabbalistic mysticism written in Aramaic, attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai but composed by Moses de León. The Zohar establishes Raziel's place in the angelic hierarchy and his connection to the sefirah of Chokhmah.

Hekhalot Literature (3rd – 7th century)

A collection of texts describing mystical journeys through the "celestial palaces" to the divine throne (Merkavah). These texts form the direct background for the medieval angelic traditions that include Raziel.

Midrash Avkir (7th – 10th century)

A midrashic biblical commentary containing one of the most detailed accounts of the gift of Raziel's book to Adam, and a key reference for understanding the narrative mythology surrounding this archangel.

Anecdotes

According to Kabbalistic tradition, Raziel stood so close to the divine throne each day that he could hear every word spoken by God. He recorded these secrets in a book with sapphire pages, which he gave to Adam after his expulsion from Paradise to help him find his place again in the order of the world.

Other angels, jealous that Adam possessed such knowledge, reportedly stole Raziel's book and threw it into the sea. God commanded the angel Rahab, prince of the sea, to retrieve it and return it to Adam. This story illustrates the tension in Kabbalistic thought between transmitting divine knowledge and the temptation to keep it secret.

Legend holds that the book then passed to Noah, who used it to build the ark and understand natural cycles. It was later passed on to Enoch, then Abraham, and finally to King Solomon, who used it to acquire his legendary wisdom. This chain of transmission reflects the importance of esoteric knowledge continuity in Jewish tradition.

The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh as it has come down to us is a genuine medieval text compiled in the 13th century, most likely in Rhineland Kabbalistic circles. Although attributed to the archangel Raziel, modern scholars recognize it as a compilation of earlier Jewish magical treatises, divine names, and protective formulas — a testament to the richness of medieval mystical practice.

In Kabbalah, Raziel is associated with the sephirah Chokmah (Wisdom), the second level of the Tree of Life. He is one of the seven principal archangels, each governing a sphere of existence. His role as 'keeper of secrets' makes him a central figure in medieval debates about what can and cannot be revealed to human beings.

Primary Sources

Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (ספר רזיאל המלאך) (13th century (medieval compilation of older material))

This book was given to Adam by the angel Raziel so that he might know the secrets and mysteries of the higher spheres and the mysteries of the lower world, and so that he might understand the ways of creation.

Midrash Avkir (Between the 7th and 10th centuries)

When Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden, the angel Raziel handed him a book from the celestial heights. Adam took hold of the book, studied it, and through it came to understand the secrets of the stars and the cycles of the heavens.

Zohar (זֹהַר) — Bereshit (Late 13th century (Castile, attributed to Moses de León))

There exists a secret book whose letters are formed of fire, transmitted from Paradise, whose very contents the angels themselves long to know.

Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE)

And Enoch was taken up by the angels and instructed in the secrets of heaven, the movements of the stars, the length of the years, and the commandments of God.

Key Places

Garden of Eden (Gan Eden)

The mythical location where, according to Kabbalistic tradition, the angel Raziel delivered the book to Adam. Eden represents the original point of contact between the divine and the human, and the starting point for the transmission of esoteric knowledge.

Worms, Rhineland (Germany)

A center of the Hasidei Ashkenaz movement in the 12th century, this thriving Jewish community in the Rhineland is one of the places where elements later incorporated into the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh were likely composed.

Girona, Catalonia (Spain)

Home to a major Kabbalistic school in the 13th century, influential in shaping the doctrines of the sefirot and angelology. Girona was one of the centers where the figure of Raziel was developed theologically.

Safed (Tzfat), Galilee (Israel)

The capital of Kabbalah in the 16th century, where masters such as Isaac Luria (the Ari) developed an elaborate angelology placing Raziel within a complex mystical cosmology.

Babylon (present-day Iraq)

The site where the Babylonian Talmud was compiled and a hub of intense Jewish mystical activity (the Hekhalot literature) — a distant but foundational context in which the angelic tradition surrounding Raziel took root.