The Angel of Death, Malach Hamavet, is one of God’s most dreaded (and busiest!) employees. Ever since creation, the Angel has been pulling round the clock shifts. He flies around the world, poisoned blade in hand, collecting every soul. He misses almost nothing, as he is covered with a million all-seeing eyes.

He’s also fast. Usually the fourth-fastest flyer in heaven (after Michael, Gabriel, and his personal nemesis Elijah the Prophet,) during a plague the Angel of Death puts some divine Nos in the tank and zips to first place. Elijah is his main workplace rival, one of the very few humans with the chutzpah to skip the whole “dying” thing and ascend to heaven alive. When Elijah arrives in town, dogs play. When the Angel of Death visits, dogs bark like crazy.

There is, however, one place he cannot go: the mystical, holy city of Luz, where he has no power. Its residents live on and on until, whenever they’ve had enough life, they simply stroll outside the city walls to meet him voluntarily.

In the Tanach, The Angel of Death (sometimes called Mavet — “Death” personified — or Mashchit, “Destroyer”) is a terrifying force, carrying out God’s orders to smite humanity.

But in rabbinic literature, he’s given more nuance, and even comedic moments. In the Talmud, while still a figure of fear, he is also overworked with a highly relatable level of stress and anxiety about his job. He is berated and outsmarted by the Sages, or other individuals who give charity and study torah, fairly regularly. At the same time, the Angel of Death maintains friendships with some humans, like King Solomon and the Babylonian sage Rav Beivai bar Abaye.

And if he ever kills someone by mistake? He’s known to donate the extra life-years to deserving Torah scholars.

One sage, Reish Lakish, taught that the Angel of Death, HaSatan, and the Yetzer Hara (the evil inclination) are all the same being — the ultimate multitasker. Wow. No wonder he’s stressed.

Watch more interpretations from content creator Miriam Anzovin.