Zadkiel — “the Righteousness of God” — is the archangel of mercy, benevolence, and divine grace in Jewish mysticism: the gentle angel of forgiveness and compassion, associated in the Kabbalah with the sefirah of Chesed (Loving-kindness/Mercy), and identified in tradition as the angel who stayed Abraham’s hand from sacrificing Isaac. He is the loving-kindness of heaven.
The Angel of Mercy
Zadkiel (Tzadkiel, Sachiel) is the archangel of mercy, benevolence, forgiveness, and divine grace — the angel who embodies the gentle, loving, and compassionate aspect of the divine. In the Kabbalah, he is associated with the sefirah of Chesed (Loving-kindness, Mercy, Grace) on the Tree of Life — the attribute of God’s boundless love, generosity, and mercy, the expansive and giving force that complements the severity of [camael]’s Gevurah. Zadkiel is the angelic embodiment of this divine loving-kindness, the patron of mercy, forgiveness, and compassion.
The Stayer of Abraham’s Hand
Zadkiel is identified in one important tradition as the angel who intervened at the binding of Isaac (the Akedah) — the angel who called out from heaven to stay Abraham’s hand as he raised the knife to sacrifice his son, sparing Isaac and providing the ram caught in the thicket. This act of mercy — the stopping of the sacrifice, the sparing of the innocent — perfectly embodies Zadkiel’s nature as the angel of mercy and divine grace, and it is one of the great moments of the Hebrew scriptures. (Other traditions assign this role to the angel [michael] or another.)
The Loving-Kindness of Heaven
Zadkiel is invoked for mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and divine grace, and for the easing of judgment and the granting of benevolence. As the angel of Chesed, he holds an essential place in the Kabbalistic vision of the divine attributes, the loving-kindness that balances and tempers the severity of judgment. He is honoured as one of the great archangels, the gentle and merciful power of heaven. In Zadkiel, Jewish mysticism gave form to divine mercy and loving-kindness — the archangel of Chesed who embodies the boundless grace and compassion of heaven, the angel who stayed Abraham’s hand from the sacrifice, the gentle power of forgiveness and divine love.