This sheet on Exodus 25 was written by Rachel Barenblat for 929 and can also be found here
Our chapter contains exquisitely detailed instructions for the building of the Mishkan, but there is one intriguingly vague item: the two cherubs atop the ark. They are made of gold, have wings, and face each other. At least, in our chapter they face each other. In Chronicles, we read that the Temple cherubs faced the Temple, not each other.
Given these two disparate descriptions, our sages opined that the cherubs had a mystical ability to move in imitation of us. When the populace follow the mitzvot and treat each other lovingly the cherubs face each other. When we reject the mitzvot and treat each other dishonorably they turn away from each other, mirroring our turning away from God and each other.
Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto writes in his book Aish Kodesh, that when we stand before God in prayer addressing God as a "you" we draw forth that aspect of God with whom we can be in relationship. When we do that, we find God's presence in prayer -- and maybe find our own presence, our own deepest selves revealed.
The Book of Proverbs states that just as water reflects our faces back to us, so our hearts can reflect us to each other. When I connect to you as a "thou," I see myself reflected in your heart. When I connect to God as "thou," my yearning calls forth the divine presence, and I see myself reflected in the Divine. Because I seek, God becomes revealed -- and so do I. God becomes the mirror in which I see my deepest self.
The cherubs are also a kind of mirror. When we yearn for connection, and act out of that yearning, they face each other. When we lose sight of our yearning for God, for connection and holiness, and sanctified relationship, the mirroring goes away. They no longer face each other, and we lose the mirror in which we might have seen ourselves and God more deeply.
Spiritual life is a journey of constant rising and falling, trying and failing and trying again. We strive to be our very best. Then we notice that we've lost track of our best intentions, so we turn ourselves around to try again. That existential act of turning around to try again is teshuvah, repentance or return.
When we turn to face each other, there's the potential for experiencing God's presence in the space between us, the relational space, the I/Thou space, like the relational space between the cherubs of old from which God's voice issued forth. When we turn to face God, we prime the pump for revelation -- and whether it's revelation of God's self, or revelation of our own deepest self, doesn't really matter. Either way, we open the door to our own transformation.
Given these two disparate descriptions, our sages opined that the cherubs had a mystical ability to move in imitation of us. When the populace follow the mitzvot and treat each other lovingly the cherubs face each other. When we reject the mitzvot and treat each other dishonorably they turn away from each other, mirroring our turning away from God and each other.
Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto writes in his book Aish Kodesh, that when we stand before God in prayer addressing God as a "you" we draw forth that aspect of God with whom we can be in relationship. When we do that, we find God's presence in prayer -- and maybe find our own presence, our own deepest selves revealed.
The Book of Proverbs states that just as water reflects our faces back to us, so our hearts can reflect us to each other. When I connect to you as a "thou," I see myself reflected in your heart. When I connect to God as "thou," my yearning calls forth the divine presence, and I see myself reflected in the Divine. Because I seek, God becomes revealed -- and so do I. God becomes the mirror in which I see my deepest self.
The cherubs are also a kind of mirror. When we yearn for connection, and act out of that yearning, they face each other. When we lose sight of our yearning for God, for connection and holiness, and sanctified relationship, the mirroring goes away. They no longer face each other, and we lose the mirror in which we might have seen ourselves and God more deeply.
Spiritual life is a journey of constant rising and falling, trying and failing and trying again. We strive to be our very best. Then we notice that we've lost track of our best intentions, so we turn ourselves around to try again. That existential act of turning around to try again is teshuvah, repentance or return.
When we turn to face each other, there's the potential for experiencing God's presence in the space between us, the relational space, the I/Thou space, like the relational space between the cherubs of old from which God's voice issued forth. When we turn to face God, we prime the pump for revelation -- and whether it's revelation of God's self, or revelation of our own deepest self, doesn't really matter. Either way, we open the door to our own transformation.
(יח) וְעָשִׂ֛יתָ שְׁנַ֥יִם כְּרֻבִ֖ים זָהָ֑ב מִקְשָׁה֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה אֹתָ֔ם מִשְּׁנֵ֖י קְצ֥וֹת הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת׃
(18) Make two cherubim of gold—make them of hammered work—at the two ends of the cover.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in Western Massachusetts, blogs as the Velveteen Rabbi.
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