Terumah: Cherubim

I think that I was 8 or 9 years old the first time I learned Terumah.  I was shocked to hear about the cherubim that sat atop the aron, the ark . How could graven images be part of the holy of holies? Even though I now realize that the prohibition of idolatry is a complex subject, explicated in its own tractate of the Talmud , and the cherubim do not fall into that category, I still find the idea of statues placed over tablets that say:

לֹֽ֣א־תַֽעֲשֶׂ֨ה־לְךָ֥֣ פֶ֣֙סֶל֙ ׀ וְכׇל־תְּמוּנָ֔֡ה אֲשֶׁ֤֣ר בַּשָּׁמַ֣֙יִם֙ ׀ מִמַּ֔֡עַל וַֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר֩ בָּאָ֖֨רֶץ מִתָּ֑͏ַ֜חַת וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר בַּמַּ֖֣יִם ׀ מִתַּ֥֣חַת לָאָֽ֗רֶץ׃

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.

 This would seem to be a prohibition on all representational art. The words that follow:

לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֥֣ה לָהֶ֖ם֮ וְלֹ֣א תׇעׇבְדֵ֑ם֒

You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

Could come to restrict the prohibited representations mainly   to objects that are worshiped. That would allow for the creation of art objects, subject to the restriction that they not be fetishized.  That would certainly exempt the representation of the cherubim. Since they were commanded by Gd through Moshe, they were certainly not forbidden idols.

I am not certain that the cherubim on the ark were only a representation.  Although they were fashioned by a human, the tradition confers on them the ability to turn their gazes. 

 

כיצד הן עומדין רבי יוחנן ורבי אלעזר חד אמר פניהם איש אל אחיו וחד אמר פניהם לבית ולמאן דאמר פניהם איש אל אחיו הא כתיב ופניהם לבית לא קשיא כאן בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום כאן בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום

Translation:

"How did they [the cherubim] stand? Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar [disagreed]. One said: Their faces were toward each other. And one said: Their faces were toward the Sanctuary. But according to the one who said their faces were toward each other, isn't it written: 'And their faces were toward the Sanctuary'? This is not difficult: Here [when they faced each other] was when Israel was fulfilling Gd's will; here [when they faced the Sanctuary] was when Israel was not fulfilling Gd's will."

In some sense these were the actual cherubim.  But that is hardly enlightening. What are cherubim? Prior to the instructions given here, in Terumah, the cherubim are mentioned once.  They seem to be the guards that prevent a return to Eden and the Tree of Life

וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃ (ס)

So He drove out the man; and He placed the keruvim at the east of the garden of ῾Eden, and the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Talmud ( daf Yomi last week, Sanhedrin 67) discusses the the וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת  the bright blade of a revolving sword. It uses these words to explicate the nature of the magic performed by the Egyptian magicians.  The mention of the sword, as an autonomous  object, turning by itself, liberates the cherubim from the role of deflectors.  It was the sword, not the cherubim that blocked the way to the tree of Life.  The cherubim that stand outside Eden do not block the re-entry; they signal the arrival.

Similarly, the cherubim signify the  arrival at the eitz chaim, the tree of life that we carry with us, the Torah

The Cherubim are on the kaporeth, the cover of the ark. ( they are also on the anagramic perocheth, the curtain that separates the ark from everything else in the mishkan)  The cherubim stand over the cover that blocks access to the contents of the ark, the tablets. Like the cherubim of Eden, they are a reminder that return is blocked, As long as the tshuva, the repentance is incomplete, it is a cover.

Holiness is demanding.  Its greatest heights are beyond human achievement. Even Moshe’s ascent was partial. We do our best.