Daphna Levin-Kahn – Acting Head of Jewish Life

Face-to-face time

B’ruchim Hachozrim – welcome back! – !ברוכים החוזרים. It is so great to see our beautiful campus filled once more with excitement and enthusiasm; meeting FACE-to-FACE again (masks notwithstanding!)

In Terumah, our parasha (Torah portion) this week, the level of detail regarding the materials, structure and design of all elements of the Mishkan, the portable temple or “tabernacle”, that Moshe was to build in the desert is extraordinary. Not much is left to the modern imagination, except for one vital element, or rather two: The Keruvim, or Cherubim, the two divine winged beings that were to be carved out of gold and placed atop the Aron Hakodesh (the Ark of the Covenant) that held the broken and whole sets of the Luchot Habrit, the Holy Covenantal Tablets.

It can be assumed that the Jews of that era must have been familiar with what the Keruvim looked like, for in all the miniscule detail of the tabernacle plans, there are no specifics about the appearance of the Keruvim, apart from these details regarding material and position (Chapter 25, Verses 18-20):

וְעָשִׂ֛יתָ שְׁנַ֥יִם כְּרֻבִ֖ים זָהָ֑ב מִקְשָׁה֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה אֹתָ֔ם מִשְּׁנֵ֖י קְצ֥וֹת הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת׃
וַ֠עֲשֵׂ֠ה כְּר֨וּב אֶחָ֤ד מִקָּצָה֙ מִזֶּ֔ה וּכְרוּב־אֶחָ֥ד מִקָּצָ֖ה מִזֶּ֑ה מִן־הַכַּפֹּ֛רֶת תַּעֲשׂ֥וּ אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֖ים עַל־שְׁנֵ֥י קְצוֹתָֽיו׃
וְהָי֣וּ הַכְּרֻבִים֩ פֹּרְשֵׂ֨י כְנָפַ֜יִם לְמַ֗עְלָה סֹכְכִ֤ים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם֙ עַל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת וּפְנֵיהֶ֖ם אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו אֶ֨ל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת יִהְי֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הַכְּרֻבִֽים׃

Make two cherubim of gold – make them of hammered work – at the two ends of the cover. Make one cherub at one end and the other cherub at the other end; of one piece with the cover shall you make the cherubim at its two ends. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. And they shall face each other (lit. their faces shall be one man’s towards his brother), the faces of the cherubim being turned toward the cover (of the Ark).

The parasha continues, in verse 22, that God’s Divine Presence was to come down to rest, just above the Aron Hakodesh to “speak” with Moshe and Aaron the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) from between the Keruvim, from between these two beings’ faces.

Why would God want – even demand to communicate from between two faces?

Consider the spiritual and emotional power of being “face to face”; by turning their face towards their “brother”, towards the “other”, welcoming them as an equal, no matter from whence they came, a person truly connects to and welcomes the other for all that they are.

Centuries later, the rabbis discuss in the Talmud, Masekhet Sukkah 5b, that the Cherubim had the faces of children.

And I wondered why. What is it about the faces of children that lifts them to the highest level of holiness, so that it is from between them that God’s presence and messages can be experienced?

>pause<

What are your ideas here?
How do you visualise the Keruvim?
How would you interpret this phenomenon?

>unpause<

Children, especially young children, often exhibit heart-warming purity and innocence, and the ability to see things as they are without the trappings, biases and assumptions brought about by adulthood, to ponder the world and see miracle and wonder in everything. They can meet one another in a playground and go, “Hey! You’re a kid. I’m a kid. Let’s play!”

Let us hope that this year truly brings us all back face to face, so that we can find the divine within one another, recognise each other as “one brother to another” and celebrate together, in the Emanuel way that I love, the humanity that unites us all.

Shabbat Shalom