(18) Make two cherubim of gold—make them of hammered work—at the two ends of the cover. (19) 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. (20) The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. They shall confront each other, the faces of the cherubim being turned toward the cover. (21) Place the cover on top of the Ark, after depositing inside the Ark the Pact that I will give you. (22) There I will meet with you, and I will impart to you—from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on top of the Ark of the Pact—all that I will command you concerning the Israelite people.

(24) it was driven out; and east of the garden of Eden were stationed the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

(1) מקדם לגן עדן AT THE EAST OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN — Not in the eastern part of the Garden but eastward of the garden of Eden and outside the garden. (2) את הכרבים THE CHERUBIM — Angels of destruction (Exodus Rabbah 9:11). (3) החרב המתהפכת THE SWORD TURNING ITSELF — It was a revolving sword and consequently had a להט, a flashing flame for the purpose of frightening him so that he should not enter again into the garden. The Targum of להט, however, is שנן, like (Sanhedrin 82a) שלף שננא he drew his blade; old French lame. There are Agadic Midrashim, but I come only to explain it according to its plain sense.

And what is the form of the face of a cherub [keruv]? Rabbi Abbahu said: Like that of a child [keravya], as in Babylonia one calls a child ravya. Abaye said to him: But if what you say is so, what is the meaning of that which is written about the faces of the celestial beasts drawing the celestial chariot: “The face of the first was the face of the cherub, and the face of the second was the face of a man” (Ezekiel 10:14)? According to your explanation, this face of the cherub is the same as that face of a man. The Gemara answers: Although two of the celestial beasts drawing that chariot had the face of a man, the difference between them is that one was a large face and one was a small face.

all her splendor” (Lamentations 1:6). What is the meaning of: “All her splendor [hadara]”? It means: Her chamber [ḥadra], i.e., something that was hidden within the innermost chambers, namely the Ark. You, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, what do you say in response to this? He said to him: As I say, the Ark was buried in its place and not exiled, as it is stated: “And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the sacred place before the partition, but they could not be seen without; and they are there to this day” (I Kings 8:8). Rabba said to Ulla: From where in this verse may it be inferred that the Ark was buried in its place? Ulla replied that the source is as it is written: “And they are there to this day,” which is referring to any day when one might read this sentence, i.e., forever. Rabba objected to this explanation: And is it the case that anywhere that it is written “to this day” it means forever, as opposed to the time when the verse was written? But isn’t it written: “And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem, to this day” (Judges 1:21)? So too here, let us say that the Jebusites were not exiled from Jerusalem. But wasn’t it taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: No person passed through the land of Judea for fifty-two years after the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, as it is stated: “I will raise crying and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, for they have been burned, with no person passing through. And they do not hear the sound of the cattle; from the bird of the heavens to the beast [behema], all have fled and gone” (Jeremiah 9:9). Behema, spelled beit, heh, mem, heh, has a numerical value of fifty-two, alluding to the fact that no one passed through the land for fifty-two years. And it was taught in another baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: For seven years a curse of brimstone and salt endured in Eretz Yisrael, rendering it unfit for human habitation. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the rationale of Rabbi Yosei; from where does he learn this? It is derived from a verbal analogy between “covenant” and “covenant.” It is written here: “And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week” (Daniel 9:27), i.e., seven years. And it is written there: “And that its entire land is brimstone and salt…They shall say: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers” (Deuteronomy 29:22; 24). Evidently, the Jebusites must have been exiled from Jerusalem, which proves that the phrase “to this day” does not always mean forever. Ulla said to him: Here, with regard to the Ark, it is written: “And they are there”; whereas there, in the verse that deals with the Jebusites, it is not written. And anywhere that “there” is written with the phrase “to this day” it means forever. The Gemara raises an objection from the following verse: “And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to Mount Seir having for their captains Pelatiah and Neariah and Rephaiah and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. And they smote the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and dwelt there to this day” (I Chronicles 4:42–43). The Gemara explains its objection: But Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had already come, and through his policy of forced population transfer he had scrambled all the nations of the lands, as it is stated in reference to Sennacherib: “And I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures” (Isaiah 10:13). This indicates that the children of Simeon were also exiled, despite the fact that the verse states: “There to this day.” The Gemara concludes: Indeed, this is a conclusive refutation of Ulla’s statement. Rav Naḥman said that a Sage taught in the Tosefta: And the Rabbis say that the Ark of the Covenant was buried in the Chamber of the Woodshed. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: We, too, have learned in a mishna: There was an incident involving a certain priest who was occupied with various matters, and he saw a floor tile in the woodshed that was different from the others. One of the marble floor tiles was higher than the rest, suggesting it had been lifted out and replaced. He came and informed his friend of the uneven tile, but was unable to finish his report and provide the exact location of the tile before his soul departed from his body. And consequently they knew definitively that the Ark was buried there, but its location was meant to be kept secret. The Gemara asks: What was he doing, that priest who noticed the misplaced tile? Rabbi Ḥelbo said: He was occupied with his axe, i.e., he was banging the floor with his axe. He thereby discovered an empty space under a tile, which he guessed was the opening of a tunnel. The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Two blemished priests were sorting wormy wood when the axe of one of them dropped and fell there, into the hole in the floor. Blemished priests were appointed to inspect the wood for worms, as these logs were unfit for use on the altar. And fire burst out and consumed that priest, so the exact location remains unknown. § Rabbi Yehuda raised a contradiction. It is written: “The ends of the staves were seen,” and it is written in that same verse: “But they could not be seen without” (I Kings 8:8). How can one reconcile this contradiction? They were seen and yet not seen, i.e., the staves were partially visible. This was also taught in a baraita: “The ends of the staves were seen”; one might have thought that they did not move from their position and did not protrude at all. Therefore, the verse states: “And the staves were so long.” One might have thought that they ripped through the curtain and emerged on the other side; therefore, the verse states: “They could not be seen without.” How is this so? The staves of the Ark pushed and protruded and stuck out against the curtain toward the outside, and appeared like the two breasts of a woman pushing against her clothes. As it is stated: “My beloved is to me like a bundle of myrrh, that lies between my breasts” (Song of Songs 1:13). For this reason the Ark of the Covenant, where the Divine Presence rests, is positioned so that its staves protrude through the curtain, like the breasts of a woman. Continuing the previous discussion, Rav Ketina said: When the Jewish people would ascend for one of the pilgrimage Festivals, the priests would roll up the curtain for them and show them the cherubs, which were clinging to one another, and say to them: See how you are beloved before God, like the love of a male and female. The two cherubs symbolize the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the Jewish people.

(1) כרבים CHERUBIM — They had the form of a child’s face (Sukkah 5b). (2) מקשה תעשה OF BEATEN WORK SHALT THOU MAKE [THEM] — i. e. thou shalt not make them separately (apart from the actual lid) and join them to the ends of the lid after they have been made, like goldsmith’s work which is called in old French souder (English solder) — but lay down a large mass of gold (lit., much gold) when thou beginnest to make the lid and beat upon the middle part of it (the gold) with a hammer or with a mallet, so that its ends will project upward (stand out in relief), and then shape the cherubim out of the projecting edges. (3) מקשה batediz (beaten work) in old French Similarly we have (Daniel 5:6) “and his knees knocked (נקשן) one against another”. (4) קצות הכפרת means THE EXTREMITIES OF THE COVER.

(1) כרבים CHERUBIM — They had the form of a child’s face (Sukkah 5b). (2) מקשה תעשה OF BEATEN WORK SHALT THOU MAKE [THEM] — i. e. thou shalt not make them separately (apart from the actual lid) and join them to the ends of the lid after they have been made, like goldsmith’s work which is called in old French souder (English solder) — but lay down a large mass of gold (lit., much gold) when thou beginnest to make the lid and beat upon the middle part of it (the gold) with a hammer or with a mallet, so that its ends will project upward (stand out in relief), and then shape the cherubim out of the projecting edges. (3) מקשה batediz (beaten work) in old French Similarly we have (Daniel 5:6) “and his knees knocked (נקשן) one against another”. (4) קצות הכפרת means THE EXTREMITIES OF THE COVER.

(1) כרובים. Birds. (shapes of) We base this on Ezekiel 28,14 את כרוב ממשח הסוכך, “as a cherub with protective outstretched wings.” (compare Rashi) It is a large bird. Our sages (Sukkah 5) understand the word to mean “having the faces of young children, toddlers.” (2) מקשה, hammered out of the thickness of the lid, i.e. the whole was a single chunk

(1) You are a cherub of great measure, that covers You are a bird of measure, i.e., the huge bird that covers a large area with his wings; i.e., you rule over a large dominion. מִמְשַּׁח is a word for largeness, like (Num. 13:32): “men of stature (אַנְשֵּׁי מִדוֹת).” which is translated into Aramaic as גַבְרֵי דְמִשְּׂחָן. (2) and I gave that to you; you were on the mount of the sanctuary of God and I gave you a place to acquire a name for yourself in the edifice of the mountain of My sanctuary, for you assisted Solomon with the cedar wood. (3) you walked among stones of fire You acquired for yourself a memorial with the kings of Israel, who are like the ministering angels.

(1) שנים כרובים, “two cherubs.” Compare Ezekiel28,14, את כרוב ממשח הסוכך, “like a cherub with outstretched wings;” they are a certain type of bird. Seeing that birds are both clean animals and move in a clean atmosphere most of the time; even though the Torah in the second of the Ten Commandments had expressly forbidden us to make anything that is like creatures on earth or in the sky, the reason why the making of the cherubs is exempt from this was that it was not made to be worshipped, but to remain hidden inside the most inaccessible part of the Temple. We have a parallel of this in Isaiah 6,12 where the prophet described having had a vision of the Lord seated on His throne surrounded by such creatures each having six wings. Even in the Torah we find exceptions to overriding commands, such as “anyone who performs forbidden work on the Sabbath being guilty of legal execution,” (Exodus 35,2) while the priests performed such work in the Temple every Sabbath when offering the daily communal sacrifices. Not only that, even individuals, when becoming fathers of a boy baby born on the Sabbath circumcised him on the following Sabbath. (Leviticus 18,16) The Torah strictly forbade marrying the wife of a brother, but made an exception if said brother had died without children, and encouraged a surviving brother to marry the widow who had been his brother’s wife in order to provide him with issue. Similar exceptions are in place for wearing wool garments with tzitzit, ritual fringes, including wool and linen. There is a positive commandment to this effect (Compare Deuteronomy 22,12)

(1) AND THOU SHALT MAKE TWO CHERUBIM. Our sages said that the cherubim looked like two youths. They said that the kaf in keruvim is a preposition and the word keruvim (cherubim) means the same as the Aramaic word ke-ravia (like youths). Now if they had a tradition that the cherubim were youth-like images, then what they said was true. They interpreted the word in a manner that would recall the tradition. They did the same with the word chanukkah. The kaf in the word keruv (cherub) is a root letter, as the word hakeruvim (the cherubim) in And the cherubim shall (v. 20) proves. The heh of ha-keruvim indicates the definite article. It is not an interrogative heh like the heh in ha-kemakkat (or is he slain) in Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by Him (Is. 27:7). Now when I searched for the meaning of the word keruvim (cherubim) I found that it refers to various forms. Compare, Thou wast the far-covering cherub (keruv) (Ezek. 28:14). Ezekiel said that each one of the beasts which he beheld had four faces (Ezek. 1:6). One of these faces was the face of an ox (Ezek. 1:10). However, elsewhere he describes this very creature as having the face of a cherub in place of the face of an ox (Ezek. 10:14). Its meaning is that the creature had the image that Ezekiel had mentioned earlier. At the end Ezekiel says, This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim (Ezek. 10:20). Ezekiel thus called the four creatures cherubim. The kaf in the word keruvim thus is a root letter. (2) OF BEATEN WORK. Mikshah (of beaten work) means equal. The word mikshah (the same size) in And instead of hair trimmed to the same size (ma’aseh mikshah) baldness (Is. 3:24)is similar. Ma’aseh (trimmed) has the same meaning as asah (trimmed) in nor trimmed his beard (II Sam. 19:25). Its meaning is that each cherub was equally distant from the edge of the ark cover.

(1) ועשית שנים כרובים, “you are to construct two cherubs, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason that such figures of angels were placed both in the Tabernacle and in the permanent Temple is to keep alive the idea that there are such beings whom G’d designated from time to time to perform miracles on earth. Just as we have been commanded to have a firm belief in the existence of G’d Himself and the fact that He is the original Existence, and this is one of the fundamental concepts of the Torah as proven by the first words of the Decalogue: “I am the Lord your G’d, etc.,” so we are required to believe in the existence of angels as the second fundamental concept in the list of our religious beliefs. Had there not been such angels, i.e. instruments by means of whom G’d makes His will known from time to time to His prophets, there would be no prophecy, no Torah, in short no “hot line” to the Creator. This is why G’d commanded that these figures be made and installed inside the Tabernacle (where nobody could see them). The reason that two such angel-like figures had to be made was to ensure that none of us would think that the solitary angel-like figure represented the Creator Himself, the One whom we worship and serve. If you were to reply that by making two such figures people might conclude that there are in fact two domains, i.e. that G’d shares power with another, this is not a valid objection seeing both of these cherubs’ wings were pointed upwards towards heaven indicating that they themselves were recipients of Divine input rather than original dispensers of Divine bounty. This is Maimonides’ view concerning the cherubs though I changed his wording a little (compare Moreh Nevuchim section 3 chapter 45). (2) Seeing that I believe that the cherubs represented the existence of the angels and there are many angels, we can surely say that the word כרובים was chosen to convey the idea that there are many such beings. This is also why G’d Himself is described (Psalms 80,2) sometimes as יושב הכרובים, “enthroned above the Cherubs.” G’d is described there as taking care of flocks of such cherubs. According to Sukkah 5 the meaning of the word כרוב is the same as כרביא in Aramaic, i.e. “young child.” From the above it appears that the word כרובים has two meanings, “a multitude of something,“ and ”children.” In both of these meanings the first letter כ is not part of the actual noun but is additional. It symbolises the כסא, the throne of G’d. In fact we have a tradition that the name כסא is based on the letter כ. (Compare what we wrote on Leviticus 27,2 under the heading “a kabbalistic approach.”) At the same time, the letter כ also alludes to the word or attribute כבוד, and we have already explained that it is this attribute of G’d which occupies the throne כסא. The function of some of the angels is to welcome this attribute of G’d as it is written וכבוד אלו-הי ישראל עליהם מלמעלה, “and the attribute כבוד of the Lord G’d of Israel was above them (the cherubs)” (Ezekiel 10,19). We may say further that the cherubs were positioned at a height which corresponded to the high end of the lower third of the overall height of the Tabernacle. The same was true of the position of the cherubs in Solomon’s Temple as our sages pointed out in Sukkah 5. The reason for this is that the angel is considered as “one third of the world,” this is why the cherubs were positioned only in the lower third of the Tabernacle. This was to demonstrate that though the angel’s regular habitat is in the upper third of the three parts of the cosmos, nonetheless they represent the lower third of that domain in relation to the Lord Who “rides” above them. This is not so in connection with the mezzuzah which is affixed on the upper third of the frame of the door or entrance (compare our comments on Deut. 6,9). (3) When the Torah writes here: “you shall construct 2 cherubs of gold,” using the word שנים instead of שני to describe the possessive clause, the word שני denotes the equality of the two cherubs such as in שני לוחות העדות, or in שני כשבים, “the two Tablets of testimony,” or “two sheep.” In order to teach that these two cherubs were not identical, could not be interchanged, the Torah had to write the word שנים instead of שני. One of the cherubs was male, the other female. This is confirmed by the fact that once we established that these cherubs were indeed different from one another, the Torah could write in verse 22 מבין שני הכרובים. Similarly, in 37,2 the Torah was able to write ויעש שני כרובים זהב, as in these verses the Torah emphasised what the two cherubs had in common, i.e. that both of them were constructed out of gold. (4) An approach based on the plain meaning of the text. The words שנים כרובים are necessary to teach that the two cherubs were male and female. The Torah wanted to teach that the Children of Israel are as beloved of Him as the love that exists between man and woman. This corresponds to what the sages said in Yuma 54: “Rabbi Ketina said that at the time when the Israelites are in the habit of appearing at the Temple on the three festivals requiring them to do so, they used to roll back the dividing curtain so as to show the pilgrims the cherubs on top of the Ark which were embracing one another and they would say to them: ‘see how beloved you are in the eyes of the Lord, just like the love that exists between man and wife.’” There is a verse in Kings I 7,36 which expresses the words of Rabbi Ketina where we read: כמער איש וליות סביב, “joined in an embrace (of their arms) like man and woman.” (5) It is necessary to understand these similes correctly. The Rabbis meant that the very shape and position of the cherubs was such that they suggested a readiness to embrace each other. They did not mean that these cherubs performed such activities, especially not when exposed to public view. The idea the Rabbis wanted to convey was that as opposed to the Gentiles who require an intermediary in their approach to the Lord, the Jewish people are so beloved of G’d that they do not require an intermediary just as man and wife do not require an intermediary if they want to express their love for one another. For He, the Exalted, leads Israel all by Himself without the help of any intermediary (compare Deut. 32,12). The Gentiles, on the other hand, are assigned to intermediaries as we know from Deut. 4,19). It would have been possible to construct the cherubs in a way that one was the figure of an adult and the other the figure of a child. Ezekiel saw it like this in his vision (Ezekiel 10,14) “the appearance of the face of one was that of a minor whereas the face of the other looked like that of אדם, “an adult person.” In his vision the message would have been that the love of G’d for Israel was like the love of a father for a son, a very formidable kind of love. However, in the Tabernacle the intention was to describe an ongoing close relationship. Seeing that it was impossible to inform us of the type of relationship which exists between G’d and the Jewish people, the Torah decided to describe this by means of the cherubs in the Tabernacle. (6) Another reason for telling us all this by means of a visible symbol is to encourage us to pray for this relationship without intermediary to be maintained. This was the reason that the Ark was placed in the Holy of Holies, the site where the Shechinah resides, the ruin towards which all the eyes of Israel focus in prayer. (7) If you will study the writings of Maimonides carefully (Moreh Nevuchim 3,3) you will find that he understood the cherubs in the Tabernacle as corresponding to the cherubs which Ezekiel saw in his vision, i.e. the chayot hakodesh. Even though Ezekiel reported seeing four chayot, in reality they were really only one. We can confirm this from the wording in Ezekiel 10,20 when he refers to them in the singular, i.e. היא החיה אשר ראיתי תחת אלו-הי ישראל בנהר כבר ואדע כי כרובים המה, “they are the chayah which I had seen under the Lord G’d of Israel at the river Kevar. So now I knew they were cherubs. After Ezekiel had earlier described 4 chayot, he had subsequently realised that they were in reality a single chayah and the same as the cherubs. After Ezekiel had understood this he mentioned a second insight he had acquired that they are the Ophanim which he had previously observed next to the chayot though somewhat lower than the chayot. The wording in the text (Ezekiel 1,15) is as follows: וארא את החיות והנה אופן אחד בארץ אצל החיות, “When I saw the chayot, and here one Ophan was on the ground near the four-faced chayot.” Already during his first insight (Ezekiel 1,4) when he had the vision of the chayot he had said: וארא והנה רוח סערה גדולה: “I saw that there was a stormy wind,” etc. Still later Ezekiel speaks of a third insight he had, an insight superior to the previous ones, the understanding of the phenomenon called Chashmal. Concerning these three separate insights granted to him he applied the word Chashmal. He used the wordוארא three times to indicate that he had three separate visions. These visions are what is described in Chagigah 13 as מעשה מרכבה, the traditional name for Ezekiel’s vision. There is some disagreement as to how far the מעשה מרכבה extends. Rabbi says that it concludes with the words וארא where this word appears for the last time (1,27), whereas Rabbi Yitzchak holds that it extends only until the word חשמל, (1,4) and that what follows are headings for different aspects of what is known as מעשה מרכבה, “a description of G’d’s entourage.” [The author goes to some length to compare the construction of the cherubs, their appearance, the gold they were made of, etc., to the vision of Ezekiel. I have decided to omit this. Ed.] (8) ... Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 1,20 explain that the angels were created on the second day of creation and that the heaven described as רקיע was created on the same day. They understand the meaning of the directive יהי רקיע in Genesis 1,6 as a reference to the “heaven” inhabited by the angels known as chayot. (9) It is important for us to appreciate that the habitat of these chayot is in the seventh רקיע, the one known as ערבות. Our sages in Chagigah 12 stated this specifically. (10) Some Kabbalists believe that above that region is one called מעון, i.e. an eighth heaven. This heaven supposedly contains what are known in kabbalistic circles as נהרי שמחה, “rivers of joy.” This is why in the seven benedictions and the introduction to the grace after meals during wedding festivities we speak of the heavens as שהשמחה במעונו, “the heaven called Ma-on which contains joy.” Above that region is yet another heaven, the ninth, known as מכון. All the last three heavens together are part of what is known as ערבות. The holy chayot are within the general domain known as ערבות. The region known as מעון is inclined above their heads. The ninth heaven, the one called מכון, contains the throne of G’d’s attribute כבוד. We know that this is also part of the general region known as ערבות from David who speaks of סולו לרוכב בערבות בי-ה שמו, “extol Him who rides the regions of heaven known as ערבות, ‘the Lord” is His name” (Psalms 68,5). We have another verse referring to the region called מכון in Kings I 8,13 where Solomon describes that region as the one where G’d has His residence, eternally. (11) A kabbalistic approach to the two cherubs. Both the cherubs in the Tabernacle and the ones in the Temple were symbolic of the fire and the thunder the Israelites experienced during the revelation at Mount Sinai. Moses had reminded the people of their experience in Deut. 4,36 when he emphasised that the origin of these phenomena had been in heaven, i.e. מן השמים. They were both constructed of gold seeing that both were recipients of input from the attributes חסד and דין, Love, and Justice. They were constructed of a single chunk of gold, מקשה, to symbolise the underlying unity of these attributes. They were male and female respectively in order to teach that these two genders represent the משפיע and the מושפע, the initiating force and the responsive force respectively. The reason they were placed at opposite ends of the kapporet (verse 19) was that one represented the “head” i.e. the beginning of the בנין in the lower, terrestrial world, whereas the other represented the סוף, the conclusion of that בנין “construction.” This is what is implied in the wording מן הכפורת תעשו את הכרובים על שני קצותיו, “from the kapporet shall you make the two cherubs at its two ends.” והיו הכרובים פורשי כנפים למעלה, the meaning of these words is that the cherubs are to receive spiritual input from the celestial regions. ופניהם איש אל אחיו, “with their faces opposite each other.” Our sages (Baba Batra 89) explain that as long as the Jewish people carry out the will of their Lord the faces of the cherubs will be turned towards the kapporet like the student who lowers his eyes before the teacher out of deference and fear. We need to understand that the kapporet together with its cherubs is an allusion to the five “lower” regions who raise their wings in an upward direction, i.e. facing the five “upper regions.” (12) This concept helps you to understand how appropriate it was that the Tablets were underneath the cherubs inside the Ark. By facing the Ark with their faces (as opposed to their wings), the cherubs indicated that they looked for inspiration from the Torah (Tablets) below them inside the Ark. Just as we heard the Torah i.e. what is inscribed on the Tablets, through fire and thunder at Mount Sinai, the cherubs’ facial direction symbolised this. The reason that the Torah repeats once moreואל הארון תתן את העדות אשר אתן אליך, “and into the Ark you shall place the Testimony which I will give you,” is a warning that the Ark is not to remain empty, without the Tablets. This is similar to the instructions (Menachot 99) that the table is not to be empty overnight of the show-breads. The Tablets inside the Ark were a symbol of G’d’s Presence as described in Isaiah 26,4 and in Exodus 23,21, where the Presence of G’d in the Tabernacle is referred to. The cherubs which Ezekiel saw, i.e. the chayot hakodesh, corresponded to the cherubs in the Temple on the lid of the Ark. This is the meaning of what he said (Ezekiel 10,20): ואדע כי כרובים המה, “I realised that they were the cherubs.” Seeing that he had already seen cherubs which were chayot hakodesh, he realised that in a still higher region there were other cherubs, angels which he had not seen although he had seen a “sample, a pattern,” of them. (13) The cherubs which Ezekiel did see as well as the cherubs in the Tabernacle and the Temple all were a pattern of the cherubs in the higher celestial regions which he knew of but had not seen. The term “cherubs” includes such phenomena as the throne of G’d’s attribute כבוד; they are the ones to which Isaiah 64,10 referred when he said בית קדשנו ותפארתנו אשר הללוך אבותינו, “our holy Temple, our pride, where our fathers praised You.” You are aware that the sound of G’d’s voice was heard by Moses as emanating from between the two cherubs on the kapporet, from the single handbreadth of open space between their outstretched wings. This is where G’d had “compressed” His Shechinah. He did so although we have been told elsewhere (Jeremiah 23,24) “for I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord.” (14) You also find in Tanchuma Vayakhel 7 that Rabbi Joshua from Sakinin said: “the way to understand all this is by means of a parable: there was a cave at the beach of the sea. Whenever the sea was rough the cave was filled with water; nonetheless the sea did not appear to have lost any of its volume.” In a similar manner G’d compressed His Shechinah into a small space without impairing the truth of the statement in Psalms 148,13 הודו על ארץ ושמים, “that His splendour covers heaven and earth.” (15) When we consider the framework of man you will find that man possesses three special organs, each one of which is about the size of the space between the wings of the cherubs in the Tabernacle. These three organs contain the letters of the tetragrammaton, each organ, one of them. (The organs are מילה, פה,לשון — the male organ, the mouth and the tongue). The word הלב has the fourth letter of the tetragrammaton i.e. the second letter ה of the name “Hashem.” (16) Our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 12,10 say that the kapporet on the Ark corresponds to the Seraphim in the celestial regions which are above the throne as we know from Isaiah 6,2 שרפים עומדים ממעל לו “Seraphim were standing ‘above’ him.” These Seraphim are “advisors” of the Shechinah. There are two of them. They too are part of the beings called cherubs.

(24) Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.

Rabbi Akiva taught: If a man [ish] and woman [isha] merit reward through a faithful marriage, the Divine Presence rests between them. The words ish and isha are almost identical; the difference between them is the middle letter yod in ish, and the final letter heh in isha. These two letters can be joined to form the name of God spelled yod, heh. But if due to licentiousness they do not merit reward, the Divine Presence departs, leaving in each word only the letters alef and shin, which spell esh, fire.