Explorations

Explorations

In-depth analysis of the weekly parashah through the prism of rabbinic perspective
Ari D. Kahn

Explorations

This beautifully written work offers masterful and profound insights into the weekly parashah. Drawing heavily upon the Midrash, the author first raises cogent questions and then answers them in a manner that lends new understanding both to the Torah portion and our own lives.

ISBN: 1-56871-293-6

Author: Ari D. Kahn

Cover: Hardcover

Pages: 516

Author's Website: arikahn.tripod.com/explorations/index.html

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Book Excerpt from Explorations

Parashat Terumah

Innocence Lost and Found

Parashat Terumah represents somewhat of a departure from the theme of the previous sections of the Torah. While the other sections were mainly concerned with narrative, and Mishpatim introduced what may be seen as an extension of the Ten Commandments, Terumah virtually ignores narrative and instead gives instructions for building the Mishkan.

On the face of it, building the Mishkan is a strange thing to do. God, who is transcendent, certainly has no need of a “home,” and it would be a mistake to understand the Divine decree as an attempt to build a haven for the ineffable, transcendent God. A careful reading of the text indicates the objective of the construction:

Make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them. (Shemot 25:8)

As a result of the building, God declares, He will live within the Jew or the Jewish nation, rather than the more obvious result of God “residing” in the Sanctuary. Clearly, the objective of the building was not to provide God with shelter, but to provide an avenue for man to bring God into his life.

The decree to build the Mishkan seems to fit very nicely into the narrative flow. The preceding verse described Moshe’s ascension to receive the Torah. There is a difference of opinion among various commentaries and midrashim as to whether the golden calf episode preceded or followed the instructions for building the Mishkan.

Rashi follows the opinion expressed in the Midrash that the Mishkan is commanded only after the golden calf debacle. Ramban, on the other hand, sees the Mishkan as directly following the Revelation at Sinai, as per the Zohar (see Sheim MiShmuel, Terumah).

An earlier verse apparently connects the giving of the Torah and the building of the Mishkan, independent of the golden calf. When Moshe speaks to God at the burning bush, Moshe questions his role in the redemption of the Jews. God responds,

This shall be a sign to you that I sent you — when you take the people out of Egypt, you shall worship the Lord on this mountain. (Shemot 3:12)

Rabbi Soloveitchik, zt”l, once explained that two things had to transpire in order for this Divine promise to be realized. First, the Jews needed to receive the Torah, and second, the Jews needed to build the Mishkan. Both are included in the phrase “worship the Lord on this mountain.” Therefore, according to this understanding, once the Torah was given, the only thing left to do was to build the Mishkan. Consequently, our parashah follows the ascension of Moshe.

This explains the logical sequence of the verses, but the understanding of the Divine imperative to build the Mishkan seems elusive. There are numerous components to the Mishkan, but its central part was clearly the Aron, the Ark. On top of the Aron a pair of gold Keruvim were placed. These Keruvim were made of one block of gold. They had an angelic appearance, and they faced one another with their wings touching. It was from the space between the two Keruvim that God communicated with the Jewish people.

I will make Myself known to you there, and I will speak to you from above the Kaporet, from between the two Keruvim which are upon the Aron of Testimony, all that I command you regarding the Jewish people. (Ibid. 25:22)

The Divine Presence emanated from between the Keruvim, and communication flowed. This would serve as a further link between the Revelation on Sinai and the Mishkan — which would replace Sinai and become a conduit for further revelation. Ramban makes this observation, and explains:

This is the mystery of the Mishkan. The glory of God which was manifest on Mount Sinai would now radiate [to Moshe] inside [the Mishkan]. (Ramban, Shemot 25:1)

Nonetheless, it is somewhat strange that Judaism, which generally rejects representations of the human form and of the Divine form, as it were, should prescribe a pair of Keruvim in the holiest of places. After all, what is the difference between the Keruvim and the golden calf? Why should one serve as a place for communication, while the other is considered desecration?

Rashi alludes to an answer to this question in his comments on the verse following the Ten Commandments that describes the prohibition of constructing “gods of gold or silver” (Shemot 20:20). Rashi explains that even the slightest deviation from the Divine decree is tantamount to idolatry. Keruvim of silver instead of gold, the wrong number of Keruvim, or their incorrect placement would constitute a violation of the command. This teaches us that the Keruvim were allowed only because God commanded us to construct them. Conversely, the golden calf was considered idolatry because God did not command us to construct it. The word mitzvah means “command,” while the phrase avodah zarah means “strange worship,” that which was not commanded.

Therefore, on at least a procedural level we are able to distinguish between the golden calf and the Keruvim. However, on a substantive level there must be a difference as well. In order to fully grasp the meaning of this Divine imperative we must uncover the significance of the Keruvim.

There is some difference of opinion regarding the actual appearance of the Keruvim. The composite form was that of two young children (see Rashi, Shemot 25:18) with wings, without clothing. According to the Gemara the two Keruvim were embracing like two lovers (Yoma 54a–b). The Zohar clearly says that one was male and the other female.

The word equity [meisharim, lit. equities] in the above quoted verse [Tehillim 99:4] indicates that the Keruvim were male and female. (Zohar, Vayikra 59a)

This image of naked, embracing innocents obviously could have been misunderstood. The Gemara relates that when the Babylonians captured the Temple and entered the Holy of Holies, they were shocked:

When the gentiles entered the Heichal, they saw the Keruvim embracing one another. They took them out to the marketplace and said, “This [Nation of] Israel, whose blessings are blessings and curses are curses, are involved in such things!?” They immediately cheapened them, as the verse says, “All their valuables were cheapened, for they saw her nakedness” (Eichah 1:8). (Yoma 54b)

The invading forces were evidently quite surprised to see the representation of the human form in the midst of the Holy Temple. The Jews were not thought of as idolaters, and the uninitiated assumed that what they saw was not only prohibited in Jewish law, but objectively erotic. One can certainly understand how they arrived at that conclusion.

In order to find a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Keruvim, we must investigate the other places that the Keruvim appear.

The first mention of Keruvim in the Torah is in the verse describing the eviction of man from Gan Eden:

Man was evicted, and Keruvim were placed east of Gan Eden, and a revolving burning sword was placed in order to guard the path to the Tree of Life. (Bereishit 3:24)

As a result of man’s sin, the Keruvim enter the world in order to protect the Tree of Life. We have noted the identification between the Tree of Life and the Torah. It is interesting to note that in the Mishkan the Keruvim protect the Aron, which contains the Torah, and in Eden the Keruvim protected the path leading to the Tree of Life, symbolizing Torah.

Before the sin of Adam and Chavah, the Keruvim were unnecessary; they appear only as a result of the sin. This leads us to conclude that the Keruvim represent none other than Adam and Chavah themselves, young, innocent, and naked in Eden. Only as a result of their sin did they become aware of and embarrassed by their nakedness.

The woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and it was desirable to the eyes, and the tree was pleasant to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made for themselves aprons.

They heard the voice of God, the Lord, reverberate in the Garden in the spirit of the day; and the man and his wife hid from before God, the Lord, in the midst of the trees of the Garden.

God, the Lord, called to Adam, and said to him, “Where are you?”

He said, “I heard your voice in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat from?” (Bereishit 3:6–11)

The new, “sophisticated” perspective of Adam and Chavah, born of partaking of the forbidden fruit, gave them a different, perhaps distorted view of the world. Now they knew that they were naked; now they needed to clothe themselves. Now they hid from God. It is fascinating that the Hebrew word for clothing is “beged” from the root (bagad), treason or rebellion. The clothing which man wears is a memorial to rebellion and the resultant distancing from God.

Immediately after eating from the Tree of Knowledge, the Torah relates:

They heard the voice of God, the Lord, reverberate in the Garden in the spirit of the day, and the man and his wife hid from before God, the Lord, in the midst of the trees of the Garden.

As a result of their sin, Adam and Chavah felt alienated from God. God, for His part, was accessible and willing to engage them in a dialogue, but Adam felt embarrassed, naked, seeing the world from a different perspective than he had previously. Man lost his innocence.

In the place of this jaded couple, pathetically attempting to hide from God, now stood an innocent-looking couple, representing Adam and Chavah before the sin, guarding the passage to the Tree of Life, the Torah.

How appropriate that in the Mishkan and later in the Temple itself, in the Holy of Holies, there was a symbol of man at his apex — before his sin, in a state of total innocence before God. Specifically from here would the word of God emerge and reverberate. How appropriate that in anticipation of the destruction of the Temple the Keruvim embrace, an act of innocence in the face of the corrupt, marauding legion of conquering warriors. Sin had again permeated the world, and the Keruvim were taken out and misunderstood, their “nakedness” uncovered.

Man’s sense of abandonment in the wake of his sins is a universal feeling; it was part of the reassurance that God had to give Moshe, when Moshe sought forgiveness for the people for the sin of the golden calf:

Rabbi Yochanan said: If it were not a verse then it would be impossible to say. We learn that God wrapped Himself [in a tallit] as a shaliach tzibur (leader of the congregation in prayer) and instructed Moshe as to the proper order of the prayers. He said, “Whenever Israel sin, perform this service before Me and I will forgive them.... I am God prior to man’s sin, and I am God after man sins and repents.” (Rosh HaShanah 17b)

While man feels the alienation caused by sin, God remains unchanged. The alienation leads to man’s loss of innocence, and to hiding from God. God, for His part, insists that there is always a path of return. The Keruvim, the image of man’s innocence, guard this path. They are armed with a revolving sword, to symbolize the shift which man must make in order to approach Torah.

The two Keruvim were made of one piece of gold, just as Adam and Chavah were initially joined together as one. The Keruvim symbolize the ultimate return to one’s self.

Adam and Chavah were created as a united pair, and since they were coupled together, God blessed them. For blessing does not reside except in a place where there are male and female. (Zohar, Bereishit 165a)

“The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me gave me of the tree and I ate’” (Bereishit 3:12). [Rabbi Shimon] said: The expression “with me” indicates that Adam and Chavah were created together, with one body. (Zohar, Vayikra 83b)

Throughout the generations, the kohein gadol would enter the Holy of Holies on the holiest day of the year — Yom Kippur, the day on which the Jews were forgiven for the sin of the golden calf. Yom Kippur more than any other day symbolizes rebirth, regained innocence. It is the day when the Divine Presence, the Shechinah, flows. The kohein gadol, attired in special clothing, would venture into the Holy of Holies. As he entered he saw before him this perpetual image of innocence, purity, and holiness: the Keruvim, symbolizing Adam and Chavah as they were meant to be. Standing before God, he prayed for cleansing, purity, and innocence for the entire nation.

For on that day [the kohein] shall make an atonement for you, to purify you, that you may be purified from all your sins before God. (Vayikra 16:30)

The Mishkan was not designed to be a home for God, but a place where man could return home — to himself.