Cherubs and Empty Space - VaYakhel - Mythic Torah

Kanizsa's Triangle

How many triangles are there in this picture?

There are several 'right' answers to this question, I think, but I'm most interested in the illusion of a white triangle pointed down at the center of the lines and circles. There isn't really a white triangle in this image, nor is there a secret magen david, a star of David. Instead the empty space is marked out through lines and sectors of circles such that your brain fills in the triangle.

Empty space is given structure and the illusion of form through its surrounding objects.

In this week's torah reading of Vayakhel, we see how the sacred space of the tabernacle is structured with wood, gold and cloth to create a form for the divine. Specifically, once we get to the holiest centre of the holiest space, we find the Ark of the Covenant, above which are two unusual figures (Ex 37):



⁷ Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ⁸ He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. ⁹ The cherubim had their wings spread upwards, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking towards the cover.

ז וַיַּעַשׂ שְׁנֵי כְרֻבִים זָהָב מִקְשָׁה עָשָׂה אֹתָם מִשְּׁנֵי קְצוֹת הַכַּפֹּרֶת:
ח כְּרוּב-אֶחָד מִקָּצָה מִזֶּה וּכְרוּב-אֶחָד מִקָּצָה מִזֶּה מִן-הַכַּפֹּרֶת עָשָׂה אֶת-הַכְּרֻבִים מִשְּׁנֵי (קְצוֹותָיו) [קְצוֹתָיו:
ט וַיִּהְיוּ הַכְּרֻבִים פֹּרְשֵׂי כְנָפַיִם לְמַעְלָה סֹכֲכִים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם עַל-הַכַּפֹּרֶת וּפְנֵיהֶם אִישׁ אֶל-אָחִיו אֶל-הַכַּפֹּרֶת הָיוּ פְּנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים: 

These Cherubim are left a bit vague in this passage - what do they look like? What are they doing on top of the Ark? But we get a bit more detail in Exodus 25, when we get the instructions for the work that is being done in our parasha:

²² There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

כב וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם וְדִבַּרְתִּי אִתְּךָ מֵעַל הַכַּפֹּרֶת מִבֵּין שְׁנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים אֲשֶׁר עַל-אֲרוֹן הָעֵדֻת אֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּה אוֹתְךָ אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:

God, then, speaks from this space between the cherub wings.

Why is this the space that we create for God? What are these Cherubs and what do they have to do with God?

First, you need to get chubby baby angels out of your mind. These Italian putti are really connected to Greek mythological imagery of Bacchus and his attendants and only in the late medieval period do they get connected to cherubs.

So what should we have in mind?

Unfortunately the Bible is very vague on the subject, but we do know they have two central jobs - firstly to guard sacred trees (Gen 3, 1 Kings 6, Ezekiel 28 and 41) or to act as bearers of the Divine Throne. We see throughout the Bible, especially the book of Psalms (80 and 99) that God is called Yosheiv Keruvim, the one who sits, or is enthroned, on the Cherubs. 2 Samuel 22 (and its parallel Psalm 18) tell us that God "...rode on a cherub and flew".

The Cherub acts as guardian and steed for the divine, the support for God's throne and the monster that prevents defilement or transgression.

What mythological creatures does this compare to in other cultures?

While the Egyptian and Greek Sphinxes get all the attention, there were also Sphinxes in ancient Mesopotamia, inspired by the Egyptians but given their own local spin. In particular, the Mesopotamian Sphinx was known as bearers of gods and kings, and used as decorations for all kinds of thrones. Temples would have elaborate Sphinx thrones above which would be the image of the deity itself, perhaps Baal Hamon or the goddess Astarte.

Now we can see just how striking the Jewish use of the cherubs is. Instead of an image of God resting on the cherubs, the tabernacle has nothing. Empty space.

And we are nevertheless told that this is where God will speak from.

Instead of an image of the divine, we are given an anti-image, a well-defined space that we could imagine is filled by God but, like the triangle illusion, there is nothing really there.

Yet the presence of the Cherubim tell us that there is something holy here, something to be defended and guarded from defilement (or perhaps something powerful and dangerous that we need to be protected from - see the story of Nadav and Avihu).

The 'Nothing' that rests above the Ark, is the most 'Something' that can represent God. It is only the illusion of physicality that can represent God in the physical world.

I think there is a message here for us too about creating sacred space within ourselves and within our lives.

If we think we know exactly what God is, exactly what God wants of us, then I think we are danger of turning God into an idol, obliterating the sacred emptiness within which God can dwell. If we fill our lives with constant activity and busy-ness, we miss the chance to connect with the divine spirit that dwells in emptiness and quiet.

Instead I think we are supposed to erect our own Cherubim, our own guardians of the borders of the emptiness, something that can define the space without becoming part of it. We can carve out time in our calendars for study or prayer, we can deliberately withhold making unwarranted assertions about God and what God wants.

In this way, perhaps we too can find the space in our lives from which God can speak.