Parashat Teruma: See Your Heart From Another Angel

We looked at each other and were a bit shocked to notice that both of us had gone through unbelievably strange events in each of our personal lives. We both admitted that if we each wrote a book about what we had experienced, it would sound too unrealistic for other people to believe. I wonder how many others feel the same about their own lives. 

In this week’s Parashat Terumah, we read about the instructions for the construction of the Mishkan (portable sanctuary), and one of the things to be made is the cover for the Ark which includes figures of two cherubim as part of the metalwork. The images of these supernatural creatures are supposed to face each other Exodus (25:18-22). One opinion of mine on this is that the two figures of supernal beings can represent any two people. Because in a way, like the existence of supernal beings, all people’s lives would seem too unrealistic for other people to believe until two people come face to face and begin to understand each other’s realities.

Any choice we make with our full heart has the ability to bring down a multitude of blessings. But it is even more wondrous than that, because through our life experiences, we gain abilities and/or create things that we didn’t even know were possible. This is all thanks to the reality Gd creates for each human with all its hard-to-believe details. One of the few characteristics of these cherubim that is explicitly mentioned in the Torah is that they had wings, spread out and shielding the Ark’s cover. Gd gives wings to fly, but they are also symbols of protection and care. We even sometimes refer to Gd as having protective wings, as in the phrase “tachat kanfei ha-Shekhinah” (“under the wings of the Divine Presence”). 

The cherubim make me think of how when we can see the “wings” on others they see them on us and vice versa. Do I first see wings on the other person or do they first see them on me? Maybe it sometimes happens at the same time. But that ambiguity is beautiful.

Wings remind us that we can metaphorically fly high, that everything looks smaller below, and that when we are in the clouds, the ground looks more blurry. We are better able to see the unity of Creation, with the Divine in everything, which is the essence of the Shema. 

Another characteristic about these cherubim that is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, but the Talmud suggests that they had the faces of children (Sukkah 5b) and therefore many commentators assume this to be the case. The face of a child usually symbolizes innocence, perhaps reminding us that we can relate the best to each other from a place of innocence; or maybe it represents simplicity? I think that in some ways, as an adult, I am more innocent than when I was a child. I did make mistakes out of ignorance or good intention, which is a form of innocence, I suppose, but at the same time, I had a much more negative, critical outlook on people. So what else can children’s faces mean? Perhaps returning to our core essence or something else?

I find that the cherubim can inspire many analogies, and so I welcome you to discover what your heart tells you about them. I believe this search is exactly the point of these somewhat hidden figures made from one piece of gold, and that was also the only creature depicted in our first sanctuary. To be like cherubim who serve Gd, you must do so with your entire heart. This is what the beginning of the parasha is talking about when Gd tells Moses to have the people bring gifts of all the materials they will need from anyone whose heart moves him or her. The Zohar (Terumah 128b) suggests that Gd Himself is the heart here, and this means anyone Gd is pleased with will bring gifts. It goes on to say that we can recognize the person who Gd is pleased with because they seek to serve Gd with the joy from: heart, soul, and desire. 

The Zohar explains that Gd expresses Himself through the entirety of three organs (corresponding to sefirot), and it must be through all three at the same time (interestingly these happen to be organs we cannot live without), and there is a progression from one to the next (153a): 

1. The mind (sefirah Binah) represents understanding which is completely in the hands of Gd. 
2. The heart (the group of emotional sefirot, also known as Zeir Anpin, with Tiferet being the primary sefirah) symbolizes all of our emotions and is given to us through understanding/mind.
3. The liver (the Nukvah/Malkhut) represents our physical goods, all physical manifestations, given to us through our emotions/heart. 

This works in the other direction as well: from humans to Gd. We can serve Gd with will/desire – intrinsic motivation (as I write in my book through poems), but it starts with our physical existence and ascends through heart and mind.

But what does it mean to “serve”? It is hard to say because there are many different types of servants, so it may mean something different for you than it means for me. Consider what it might mean for you, though. Serving means you are certainly submissive towards Gd, and limited by Him. Also consider that our relationship with Gd is more like a parent with a child, bringing us back to the cherub symbolism. Perhaps the essence of connecting with Gd is to do so lightly and wholeheartedly like a “child”. 

The Zohar talks about the relationship between these three elements of Binah, Zeir Anpin, and Malkhut in other places as well. I have written about it previously, such as in this article. 

It is interesting that the Nukvah, everything that is physical, is kabbalistically the liver. According to the US National Institutes of Health, the liver can regrow up to 90% percent after it has been damaged. Damage to the heart or brain is much less fixable. We might worry about things in the physical world (the liver), but in fact those things can more easily be repaired or replaced as long as we have strength in the intellectual (brain) and emotional (heart) realms.

There’s a lot going on in our brains and hearts and things can seem tempestuous sometimes but they don’t have to be. In addition to being Parashat Terumah this Shabbat, it is also Rosh Chodesh, which is all about the moon and predictable cycles, which drive not only the light we have at nighttime, but also the ocean’s tides. If we can see the pattern of tides in our minds and hearts, we can have greater inner strength. True, even if tides are predictable, we still are unable to accurately predict weather, but let’s focus on the things that are possible to predict and understand about ourselves, and just because we can’t predict something yet, doesn’t mean it can’t be predicted. 

If you calm your mind, you will find the inside order of things. It is as Einstein said, “Gd doesn’t play dice with the universe.” In physics, we slow particles in order to see them better. When you simplify things, slow your thoughts, and bring your attention to your heart, you will see the patterns. So maybe the two children’s faces facing each other on the cherubim are also representative of our more simple selves, dissecting one emotion at a time, getting to our core feeling of Gds abundant and unbounded love.