Thesis: we need to be friends with people who have apposing opinions to
fully understand the Torah.
Question: Why would Hashem want Keruvim on the Aron?
Answer: The Keruvim show us that we need to embrace our inner child since
to be friends with those who have opposing opinions, since that is how we
understand all the nuances of life and the Torah.
Every year, more than 80,000 people
converge to a strip of desert in Nevada for a week-long event called the
Burning Man Festival. At the event, thousands of people who do not know
each help each other build and live for a week. There are those in charge of
cooking, moving, cleaning, and building. The week culminates with the creation
of a gigantic wooden art piece – usually about 5-6 stories high – that is lit
on fire on the last night. The art has been everything from gigantic people to
whales and horses towering 60ft high.
The most beautiful piece of art that
I’ve seen from Burning Man was created in 2015 by Alexander Milov. It
features two wire-frame adults after a fight, distanced and sitting on the
floor with their backs against each other. What’s interesting are the two
children, made of wood, inside the wire-frames of the adults, trying to reach
and touch each other – despite the outer
metal adult bodies giving each other the cold shoulder. It represents the
purity of the child which is just looking for friendship.
What I find so interesting, is that
Hashem is quite similar to one of those artists at the Burning Man Festival and
designs a very interesting piece in this week’s parsha. He commands us to build
an Aron – the holiest object in Judaism to house the luchos – and on top to put
2 Keruvim – angelic figures top of the Aron.
וְעָשִׂ֛יתָ
שְׁנַ֥יִם כְּרֻבִ֖ים זָהָ֑ב … הָי֣וּ הַכְּרֻבִים֩ פֹּרְשֵׂ֨י כְנָפַ֜יִם
לְמַ֗עְלָה סֹכְכִ֤ים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם֙ עַל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת וּפְנֵיהֶ֖ם אִ֣ישׁ
אֶל־אָחִ֑יו אֶ֨ל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת יִהְי֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הַכְּרֻבִֽים׃
Make
two cherubim of gold…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.
If I asked a bunch of hippies in the
desert of Nevada to think of what best would express the essence of the Aron
and they came back with this concept, I may understand. However, when we think
about it, why would two Keruvim be the best expression? Why would the Aron need
anything at all? I might have personally suggested to keep the Aron completely
bare or maybe put miniature copies of the luchot on top to symbolize what is
inside. The Torah and Luchot can speak for themselves. Why do we need any art
at all? Additionally, why do we need 2, would 1 not be enough?
I would like to suggest that the
Hashem commanded us to put the Keruvim there to demonstrate how we are supposed
to build relationships and communities since that is what will lead us to
properly understand the Torah.
The Keruvim are unique in that they
are specifically designed to have the faces of children – not adults – and are
not looking at each other directly, but at each other’s reflection in the
golden cover.
There is something unique about
children that we tend to forget as adults – “just being yourself”. As
adults we are always scared of being judged and labeled. Think of the last time
you were somewhere that had excellent music and you would loved to just dance
to the rhythm – but you see no one around dancing and you feel a sense of shame
in being the only one dancing. On the other hand, if a child hears a great
beat, they are much more likely to just start dancing – regardless of what
people around them are doing.
In the same vein, adults tend to be
much more rigid when it comes to making friends. We have many social steps
before being friends. On the other hand, children are much freer. Think about
bringing a child to the park and how quickly they develop friends, versus how
long it takes adults at an office to become friends. We tend to let our
opinions and ideas get in the way of becoming friends with others. Just to
demonstrate the way our opinions hurt our potential friendships – a 2021
survey by Pew Research Center they showed that 64% of Democrats and 55%
of Republicans have just a few or no friends that belong to the other party!
The Keruvim are there to counter
this natural inclination we have as adults to build an echo-chamber of friends.
We are supposed to build a relationship, as a child would, with people around
us regardless of what they their political or ideological beliefs are.
However, this is nice, but hard
vague. How do we even start putting that into practice. The Keruvim come and
answer that question as well.
If you look closely at the end of
the passuk you will notice that the Keruvim are not look directly at
each other but at the golden cover of the Aron itself and seeing each other’s
reflection. The Keruvim represent two people with opposite views. Just like the
Keruvim, we are not expected to look at each other eye to eye when we don’t
agree. But we are expected to look at each other’s reflection in the Kapores –
the golden cover. The Keruvim were looking at each other through the prism of
Torah. While we all have different views, we need to recognize that everyone
tends to have the same goals – help each other and be a good Jew. Whether you
are Republican or Democrat, that is the end goal – just with a different
approach. If we can recognize that the person who usually makes us cringe and
trigger the flight or fight response actually has our best intentions in mind,
we may be able to be friends.
This image of the Keruvim makes me
think back to the artwork made at Burning Man Festival – “Inner Child”. Where
you have two adults sitting back-to-back giving each other the cold shoulder. We
need to stop being those adults that give each other the cold shoulder when we
cannot agree, but rather the inner child that is inside that wants to be
friends regardless of ideological differences. We need to be those wooden
children on the inside peeking through the metal lattice at each other.
It is so important since that is the
way the Torah is meant to be understood. There is no one correct approach, and
we are supposed to learn with a chavrusa that argues to see how many different
correct concepts we can see in the Torah. It is only when we are friends with
people who think differently that we can also understand all the nuances within
the Torah.
This is why we have the Keruvim on
the Aron. To show us that we need to embrace our inner child since to be
friends with those who have opposing opinions, since that is how we understand
all the nuances of life and the Torah.
It is time for us to find our inner
child.