The tabernacle, the mikdash, was not much to look at, especially not from the view of the ordinary person, who was only able to see it from the outside. The view was mostly just colorful curtains. But those curtains contained no images of anything living: no plants or trees, no animals or people, not even a biblical mural or tableaux. Instead, the only images that the curtains had were of keruvim, often translated as “cherubim.”
Why?
We can understand why there are no other images: it is clear that the path to holiness is not found through nature; Judaism is explicitly anti-pagan. But why are the only images of keruvim?
Keruvim are not common in the Torah. Besides the curtains, they are found on top of the Ark, wings outstretched, reaching toward the other. (I have written elsewhere on how they they represent how Cain and Abel should have been). In the Torah, they are mentioned only one other place:
So He drove out the man; and He placed the keruvim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
What if, when we look at the keruvim, we are supposed to think specifically of the original keruvim, guarding the Tree of Life? If so, then the keruvim on the curtains are to remind us of the connection to Eden and immortality?
Why did G-d bar us from the Tree of Life? Because immortality is no good for mankind. How much waste there would be if we never had any urgency, any sense that our time is limited. We were expelled from Eden so we would not eat from the Tree of Life, and achieve physical immortality.
But the mikdash represents the path to a different kind of immortality, the path back to a parallel Eden. That Eden is not one of physical immortality, the way that leads to wasted opportunities (like Eden itself). Instead, the mikdash represents the path to an Eden of spiritual immortality. By connecting in holy ways with G-d and with man, we make the very most of our lives, the opportunities we have. The essence of Judaism as a timeless connection and bridge between the past and the future means that each of us has the potential for a sliver of immortality, because we form that bridge across time (whether in learning, culture, practice or children). A life well lived is one where we leave the world a better place, elevating everyone and everything we have touched.
Such a life, is, of course, hard. It involves doing commandments, studying, engaging, investing in others. The path of the Torah is not easy. Building and growing holy relationships, in order to serve G-d and connect requires ongoing investment. But the images of the keruvim seem to indicate that the destination is worth the journey, that there is a different kind of Tree of Life available behind its curtains, behind the lessons it holds.
We should be spiritually drawn to the holiness of the mikdash just as we are instinctively drawn to the idea of immortality, to the fruit of the Tree of Life. The keruvim show us the way in both cases.
The contrasts between Eden and the Tabernacle are also illustrative. Eden was fixed in place: the mikdash was portable. Eden had actual trees, yet trees (and even visible wood) are not found within the mikdash’s walls. Similarly, the keruvim at Eden were created by G-d, have no physical dimensions, and are eternal. But the keruvim we make for the curtains are the opposite! They are created by man, they have physical dimensions, and they would be periodically renewed or replaced as they wear out. Physical Eden and Spiritual Eden are mirrored in every respect!
Why? I think in general the contrasts reflect the mirrored qualities of the physical and spiritual worlds (also found in the text as the contrast of Israel and Egypt).
The Garden of Eden was a failed experiment. Pre-fruit, Adam and Eve lived in stasis. They learned nothing, and achieved nothing. Most importantly, Adam and Eve did not properly connect with each other or to G-d (which explains the entire fruit saga and subsequently shirking of responsibility). And so they were expelled from Eden before they locked in that failure with the addition of immortality.
We could read the rest of the Torah as a long and circuitous way to an improved and parallel Eden. In this understanding, the mikdash and the Torah are all about creating a new – and arguably much better – connection than the one found in the physical Eden. In the spiritual-Eden world, man is not passively standing around in the garden, but is instead an active partner of G-d in the affairs of this world. Man has to constantly invest, constantly choosing to renew the relationship. Indeed, this is core for all relationships: they need ongoing investment in order to grow.
This is why the keruvim is in plural form (even the keruvim guarding Eden are plural). That reminds us that holiness and immortality always requires relationship. Ultimately, none of us can achieve holiness by ourselves.
We had to leave Eden to bar us from physical immortality. The keruvim on the mikdash direct us to the long and beautiful road toward the fruit of spiritual immortality.
Postscripts:
1: I also loved discovering this other textual link:
וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃ (ס)
So He drove out the man; and He placed the keruvim eternally at the garden of ῾Eden, and the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
The word for “placed,” וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩, – is the same root word as mishkan, the tabernacle!
2: The keruvim on the Ark have their faces turned toward the kaporet, the cover. This word is used to describe the layer between the inside and outside of Noah’s Ark, the boundary between water and air, life and death. So the keruvim on the Ark in the Tabernacle are like the keruvim at Eden: signposting the boundary between mortality and immortality, man and G-d, the dualisms inherent in a world of spiritual energies and physical matter.
3: My translation of kedem Gen 3:24 is from Deut. 33:27, where G-d is described as being kedem, eternal.
[an @iwe, @susanquinn, @blessedblacksmith and @eliyahumasinter work!]