Why We Can Learn From Cherubum: Living “In-Between”

A person can find Torah anywhere, even in an antique shop! My parents loved antiquing, and would go to different antique stores just to have fun looking around, not usually buying anything. However, one particular day, my mom came home with these two, pink cherubim holding a bouquet of roses in between them. She brought it home and gifted them to me “just because,” and I have since taken these cherubim to every place I have moved and stationed them above an opening in my home, whether it be above a window or a doorway. Currently, they sit above our bedroom doorway to “guide our comings and our goings,” inspired by our liturgical Shabbat poem, Shalom Aleichem. I have no idea if the artist who sculpted these cherubim was Jewish, but to me, they remind me of our liturgical traditions and the Torah portion this week, Terumah.

In this week’s parsha, the Israelites are instructed to build a mishkan, a sanctuary or sacred space, so that God may dwell b’tocham, among the people. The parsha then details exactly how to build the mishkan, including “two cherubim of gold…at the two ends of the cover. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover [of the mishkan] with their wings. They shall face each other, the faces of the cherubim being turned toward the cover” (Exodus 25:18-20). God then assures Moses that they will meet in the space between the two cherubim, and that this in-between space is where God will become familiar to Moses and to humanity unmitigated once again, as God was with humans in the Garden of Eden.

There is a passage in our Talmud (Bava Batra 99a) that teaches the cherubim would face each other when the Children of Israel would be in line with Divine will, but that the faces of the cherubim would turn away from each other when the Children of Israel would not follow Divine will. From this, we learn that holiness is relational, found in the in-between spaces, face to face with each other. When we are acting as one toward a common goal, driven by Divine goodness, that is where we meet God.

This week we entered the new month of Adar, a time for increasing our joy. In a world that is fraught with uncertainty and pain, we are to actively increase our joy. How? We are to again find joy in the in-between. The space between fear and courage, between past and future, and between each other, this is where joy blooms if we allow ourselves to be open to it.
This Shabbat, I pray we find goodness, healing, peace, and joy in the in-between moments. May our joy increase, always.

With blessings from my family to yours,
Ranata Shlobin, Rabbinic Intern