It was there, shrouded in mystery, that the Ark of the Covenant resided. And upon that Ark? The Cherubim.
Now, these weren't your chubby Renaissance cherubs. The Talmud describes them as having the faces of boys (Yoma 54a-b). And according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, there were two of them, mirroring so much that's essential in Jewish thought: the two tablets of the Law, and even the two sacred names of God, Adonai and Elohim, representing His benevolence and His power.
But there’s more! The measurements of the Cherubim themselves held symbolic weight. Each face was one span, and each wing extended ten spans, totaling twenty-two spans – a number that corresponds directly to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet! What does it all mean? It’s a reminder that God's word, the Torah, is intimately connected to His presence and to these angelic figures.
The space "from between the two Cherubim" (Numbers 7:89) was where God communed with Moses. But why there? The Talmud teaches that the Shekhinah – the Divine Presence – never fully descended to earth, just as no mortal ever fully ascended to heaven. Even Moses and Elijah, figures of immense spiritual stature, remained a slight distance from heaven. As we find in Psalm 115:16, "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath He given to the children of men." So, God chose the Cherubim, positioned ten spans above the earth, as the place where the Shekhinah rested to speak with Moses.
Imagine this: the heads of the Cherubim were slightly turned back, like a student bidding farewell to their master. But here's where it gets truly wondrous. As a sign of God's delight in the people of Israel, a miracle occurred. When Israel was devoted to God, the faces of the Cherubim would turn and "look one to another" (Bava Batra 99a). Even more than that, they would embrace, like a loving couple!
During the pilgrimage festivals – Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot – the priests would lift the curtain from the Holy of Holies. Why? To show the pilgrims just how much God loved them, a love made visible in the embrace of the two Cherubim (Yoma 54b).
Isn't that a powerful image? A tangible representation of divine love, displayed for all to see. It makes you wonder: what "curtains" are there in our own lives that, when lifted, could reveal the depth of God's love for us? And how can we, like the devoted Israelites of old, create the conditions for that divine embrace to manifest in our world?