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Parshat Terumah
1998
For the past book and a half, the Torah has not disappointed any reader who likes a fast paced plot, rich character, moral ambiguity, romance, tragedy, adventure and passion. Even the statutes of the last parsha seem important and critical to our story. It is in chapter twenty-five where the pace of our narrative flags, where we are all of the sudden treated to the excruciating details of a building where the Holy One will dwell and speak to Moshe. It is easy to gloss over these phrases, but it is also a mistake. Within God's house there must be clues to the very nature of God. Otherwise, why else regale us with details which are of interest to only architects and interior designers.
For those who wish to be intimates, to know God as much as humanly possible, most of our clues lie within these buildings. It is our job to plumb these details and learn about the Holy One as much as possible with the humble understanding that we may come up with more questions than answers.
For instance, the Torah says:
18 You are to make two winged-sphinxes of gold, of hammered-work are you to make them, at the two ends of the purgation-cover.
19 Make one sphinx at the end here and one sphinx at the end there; from the purgation-cover are you to make the two sphinxes, at its two ends.
20 And the sphinxes are to be spreading (their) wings upward with their wings sheltering the purgation-cover, their faces, each-one toward the other; toward the purgation-cover are the sphinxes? faces to be.
21 You are to put the purgation-cover on the coffer, above it, and in the coffer you are to put the Testimony that I give you.
22 I will appoint-meeting with you there and I will speak with you from above the purgation-cover, from between the sphinxes that are on the coffer of Testimony? all that I command you concerning the Children of Israel.
If you were trying to promote a religion that shunned the worship of graven images would you place two "Sphinxes" (keruvim) directly below the presence of your voice. On top of that, would you not give any explicit purpose for these "Sphinxes"? The Talmud in the tractate of Baba Batra gives several possibilities which in many ways evoke a pattern that begins in Genesis and continues throughout the desert journey.
The description of the "Sphinxes" in Exodus contradicts the way they are described in Solomon's Temple. In Exodus, it says that "their faces should be each one toward the other." While in Chronicles it says, "And their faces were inward." (II Chronicles 3:13) Making the assumption that these two verse are not in contradiction, the rabbis offer different explanations.
How did they stand? R. Johanan and R. Eleazar [are in dispute on the matter]. One Says: They faced each other; and the other says: Their faces were inward. According to the one who says they faced each other, [it may be asked]: Is it not written, "And their faces were inward?" There is no contradiction here. They [faced each other] when Israel obeyed the will of the Holy One; they [turned inward] at a time when Israel did not obey the will of the Holy One. According to him who says that their faces were inward [it may be asked]: Is it not written, "With their faces one to another?" He would say, "They were slightly turned sideways.
For [so] it was taught: Onkelos the proselyte said, "The sphinxes were of childlike imagery and their faces were turned sideways as a student who takes leave of his master." (Babylonian Talmud 99a)
In resolving a contradiction between two verses we are given two different purposes for the "Sphinxes". One says they functioned as barometers for the beliefs of the community. Much as Moses' hands served as barometers for the faith of the people when they battled with Amaleq (See the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah Chapter 3 Mishnah 8). Their faces, however, were not turned toward the people, but toward each other. Seeming to say that we are doing God's will when we are seeing God's image in each other.
While the other says, they serve as models for how one should relate to the Holy One. One never turns one's back on God. Upon leaving the presence of the Holy One, one never truly leaves--God accompanies you.
Neither of the opinions view the "Sphinxes" as representations of the Divine, but idealized representations of the holy human and her/his relationship to the Holy One.
Prepared by Rabbi Avi Weinstein, Director, Hillel's Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning.
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