The Golden Blend – Lessons from the Keruvim
וְהָיוּ הַכְּרֻבִים פֹּרְשֵׂי כְנָפַיִם לְמַעְלָה... וּפְנֵיהֶם אִישׁ אֶל אָחִיו
The Keruvim shall be with wings spread upward…and their faces, one toward his fellow.[1]
The mitzvos of the Torah are divided broadly into the two realms of bein adam laMakom (between man and God) and bein adam le’chaveiro (between man and man). The Kli Yakar[2] explains that these two realms are depicted by the positioning of the keruvim atop the Holy Ark:
· On the one hand, their wings are spread upwards, representing their aspirations in terms of their connection with Hashem.
· At the same time, they are facing one toward his fellow, representing them keeping their fellow in sight and fulfilling their obligations between man and man.
There is a predilection among many people to ascribe greater religious weight and significance to the mitzvos that are between man and God; after all, they involve relating to God directly. Mitzvos that relate to our fellow man can sometimes take second place in the hierarchy of religious activities.
The fundamental and beautiful message emanating from the keruvim is to remind us that these two categories of mitzvos, together, form the Divine program of mitzvos. Not only should one not detract from the other, they are meant to be harmonized together to develop the complete Torah Jew. That is not to say that one will not need to make choices on occasion as to which mitzvah one performs. However, at heart, that is no different than, for example, having to choose which area of Torah to study at that time, as the reality is that one cannot do everything at once. Ultimately, however, a sense of unity should pervade between these two categories of mitzvah.
In this vein, in the beginning of kedushah during the Chazzan’s repetition, when we say the words “ve’kara zeh el zeh,” we turn to our right and our left, and then we say “Kadosh kadosh kadosh.” This is to teach us that a person’s ascent into holiness should always take place in conjunction with taking note of the person to his right and to his left.[3]
On one occasion, Rav Yisrael Salanter was unable to be involved personally in baking matzos for Pesach and a group of his students undertook to do so for him. Before setting out, they visited the rabbi and inquired if there were any specific stringencies he had with regard to the kashrus of his matzos.
Rav Yisrael replied, “Yes, in fact, I do have the following stringency: The woman who cleans the utensils in between each baking run is a widow. In their efforts to ensure that no traces of dough remain on the utensils and that the baking does not get held up, people are sometimes impatient with her and cause her to become upset. My stringency is to speak calmly and encouragingly to her and to let her clean at her own pace. Please take care to remember this stringency so that the matzos are baked l’mehadrin — with the highest standards of mitzvos.”
Likewise, on Simchas Torah, the Sifrei Torah are taken out and everyone dances around them in celebration. It would seem that only a select few people are dancing with a mitzvah object in hand at any given time, while the others are surrounding them. But this is not the case. Everyone present is holding on to a holy and beautiful mitzvah object; for those who are not grasping a sefer Torah are grasping the hand of their fellow Jew.[4]
[3] R’ Shlomo Wolbe, Alei Shor.
[4] Based on Sichos of R’ Eizik Sher