Showing posts with label keruvim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keruvim. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Space for the Holy Ark

The Gemora states that neither the body of the keruvim, nor the ark itself took up any space in the inner sanctum.

The Maharsha says that this miracle was done to indicate that Hashem has no physical aspect, and therefore the ark and keruvim which were designated as the ultimate resting place of Hashem's presence did not use up any physical space.

The Ben Yehoyada says that the ark took up no space to hint that any expenditures that one makes for Torah do not come off his general budget set by Hashem for a year (as per Beitza 16a). The keruvim, which symbolize the Jewish nation, took up no space to hint that all sustenance provided to the Jewish nation is done miraculously by Hashem, and is not part of the general account made for the world's sustenance. He quotes his son, Yaakov, as explaining that this miracle was done to teach us that when one is involved in Torah (symbolized by the ark) and mitzvos (symbolized by the keruvim), he should do so without any earthly intentions, just as these items were not related to the physical space where they were situated.
Shabbos in the Daf
The Gemora states that the Aron, the Holy Ark, did not take up any room in space in the Mishkan and in the Bais HaMikdash. This was truly a miracle. Similarly, we can suggest that Shabbos, despite the prohibition from refraining to work, does not take up any space either.

The Zohar states that one’s sustenance is blessed from Shabbos. Although one refrains from work on Shabbos and it would seem that this would be detrimental to ones livelihood, one should not be concerned, because by observing Shabbos, his efforts during the week will be blessed.

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

Daf Yomi - Sukkah 5 - Keruvim’s Wings… Straight Ahead or at an Angle?

The Gemara uses the Keruvim as a source that s’chach must cover an airspace ten tefachim high. The Keruvim standing on the kapores (the lid of the ark) stood ten tefachim high. The pasuk says that their wings were “sochechim” (providing “s’chach”) over the kapores. This shows that the word s’chach denotes a covering over an airspace of ten tefachim height.

Harav Dovid Meyers, in his sefer מלאכת המשכן וכליו points out that according to this it would seem that the popular style of drawing the wings of the Keruvim extending from their heads at an upward angle is inaccurate. If the wings extended upward diagonally, than the area underneath the wings did not have a uniform height; the area under the tips of the wings was indeed ten tefachim, but the area closer to the head was lower! If so, why does the Gemara arbitrarily pick the height of ten tefachim? Therefore, it seems more likely that the wings extended horizontally straight ahead from their heads to where their tips met, and indeed the whole area under the wings was ten tefachim high. Harav Meyers presented this argument to Harav Chaim Kanievsky, and the latter expressed his agreement.

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