Kodesh HaKodashim of Bayit Rishon - the K'ruvim While we were "brainstorming" about the relative holiness of Kodesh HaKodashim and the passageway-room above it, we naturally discussed the Aron HaBrit and analyzed its role. We recalled that the Aron reposed in Kodesh HaKodashim of the Mishkan and Bayit Rishon, but was not present in Bayit Sheini. We began to focus on the K'ruvim, those angelic forms which were an integral part of the ark itself. We noted that the K'ruvim were conceived as the "Divine Chariot" and that G-d is seen as He "who 'sits' upon the K'ruvim (I Sh'muel 4:4, 6:2). King David in his hymn of victory boldly sings of the power of G-d. "And He 'rode' upon a K'ruv and did fly… (II Sh'muel 22: 11). The references are legion and wonderful… The Torah gives meticulous instructions on how the Aron was to be constructed and then concludes, "You shall make an ark cover (Kaporet, often translated as "mercy seat") of pure gold, two and half Amot long and an Amah and a half wide. You shall make two gold K'ruvim; they shall be hammered (out of one piece) from both ends of the ark cover. You shall make one K'ruv from the end of one side and one K'ruv from the side of the other; from the Kaporet, you shall make the two K'ruvim at its two ends. The K'ruvim shall have wings spread upwards covering the Kaporet with their wings with their faces one towards the other… You shall place the cover on the Ark from above…" (Sh'mot 25:17-21). Over the years archeologists have unearthed all sorts of weird, fantastical, even grotesque representations of "cherubs", but what did "Israelite cherubs" look like? Traditionally, the "Israelite cherubs" were conceived of having the form and faces of little children with outstretched wings. This was a play on the Hebrew word "K'ruv". "K" the Hebrew letter "Kaf" - like, similar to, and Roveh - a youth. It was said that one had the form of a little boy, the other a little girl (But note Torah Temima ibid.) "How did they stand?" One sage posited that when Israel was faithful to G-d, the K'ruvim faced each other (Baba Batra 99a) and embraced like a loving couple. This was to teach Am Yisrael that they "are beloved by G-d as the love between man and woman" (Yoma 54a). King Solomon also fashioned two other K'ruvim. Colossal figures, these floor-standing K'ruvim were positioned to the north and south of the Aron. "And in the Holy of Holies, he made two K'ruvim of 'cedar' wood each ten Amot high. And five Amot was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five Amot was the other wing of the cherub… both the K'ruvim were of one measure and one form… And he set the K'ruvim within the inner house; and the wings of the K'ruvim were stretched forth, so that the wing of one touched one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. Josephus wrote. "No one can tell or even conjecture, what the shape of these K'ruvim was" Antiquities bk. 8:3 (73). And he overlaid the K'ruvim with gold" (I Melachim 6:23-28). In the extraordinary passages in Chagiga (12b-14a) which describe the celestial worlds, the Serafim, the Ofanim, the Chayot Hakodesh and the Malachei HaShareit are mentioned, but not the K'ruvim. Nor are K'ruvim mentioned in our liturgy. Rambam does include them in the ten classes of angels (Yesodei HaTorah 2:7), but then goes on to comment, "The K'ruvim were placed in the Kodesh HaKodashim only to preserve among the people the belief in angels. There were two K'ruvim so the people would not come to believe that they were the image of G-d" (Moreh Nevuchim 3:45). Biblical commentator David Kimchi (the Radak) quoting a non-extant Midrash writes on II Divrei HaYamim 35:3, "Our rabbis of blessed memory said, 'that (Josiah, the last righteous King of Judah) gave instructions to hide the ark so it would not be revealed (and desecrated) at the time of the (approaching) exile… At the time when Solomon built the First Temple, he (understood through the Holy Spirit that one day) it was going to be destroyed and therefore he constructed a place to hide the ark in winding, hidden tunnels deep below the surface of the earth. And the stone upon which the ark rested covered the opening of that tunnel. Josiah hid the ark there as it is said, "And he said to the Leviyim that taught all Israel… 'Put the Holy Ark in the House that Solomon King of Israel did build…'" In Bayit Sheini, both the Aron and King Solomon's fabulous K'ruvim were missing; Kodesh HaKodashim was completely empty. On the floor of the Kodesh HaKodashim was a large flat rock three finger-widths high which was called the Even HaShetiya - the "Foundation Stone". The Kohein Gadol placed the fire-pan with incense upon this stone when he entered Kodesh HaKodashim on Yom Kippur (Yoma 5:2).
One of the major differences between Bayit Rishon and
Bayit Sheini was the nature of the separation between the Heichal and the
Kodesh HaKodashim. "And for the entrance of the D'vir (Kodesh HaKodashim
of Bayit Rishon), he (King Solomon) made doors of olive wood, the doorpost
within the frame having five angles (pentagonal). And as for the two doors
of 'cedar' wood, he carved upon them… K'ruvim and palm trees and open
flowers and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold upon the
K'ruvim and upon the palm trees" (I Melachim 6: 31,32). Since the original
"blue, purple and scarlet" veil fashioned for the Mishkan had designs of
K'ruvim woven into it (Sh'mot 36:35), King Solomon also made the veil (in
front of the olive wood doors) which separated the Heichal and the Kodesh
HaKodashim "of blue, and purple and crimson" and with in woven K'ruvim (II
Divrei HaYamim 3:14). Bayit Rishon was much lower than Bayit Sheini; the
Kodesh HaKodashim of Bayit Rishon was only 30 Amot tall compared to the
much taller Kodesh HaKodashim of Bayit Sheini which had a height of 40
Amot. Therefore in Bayit Sheini two parallel curtains separated the
Heichal from Kodesh HaKodashim instead of a wall. "Why was there no Amah
Traksin (the "Amah of separation" i.e. a wall separating the Heichal from
the Kodesh Hakodashim as in Bayit Rishon) in the Second Temple? A
thickness of six Tefachim (which is an Amah) will sustain a wall of 30
Amot but not more… So why did they not (in Bayit Sheini) build a wall 30
Amot high and use a curtain for the remainder? ...Abaye replied, 'It was
known to them by tradition that the partition should be wholly a wall or
wholly a curtain, either wholly a wall as in Bayit Rishon or wholly a
curtain as in the Mishkan" (Baba Batra 3a,3b). The design, detailed in the
Biblical descriptions of the Mishkan and Bayit Rishon, no doubt reflected
Bayit Sheini reality, but it is likely that the more pictorial K'ruvim
design of the Mishkan and Bayit Rishon had become quite abstract by the
end of Bayit Sheini. While describing virtually everything else in Bayit
Sheini with great panache, Josephus did not venture to describe the woven
K'ruvim. Perhaps the K'ruvim woven into the veil by his time were simply
indefinable. <more> [The
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