Torah Portion/Synagogues Cherubs Remind Us Of God Without Limits Shabbat Terumah: Exodus 25:1 27:19; I Kings 5:26-6:13. E very February, Americans send out cards with little winged kids and big red hearts. Valentine's Day, though generally regarded by the Jewish community as a celebration "not ours," has a Jewish connection. We call these winged creatures "cherubs" in English — a word direct from the Hebrew cheruv, described sev- eral times in Hebrew scriptures as a winged attendant of the Divine. But the cheruvim of Torah look and act nothing like the Cupid-cherub that's a symbol of love. When God closes Eden to Adam and Eve, God places "Cheruvim at the east of the Garden of Eden and the ever-turning flaming sword, to guard the way of the tree of life ( Genesis 3:24)." Creatures that were part human, part beast and part bird would Joseph Klein is rabbi of Temple Emanu-El. His e-mail address is rabbi@rabbiklein.com CONSERVATIVE SHALOM SYNAGOGUE 29901 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, 48334, (248) 851- 5100. Rabbis: Daniel Nevins, Herbert Yoskowitz. Cantor: Howard Glantz. Rabbi emeritus: Efry Spectre. Cantor emeritus: Larry Vieder. Services: Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m., 6:15 p.m.; weekdays 7:30 a.m., 6 p.m.; Sunday 8:30 a.m. AHAVAS ISRAEL (GRAND RAPIDS) 2727 Michigan St. SE, Grand Rapids, 49506-1297, (616) 949-2840. Rabbi: David J.B. Krishef. Cantor: Stuart R. Rapaport. Services: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 7:30 a.m.; Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m. CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM 14601 W. Lincoln, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 547-7970. Rabbi: David A. Nelson. Cantor: Samuel L. Greenbaum. Ritual director: Rev. Samuel Semp. Services: Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m., 5:45 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m., 5 p.m.; weekdays 7 a.m., 6:30 p.m. BETH TEPHILATH MOSES CONGREGATION BETH AHM 6800 Drake, West Bloomfield, 48322, (248) 788-0600. Rabbi: Elliot Pachter. Cantor: Earl Berris. 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Services: Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m., 5:45 p.m.; weekdays 7 a.m., 7 p.m.; Sundays and civic holidays 8:15 a.m., 5 p.m. 2/27 BETH ISRAEL (ANN ARBOR) CONGREGATION BEIT KODESH 31840 W. Seven Mile, Livonia, (248) 477-8974. Cantor: David Gutman. President: Larry Stein; vice presidents: Martin Diskin and Al Gittleman. Services: Friday 8 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. 2004 guard the entrance to temples and wor- Moses to receive instructions. ship sites. Rashbam (of 12th-century France) A similar protecting role to what we thought them very different from the read in this week's portion, where God "sphinx-like" guardians of other ancient instructs the Israelites to "make two Near-East cultures, recalling the words cherubim of gold, of hammered work, of the Talmud that they had faces like at the two ends of the cover [of the children (ke-rabbiya). Rashbam's com- Ark]." The cherubim are to ment that because they are so have their wings spread out close to God (the Hebrew above, shielding the cover. word for "close" is keruv), they And there, we're told, represent the purity and good- between the two cherubim, ness of young children, may God meets us. be the connecting link What are we doing with between the scary cheruv of statues, graven images, in our Torah and the cutesy cherub early Israelite religion? And of Hallmark. why were they in the most Most insightful, however, is sanctified of places, sitting on the remark of Hizkuni (of RABBI J OSEPH 13th-century France) that the top of the Ark of the KLE IN Covenant, right in the center reason the cheruvim are per- Special to the of the Holy of Holies? Didn't missible is that they are not Jewish News the Ten Commandments worship objects, but rather prohibit fashioning images of symbolize God's invisible glo- anything in the heavens or on earth? rious throne. The cheruvim, supporting The placement and significance of an invisible throne, remind us that if the cherubim troubled our medieval we cannot see the throne itself, how sages as well. Rashi (of 11th-century much less can we envision the God France) explained that "a voice descend- whose presence fills it. The physical ed from the heavens between the cheru- image of the cheruvim, then, draws our bim, and from there issued and was attention to the impossibility of an heard by Moses in the Tent of image for God. Meeting." Thus for Rashi, these statues- It seems appropriate that for ancient images were not "holy" in and of them- Israel, the cheruvim would come to selves, but were merely a locus for symbolize the Divine Presence. CONGREGATION B'NAI MOSHE ISAAC AGREE DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE 1457 Griswold, Detroit, 48226, (313) 961-9328. Chazan: Cantor Usher Adler. Baal Kriah: Rabbi Craig Allen. Ritual director: Dr. Martin Herman. President: Dr. Ellen Kahn. Services: Saturday 8:30 a.m. CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK Rabbis: Joseph H. Krakoff, Jonathan E. Berkun. Rabbi emeritus: Irwin Groner. Cantor: Chaim Najman. Ritual director: Leonard Gutman. Southfield: 27375 Bell Road, Southfield, 48034, (248) 357-5544. Services: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 7:30 a.m.; Monday and Thursday 7:15 a.m.; daily 5 p.m.; Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 8:45 a.m., 5:45 p.m.; Sunday 8:30 a.m. West Bloomfield, B'nai Israel Center: 4200 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48323-2772, (248) 357- 5544. Services: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 7:15 a.m.; Monday, Thursday 7 a.m.; daily 5 p.m.; Friday 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m., 5:45 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. TEMPLE ISRAEL 2300 Center Ave., Bay City, 48708; (989) 893-7811. Cantor: Daniel Gale. President: Dr. Jonathan Abramson. Services: Saturday 9:30 a.m. A liberal, egalitarian con- gregation serving the Tri-Cities area. Religious and Hebrew education programs for children and adults. INDEPENDENT AHAVAT SHALOM 207 Grandview Parkway, #209, TraVerse City, 49684, (231) 929-4330. Rabbi: Stacie Bahle. Year-round Shabbat services, holidays, education. GROSSE POINTE JEWISH COUNCIL (313) 882-6700. Rabbi: Nicholas Behrmann. Cantorial soloist: Bryant Frank. JEWBILATION P.O. Box 130014, Ann Arbor, 48103, (734) 996-3524 or 995-1963. Rev. Lauren Zinn. Services: Friday 6:15, fol- lowing dinner. Jewish Roots with Interfaith Wings holds bi-monthly Shabbat dinner, services, kids' programs, family school and Hebrew school for all ages. Characterized by their mobility, having wings, and with the combined features of different, disparate creatures — they were altogether unnatural beings. Since God moves where and how we cannot, since God is nothing like anything we know, the cheruvim are apt symbols for the Divine. Because God is ain sof "without limit," we need tangible reminders that God is with us, and within us. As the winged other-worldly cheruvim of Scripture did that for our ancestors, why not let our modern, Western, cherubic winged-archer Cupid do the same for us today? Where indeed is God, if not in the love-struck heart? Though we cannot weigh, measure or in any way quantify "love" — still we know it is real, that it lives within us, that it gives our lives value and meaning. What better locus for the Divine? ❑ Conversations What symbols or figures from our modern culture might some- day be reworked as "Jewish"? What other metaphors do we use to point us toward God's pres- ence in our world? ORTHODOX AGUDAS YISROEL MOGEN ABRAHAM 15751 W. Lincoln, Southfield, 48075, (248) 552-1971. Rabbis: Dov Loketch, Asher Eisenberger. President: Irwin Cohen. ANN ARBOR CHABAD HOUSE 715 Hill St., Ann Arbor, 48104, (734) 995-3276. Rabbi: Aharon Goldstein. Services: Friday at sundown; Saturday 9:45 a.m., 20 min. before sundown; week- days 7:30 a.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. Times for weekdays and Sunday are for the academic year. ANN ARBOR ORTHODOX MINYAN 1429 Hill St., Ann Arbor, 48014. Rabbi: Rod Glogower. Services: Friday at sundown; Saturday 9:30 a.m. and 20 minutes before sundown; weekdays during the aca- demic year 7:30 a.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. BAIS CHABAD OF FARMINGTON HILLS 32000 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, 48334, (248) 855- 2910. Rabbi: Chaim Bergstein. Services: Friday sun- down; Saturday 9:30 a.m.; Sunday 8:30 a.m.; week- days 6:50 a.m. BAIS CHABAD OF NORTH OAK PARK 15401 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park, 48237; (248) 872-8878. Rabbi: Shea Werner. BETH TEFILO EMANUEL TIKVAH 24225 Greenfield, Southfield, 48075, (248) 559-5022. Rabbi: Yisroel Menachem Levin.