Parashat Truma

This week’s Torah portion talks about the building of the Mishkan (the portable Temple) and some of its vessels. One of the vessels are the two Cherubs that make up the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. The Cherubs are made from gold and are in the form of winged children.

Next week we'll read about the sin of the golden calf. If we were punished for making a golden calf, then why is it ok to make a golden Cherub? Wouldn’t this fall under the category of “Thou shalt not make graven images”?

The answer goes to the very core of our belief system. Are the Ten Commandments G-d’s codification of basic human morality, or are they G-d defining morality? In other words, was it wrong to worship other god’s, and the 10 commandments just write that down. Or is it wrong to worship other god’s BECAUSE G-d said so.

Judaism teaches that morality is defined as the word of G-d. What G-d says is, by definition, morality. Any other system of morality falls apart when you press it.

So if G-d commanded us to make the Cherub, then it can’t be immoral. That’s the difference between the golden calf and the Cherub. One is against the will of G-d and one is according to it.

The lesson here is summed up in the saying “Don’t out tzadek a Tzadek” (or in the Christian world, “Don’t be more Catholic than the Pope”). If G-d says something is OK, don’t forbid yourself from doing it because it seems to contradict a different commandment. G-d is the only one who truly knows the intention of the Torah, so we can not try to out interpret him.

Shabbat Shalom.