The Gemara (Bechoros 8b) states that the אתונא דבי סבי, elders of Athens, asked Reb Yehoshua ben Chananya, "Where is the center of the world?" Reb Yehoshua raised a finger and said, "Here." Reb Mordechai Yosef of Izhbitza zt'l explained the depth of Reb Yehoshua's answer (because the Gemara wouldn't have told us about this discussion if there wasn't a lesson for us to learn from it. Reb Yehoshua ben Levi was certainly teaching important lessons. He wasn't merely trying to silence the "elders of Athens" with a witty response). The Izbitzer explains that Chazal tell us that the Beis HaMikdash is the center of the world (see Yoma 54b). Reb Yehoshua raised his finger, which is near the heart, and said that the middle of the world is here. This is because he had turned his heart into a Mishkan, a place where the Shechinah resides, and that is the center of the world.
The heart is where there generally burns a fire and a desire for temptation and sin. When one turns that over and makes his heart desire Hashem and ruchniyus, he has succeeded in turning himself into a Beis HaMikdash.
One is the Mishkan of the Yid, the other is the Mishkan built in the desert. Each of the keilim of the Mishkan represents a limb or an attribute of the human being. The aron represents the heart, and the two keruvim above the aron represent the eyes.
בְּתוֹכָם ָׁכ ַנְתִּיוְש ׁמִק ְדָּש לִי וְעָשׂוּ, sanctify all these limbs, and Hashem will reside with you.
In particular, guarding the eyes will turn you into a Mishkan. It states (25:18) שְׁנַיִם וְעָשִׂיתָ זָהָב כְּר ֻבִים, "You shall make two keruvim". They were placed above the aron. We also find keruvim in (Bereishis 3:24) וַיַּשְׁכֵּן הָאָדָם אֶת ׁוַיְגָרֶש לִש ְׁמֹר הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת הַחֶרֶב לַהַט וְאֵת ה ַכְּר ֻבִים אֶת עֵדֶן לְגַן מִקֶּדֶם הַח ַיִּים עֵץ דֶּרֶ ךְ אֶת, "and having driven Adam, He stationed at the east of the Gan Eden the keruvim and the flame of the ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life."
Rashi writes that the keruvim were מלאכי חבלה, damaging angels. Were the כרובים holy and part of the Kodesh Kadoshim, or do they represent חבלה מלאכי?
ווייס א"הגר explains that the two keruvim represent the two eyes, as stated in Tikunei Zohar (18b). When the eyes are in the Holy of Holies, behind the protection of the paroches (curtain), they are Kodesh Kadoshim, holy eyes. But when the eyes are outside of Gan Eden, like on the street, looking all around, then they are חבלה מלאכי.
There is another place that כְּר ֻבִים are mentioned in this week's parashah. It states (26:1) וְא ַרְגָּמָן וּתְכֵלֶת מָשְׁזָר ׁשֵׁש יְרִיעֹת עֶשֶׂר תַּעֲשֶׂה הַמ ִּשְׁכָּן וְאֶת אֹתָם תַּעֲשֶׂה ֵׁבחֹש מַעֲשֵׂה כְּר ֻבִים שׁ ָנִי וְתֹלַעַת, "You shall make the Mishkan of ten curtains – twisted linen with turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool – with a woven design of the keruvim shall you make them." This time, the כְּר ֻבִים represent the designs that were on the sheets that covered the Mishkan. ֵׁבחֹש מַעֲשֵׂה כְּר ֻבִים שׁ ָנִי, they had two designs on them. Rashi writes, זה מצד ונשר זה מצד ארי ,מכאן אחד ופרצוף מכאן אחד פרצוף, "One side had the picture of a אריה, lion, and the other had a picture of a נשר, eagle."
Tzaddikim (see ז"ט מאמר ,ווייס א"להגר המאמרים אוצר) explains that both the אריה and the נשר allude to guarding the eyes. אריה are the same letters as ראיה, looking, and נשר also represents guarding the eyes. The Tur, beginning of Shulchan Aruch, quotes from Pirkei Avos (5:20), ָּׁמ ָיִםשׁ ֶבַּש אָבִיךָ רְצוֹן לַעֲש ׂוֹת ֶׁרכַּנֶּש קַל ...ה ֱוֵי, that a person should be "swift like an eagle... to do the will of your Father in heaven". The Tur writes that this means that one should be swift to guard his eyes, because the eyes are the beginning of aveiros, for the eyes see and then the heart desires, until it can lead to aveiros, r'l. This tells us two things:
- When one sanctifies his eyes, he has made himself into a Mishkan, a place for the Shechinah to reside.
- The Mishkan, itself, was built and sanctified with the kedushah of the eyes of Bnei Yisrael.
