Three Loves

The cherubs shall spread their wings upward so that their wings shield the cover. The cherubs shall face one another, but their faces shall (also be inclined downward) toward the cover.            Exodus 25:20

There are three levels which are interrelated: the Holy One blessed be He, Torah and Israel.  Zohar 3:73

Based upon the Zohar's comment, Hassidic master Rabbi Yeḥiel Moshe Epstein (1889–1971) explains that the source of the mitzva to love Israel is love of God, and "love of Israel is an inseparable aspect of love of God, as is love of Torah."

            Our verse hints at these three loves:

Spreading their wings upward indicates love of God;

"their wings shield the cover” symbolizes love of Torah (the kaporet [the cover], as it were, protects the Torah);

"The cherubs shall face one another" represents love of Israel

            Since the source of love of God and of Israel is Torah, "their faces shall (also be inclined downward) toward the cover."

            Rabbi Epstein adds that the three loves are intentionally suggested by the cherubs, since God's word emanated to Moses from between the cherubs [Exodus 25:22], for when the three loves unite, we are privileged to have Divine inspiration and to have God's glory revealed to us.

            Indeed, this concept is expressed by a verse in First Chronicles:

… and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even the cherubs, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of God.                              [28:18]

            The cherubs hint at the three loves and through combining them, merit, as it were, being the chariot of God.