You shall make two golden cherubim. . . . The cherubim shall have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their faces toward one another. . . . I will arrange My meetings with you there, and I will speak with you from atop the ark cover, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, all that I will command you unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 25:18, 20, 22)

The cherubim are one of the most fascinating of all Jewish symbols. They first appear as Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden, where the cherubim guard and protect the way to Tree of Life with fiery golden swords. Here in the Mishkan, the cherubim protect the ark with wings spread upward and over the ark. With the construction of the Mishkan, the cherubim can leave the entrance of the Garden of Eden and stand in the Holy of Holies, where G‑d communicates and reveals Himself to man again in the space between them.

This work came into being after a lot of searching and scraping through many layers of thick paint. All the cutting away and carving created a sense of motion in the wings and introduced a new kind of light to the work. Wings are coverings that both cover and conceal, but it is in the space between them where the greatest light is revealed.