02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 31 CHERUB: A HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION 31 III. Bird The tosafist Samuel b. Meir (c. 1080-1174), while acknowledg- ing the Talmudic description of the cherubim as having the face of a child, stated that cherubim are simply birds. He was followed by the thirteenth-century tosafist Hezekiah b. Manoah, who main- tained that the cherub is “a kind of bird”. Both exegetes cited Ezek 28,14 but did not clearly explain whether or why this verse should be seen as supporting their position 14. This identification enjoys visual expression in a fifteenth-century drawing by the prolific Jewish illuminator Joel b. Simeon Feibush showing the biblical ark surmounted by two pigeon-like birds, ob- viously meant to be the cherubim 15. The drawing is labeled “The form of the Ark” and is included among other drawings of objects from the tabernacle. But the object’s upright shape and paneled dou- ble doors betray a conceptual fusion of the biblical ark with the arks for holding Torah scrolls in synagogues. This fusion raises the possibility that the interpretation of cheru- bim as birds may in fact be far older. Depictions of inward-facing birds surmounting the Torah ark on either side in a manner similar to the tabernacle ark cherubim as described in Exodus and to the birds in Feibush’s drawing can be found on items from as early as the fourth century CE 16. An especially noteworthy example of this motif occurs on the sixth-century mosaic of the Beth Alpha synagogue 17. 328-358 and 35 (1926) 481-495 at 484-486. Cf. H. GRESSMANN, Die Lade Jahves und das Allerheiligste des Salomonischen Tempels (Berlin 1920) 6- 14, 47-67; COOKE, Ezekiel, 113; U. CASSUTO – R.D. BARNETT, “Cherub, Cherubim”, Encyclopedia Miqra’it IV, 238-244 [Hebrew]. 14 Samuel b. Meir: commentary on Exod 25,18, in COHEN, Exodus, 72; Hezekiah b. Manoah: commentary ad loc., in C.D. CHAVEL (ed.), Hizkuni. The Torah Commentaries of Hezekiah b. R. Manoah (Jerusalem 1981-1982) [Hebrew] 280. Cf. Rashi on Ezek. 28,14, in M. COHEN (ed.), Mikra’ot Gedolot ‘Haketer’. Ezekiel (Ramat-Gan 2000) [Hebrew] 190. 15 British Museum Additional 14759, f. 2v; online: http://www.bl.uk/cata- logues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMINBig.ASP?size=big&IllID=52582 [cited 15 June 2014]. 16 REVEL-NEHER, Arche, 106, 114, 128-129, figs. 26 (cf. fig. 25), 42, 53. 17 E.L. SUKENIK, The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha (Jerusalem 1932) pl. VIII (detail: pl. IX). Online photograph: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org /daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/jewish-worship-pagan-symbols/ [cited 15 June 2014].