02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 32 32 RAANAN EICHLER Eleazar Sukenik, the excavator of the mosaic, acknowledged that “[t]he self-evident explanation of this detail is that they symbolize the cherubim in the Tabernacle and the Temple”, but he neverthe- less argued against such an explanation. More recently, Elisabeth Revel-Neher writes that the bird theme is to be compared with the tabernacle cherubim, whether those of the ark or of the veil (Exod 26,31 = 36,35) 18. In the modern era, François Lenormant expressed the same idea re- garding the tabernacle ark cherubim, writing that they were probably birds fashioned in the Egyptian artistic style. In support of this identi- fication he noted that kurūbu is the name of a large species of bird of prey in Akkadian 19; that in Egyptian monuments gods and naoi are represented between the forward-stretching wings of birds (as the kap- poreth, i.e. the lid of the ark, is sheltered by the cherubim’s wings: Exod 25,20 = 37,9); and that the description of the tabernacle in Exo- dus is characterized by efforts to avoid the danger of idolatry, a purpose for which, he argued, simple animal figures would be more suited 20. An intermediate position between this view and the preceding one was taken by Abraham b. Moses Maimonides (1186-1237), who sug- gested that the ark cherubim in the tabernacle had human heads and faces and avian wings, bodies and feet. He admitted the speculative nature of the suggestion and adduced no arguments in its favor 21. IV. Winged Bovine Samuel b. Meir’s student Joseph Bekhor Shor (second half of the twelfth century), along with Isaac of Vienna and other tosafists, proffered the view that typical cherubim are “angels in the image of oxen” 22. They argued that Aramaic brk means “to plow” (after 18 SUKENIK, Synagogue, 22-26; REVEL-NEHER, Arche, 128-129, fig. 53. Cf. GOODENOUGH, Method, 134. 19 Citing F. DELITZSCH, Assyrische Studien (Leipzig 1874) 107-108. See also the entry in CAD. 20 F. LENORMANT, The Beginnings of History. According to the Bible and the Traditions of Oriental Peoples (New York 1882) 135-136. 21 S.D. SASSOON (ed.), Commentary of Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam on Genesis and Exodus (London 1959) [Arabic/Hebrew] 390-392. 22 J. GELLIS (ed.), Sefer Tosafot hashalem. Commentary on the Bible (Jerusalem 1993) [Hebrew] I, 148.