The Gemara on Amud Beis discusses Yechezkel’s vision of the divine chariot. The angelic creatures he saw had four separate faces, on each side of their heads. However, there seems to be a contradiction in verses. One time the face of an ox is described, and later it is left out and substituted with a cherub. The Gemara answers that originally it was an ox, but since it would be a reminder of the Golden Calf, Yechezkel prayed that it be changed, and his prayer was granted.

The Maharal (Gur Aryeh Shemos 25:18) raises a question: Why now? Meaning, if this ox represents the sin of the Golden Calf, or at least is a reminder of it, it takes until the time of Yechezkel to correct it? Why did no other prophet, or at least Moshe ask for it to be changed? Or, if it only appeared now, why? He answers that the sin of the Golden Calf under discussion here is not merely an action taken at a point in time. Rather it represents a deficit in the Jewish consciousness. As a prophet is supposed to do, Yechezkel saw what was happening and what was spiritually meaningful at that time. This is similar to the Mekhilta (20:2) which says that God appeared as a warrior at the Red Sea, and a wise, kind, elderly man at Mount Sinai. Heavenly matters are infinite, so the prophet sees what is important to see at the time he sees it.  Yechezkel saw that this deficit in the Jewish consciousness which brought about the Golden Calf was active now, and he prayed to counteract it. 

This is the true meaning of the teaching (Sanhedrin 102a) that every punishment the Jews receive has a portion of the punishment of the Golden Calf mixed with it.  God offered an easy payment plan, a sort of “sin mortgage”, because otherwise to bear the full punishment at the time of the sin would have been too great to bear all at once and would have led to annihilation.  But, now we see, according to the Maharal, it is not like we were taught in grade school. God is not some kind of strict magistrate extending the severe punishment to be paid out over generations. Rather, the deficit in the Jewish psyche of the Golden Calf is like a latent virus or disease that only sometimes becomes active. During Yechezkel’s time there was another flare up.

What does this deficit really mean? Maharal does not explain here. Also, what is the meaning of substituting the ox with a cherub? Obviously, on some level, it has to do with idolatrous urges or rejection of God, but that is so general, as every sin could be categorized as that. Perhaps the ox is the reliance on natural forces as represented by its farming and plowing ability. And the cherub which is the form of a young child represents the human potential for spiritual growth. (It is notable that cherubs guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Bereishis 3:24). Thus, the drive toward the physical and the natural is the deficit that led to the Sin of the Golden Calf which was a reaction to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, which was an offer to transcend physical boundaries by becoming the most developed form of intellect and spiritual power within the human psyche.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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