Rashi, on Exod 25:18

“Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle.”

“כרבים CHERUBIM — They had the form of a child’s face (Sukkah 5b). מקשה תעשה OF BEATEN WORK SHALT THOU MAKE [THEM] — i. e. thou shalt not make them separately (apart from the actual lid) and join them to the ends of the lid after they have been made, like goldsmith’s work which is called in old French souder (English solder) — but lay down a large mass of gold (lit., much gold) when thou beginnest to make the lid and beat upon the middle part of it (the gold) with a hammer or with a mallet, so that its ends will project upward (stand out in relief), and then shape the cherubim out of the projecting edges. מקשה batediz (beaten work) in old French Similarly we have (Daniel 5:6) “and his knees knocked (נקשן) one against another”. קצות הכפרת means THE EXTREMITIES OF THE COVER.”

Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.