Terumah

In this week’s parsha, the Torah now goes through the building of the Mishkan & all of the sacred vessels within it. One is the ארון, the Ark , upon which rests a lid called the כפרת, about which the Torah states ועשית שנים כרובים זהב , make two Cherubim out of gold.
What are Cherubim? According to Rashi, they were winged figures, and each had the image of a child's face, implying childlike innocence.

In Sefer Berishis when Adam was banished from Gan Eden, the Posuk says that Hashem stationed Cherubim at the east of Gan Eden to guard it; Rashi there translated Cherubim as מלאכי חבלה , angels of destruction.
Asks רב משה מרדכי אפשטיין, how is it that Rashi translates the exact same word differently in two different places?

Another inconsistency is raised by our Posuk stating that the Cherubim faced each other while Divrey Hayamim says that they faced away from each other.  Were they facing each other or not? Were they destructive or innocent?
The gemara resolves the inconsistency of which way they were facing. It says that, when the Jewish people do the will of Hashem, the Cherubim faced each other; however, when they didn't do the will of Hashem, they faced away from each other.   

The Ritva asks, how could it be that the Cherubim are facing each other when the Jews are doing the will of Hashem? By the destruction of the First Temple, we are told  that when the gentiles entered, they saw the Cherubim embracing each other. Certainly, the Jews were not doing Hashem’s will at the time of the destruction?

Answers רב מי"ל זק"ש that the will of Hashem referred to is of interpersonal relationships between Jews & the Mitzvos, between man & man. Even at the time of the destruction of the First Temple, the sins that the people were guilty of were between man & Hashem whereas the relationship between man & man was still strong. Therefore, the Cherubim hugging each other was symbolic of the strong bond between the Jews.  

To answer the other question of the translation of the word Cherubim רב משה מרדכי אפשטיין explains that the Torah is hinting to us the importance of education. When we give our children the proper education, they're like the angelic childlike Cherub that has its wings spread over the Ark. If we don't educate them correctly, then they will end up being like the destructive angel.

To understand how to educate our children so that they end up angelic instead of destructive, we can infer how רב יצחק אלחנן ספקטור understands the gemara's answer regarding the positioning of the Cherubim; that when the Jewish people do the will of Hashem the Cherubim faced each other while when they didn't do the will of Hashem they faced away from each other. He explains that when it says they were facing each other, it means when they were looking out for each other, with every Jew worried about the other and making sure each one has what he needs. That's called doing Hashem’s will because that is what He really wants: all of us looking out each other. However when it’s פניהם לבית , when the Cherubim are facing away from each other, when each person is only looking out for himself & his own family, that’s called not doing the will of Hashem.   

Maybe what the Torah is telling us here is that in order to really do the will of Hashem, we have to teach our children to look out for one another and not be selfish. They must make sure everyone has what he/she needs. Of course the only way to teach is by example so we have to make sure not only to look at our own "house" and make sure we have what we need but to make sure all those around us do, too. That way we will all be doing the will of Hashem!