ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף יחזקאל 1:15

You will have to appreciate now that the nine filters mentioned by Rabbi Saadyah gaon are not nine different emanations through which these prophetic visions are filtered to the average prophet. Except for Moses, every prophet received his visions only via the tenth (lowest) of the ten emanations. The so-called אספקלריאות, “window-panes,” therefore are merely different levels of prophecy. Ezekiel already referred to this when he said (Ezekiel 1,4) “I looked, and lo a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north- a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the centre of it, in the centre of the fire, a gleam as of amber. In the centre of it were also the figures of four creatures.” In verse 26 of the same chapter, the prophet describes that above the expanse over their heads was the semblance of a throne as well as a human-like figure. Altogether the prophet described 9 different “semblances.” רוח סערה, ענן גדול, אש מתלקחת, נוגה, חשמל, אופנים, חיותת רקיע, ראשי החיות, דמות כסא. We have here 9 separate “visions” which form the details of what the prophet had first described as מראות אלוהים, as “visions of G’d,” in verse one of the first chapter of his book. Having concluded these nine “visions” he reports about seeing something resembling מראה אדם, “the appearance of a man.” Moses’ prophetic visions did not have to be filtered through all these stages in order to result in a message to the people whom the prophet is meant to address.
All the foregoing gives you an idea of the difference between the quality of Moses’ prophetic insights and those of any other prophet after him. There are scholars who understand the “nine visions” enumerated by Ezekiel as allegorical descriptions of ever higher emanations, these emanations being paraphrased as the various planets, each one closer to the celestial centre. The ninth (highest) is perceived as the one that surrounds the attribute of G’d we know as כבוד. The powerful radiations of ever purer forms of light which the prophet saw appeared to him in the form of the respective four chayot. According to these scholars the meaning of our sages’ statement in the Midrash dealing with the story of the creation that there are chayot in our terrestrial world, i.e. holy beings on earth described by the prophet as chayot hakodesh, ophanim and kisseh hakavod, means that this is the meaning of Isaiah saying in Isaiah 66,1 that “the whole of earth is G’d’s footstool.” What they had in mind specifically was the surface of the moon. [The author continues further in this vein. As I am not certain of his meaning, I have omitted translating those lines. Ed.]

with all your heart The “heart” denotes consciousness (and is here an allusion to the spirit of intelligence, corresponding to the first Divine Wheel [Ezekiel 1: 15]), as in “wise of heart” [Exodus 31: 6] and “acquires a heart” [Proverbs 15: 32].

If you will study the writings of Maimonides carefully (Moreh Nevuchim 3,3) you will find that he understood the cherubs in the Tabernacle as corresponding to the cherubs which Ezekiel saw in his vision, i.e. the chayot hakodesh. Even though Ezekiel reported seeing four chayot, in reality they were really only one. We can confirm this from the wording in Ezekiel 10,20 when he refers to them in the singular, i.e. היא החיה אשר ראיתי תחת אלו-הי ישראל בנהר כבר ואדע כי כרובים המה, “they are the chayah which I had seen under the Lord G’d of Israel at the river Kevar. So now I knew they were cherubs. After Ezekiel had earlier described 4 chayot, he had subsequently realised that they were in reality a single chayah and the same as the cherubs. After Ezekiel had understood this he mentioned a second insight he had acquired that they are the Ophanim which he had previously observed next to the chayot though somewhat lower than the chayot. The wording in the text (Ezekiel 1,15) is as follows: וארא את החיות והנה אופן אחד בארץ אצל החיות, “When I saw the chayot, and here one Ophan was on the ground near the four-faced chayot.” Already during his first insight (Ezekiel 1,4) when he had the vision of the chayot he had said: וארא והנה רוח סערה גדולה: “I saw that there was a stormy wind,” etc. Still later Ezekiel speaks of a third insight he had, an insight superior to the previous ones, the understanding of the phenomenon called Chashmal. Concerning these three separate insights granted to him he applied the word Chashmal. He used the wordוארא three times to indicate that he had three separate visions. These visions are what is described in Chagigah 13 as מעשה מרכבה, the traditional name for Ezekiel’s vision. There is some disagreement as to how far the מעשה מרכבה extends. Rabbi says that it concludes with the words וארא where this word appears for the last time (1,27), whereas Rabbi Yitzchak holds that it extends only until the word חשמל, (1,4) and that what follows are headings for different aspects of what is known as מעשה מרכבה, “a description of G’d’s entourage.” [The author goes to some length to compare the construction of the cherubs, their appearance, the gold they were made of, etc., to the vision of Ezekiel. I have decided to omit this. Ed.]