A look in the mirror
ועשית כיור נחשת וכנו נחשת לרחצה, ונתת אתו בין אהל מועד ובין המזבח ונתת שם מים
And you shall make a washstand of copper, and its washbasin of copper – for washing. And you shall place it between the Ohel Moed and the altar, and you shall place therein water.[i]
Question
The Puzzling Exclusions of the Washbasin
This week’s Parsha includes the instructions for the making of the washing station in the Mishkan: the כיור – washstand and its כנו – washbasin. Yet, when we look closely at the text, this vessel is treated differently than the rest of the vessels of the Mishkan. There are four anomalies that separate the כיור and its כנו from the other vessels:
- No Dimensions: Aside from being defined by the material it had to be made from (copper), the כיור contains no structural instructions whatsoever. We are not given its measurements, and we do not even have a description from Rabbinic sources or Midrashic teachings regarding its ultimate shape or size.
- Excluded from the Primary List: The instructions for the כיור are not listed alongside the instructions for the other vessels. Considering its purpose serves as the prerequisite for all service in the Mishkan, one would think its construction should be given primary importance and listed first.
- Excluded from the Accounting: Later, in Moshe’s accounting of the donated materials for the Mishkan[ii], these vessels are excluded once again from the items which were made by the donated copper.
- Premature Placement: In the instructions to build the כיור, the requirement of where it was to be placed is included immediately. For every other vessel, placement instructions were excluded from their building instructions and instead saved for a separate, dedicated section regarding the setup of the Mishkan[iii]. [Note: It seems we prematurely placed the question about its premature placement in this week’s discussion! We are going to intentionally shelve this specific anomaly and, G-d willing, address it fully in the discussion on פקודי המשכן].
All the vessels in the Mishkan were unique in various ways, but the Keyor stands alone in how thoroughly it is excluded from the standard protocols of the text.
- Why is the instructions for the כיור and its כנו excluded from the instructions for the other vessels?
Contextual Background
The History of the Mirrors and Moshe’s Objection
Later, when it came time to actually construct the vessels, the Keyor and its Kano stood apart yet again. Rashi provides the backstory regarding the material used.
The Jewish women brought their copper mirrors and piled them up as a free-will donation for the Mishkan. These were not ordinary objects; they carried a history:
During the bitter slavery in Egypt, the men were physically and emotionally exhausted from their crushing labor, ready to give up hope. To ensure the Jewish nation would carry on, the women would use these mirrors to beautify themselves. They would then go out into the fields and use the mirrors to entice their husbands, showing them how beautiful they looked together. From these encounters in the fields, the next generation of the Jewish people was born.
Considering their direct association with sexual desire, Moshe was repulsed. He wanted to outright ban their use in the Mishkan. But G-d explicitly overruled him. G-d told Moshe that these mirrors were more precious than all the other donated materials combined, precisely because they were the catalyst for the birth of the Jewish nation.
Expanding the Question
But Moshe’s initial reaction requires deeper scrutiny. We know that the Jewish slaves in Egypt were not inherently wealthy. The vast riches they acquired from which they donated material to the Mishkan came from items “borrowed” [and not returned] to the Egyptians prior to the Exodus, or from the spoils cast out of the Sea after the Egyptian army drowned.
Why did Moshe specifically reject the mirrors due to their association with base physicality? Weren’t the other donated materials just as problematic, if not more so?
- The “borrowed” gold, silver, and copper jewelry were associated with לוה רשע ולא ישלם – The wicked borrows and does not repay.[iv] Even though the Jews were rightfully collecting back wages for their centuries of slave labor[1], they did not tell that to their Egyptian neighbors that at the time. Therefore, those items were still tainted by an association with lying or deception, if not with outright theft[2].[3]
- Much of the donated metal consisted of melted-down idols or Egyptian adornments previously used to entice men and women into the rampant sexual proclivities that ancient Egypt was famous for[4]. Thus, making them tainted with either idolatry or the very sexual desires that Moshe was repulsed by as represented by the mirrors.
If the gold and silver were tainted by idolatry, deception, and Egyptian lust, why was Moshe uniquely disgusted by the Jewish women’s copper mirrors and not by the rest of the materials originally sourced from the Egyptians?
Foundational Principles
Mix and Match, Compare and Contrast
As we stated previously, all the vessels in the Mishkan were unique in comparison to the other vessels, each in its own way. However, the כיור shared one[5] of its unique characteristics with the Menorah.
- The Lack of Dimensions
In terms of its complete lack of dimensions, the כיור shares this trait with the Menorah.
When you read the instructions for the Menorah, there is no height, width, or depth provided. Its only physical criterion is that it had to be completely hammered out from a single piece of pure gold with a specific, mandated weight of one talent. The Torah does provide the artistic design specifications of the number of flowers etc. But those are shape requirements, not size requirements.
But in reality, even that weight requirement wasn’t a true dimensional constraint! The Halaĉa[v] dictates that the Menorah’s requirement for a single piece of gold and the shaping of that gold into the required artistic design only applies when the Jewish people can afford it. If they are impoverished – as occurred during the Ĉashmonaean era immediately following the Ĉanuka victory – the Menorah can be constructed from other, cheaper metals (such as iron or wood[6]) without adornments.
Therefore, in reality, the Menorah possesses absolutely no intrinsic dimensional instructions at all, not even those that could theoretically be construed from the specific volume of a single talentof gold.
- Both the כיור and the Menorah are entirely unbound by physical measurements.
The Esoteric Dimensions
To understand why the כיור and the Menorah lack dimensions, we must first explain why the other vessels possess dimensions.
- The Measured Provision of Light (אור ישר)
As we know from the miraculous nature of the Aron, which took up physical space yet occupied zero measurable space in the קודש הקדשים, the dimensions of the Mishkan’s vessels could not be taken for granted. They were given specific measurements because they functioned as the tools by which the unlimited Divine Presence revealed itself only within a specific area in this physical plane.
That G-d, whose presence completely transcends the physical world, could still be visibly found within this world was accomplished by making vessels that reflected this reality: G-dly vessels constricted into specific, finite dimensions. This top-down flow of Divine energy is known in Ĉassidus as אור ישר – Direct Light (or in Kabbalistic terms, the קו המדה). In the angelic realm, the process of this constriction and measurement of the Divine into nature is generally the domain of the angel Metatron.
- The Unmeasured Ascent (אור חוזר)
However, the resting of G-d’s presence within this world is not a ‘one-way street’. The process is two-fold, as displayed during the giving of the Torah, which provides the description of וירד ה’ על הר סיני – G-d descended onto Mt. Sinai, and conversely ומשה עלה אל האלקים – and Moshe went up to the Almighty. A proper resting place of G-d displays both aspects: that G-d descends to this world, and that the world ascends to be an appropriate place for G-d to descend. This bottom-up reflection of energy is called אור חוזר– Return Light (or in Kabbalistic terms, the קנה המדה).
the Crowns of Sandalphon
When talking about elevating the lower world, the dimensions of that elevation are not dictated by how G-d chooses to restrict his presence within the world. Rather, they are completely contingent on human devotion, dedication, and effort. That capacity is measured by the person, not by G-d. The angelic force that processes this bottom-up elevation is Sandalphon, who ‘stands on the earthly plane and gathers the prayers and actions of humanity to form them into crowns for the Almighty’.
Answer
The vessels that represent this unmeasured, bottom-up elevation are the Menorah and the כיור.
The Menorah’s defined purpose is to להעלות את הנרות – to lift up the candles, symbolizing the elevation of the soul, as we know from the verse[vi] כי נר ה’ נשמת אדם – the candle of G-d is the soul of man. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains[vii] that it is Aharon’s function as one of the seven (7) Shepherds of the Jewish people to ignite the souls of the Jewish people. As Rashi notes, he had to do this ‘until the flame rises on its own’ – meaning he had to inspire them until they could inspire themselves (and even to be an inspiration to others).
Therefore, while we are told what material to use, the dimensions of that elevation are left entirely up to us, because the light comes from our own effort.
Similarly, the כיור served to purify the Kohanim prior to their service. The separation from Tum’ah and the dedication to Tahara can only be measured based on the individual person’s spiritual status and effort; thus, no dimensions could be provided.
This explains the exclusion of the כיור from the primary list of vessels. It does not perform the same function as the vessels with dimensions. The other vessels seek to bring G-d down into this world אור ישר. The sole purpose of the כיור is to purify this world and raise it up to G-d אור חוזר.[7]
The Raw Material of the Physical World
This dynamic finally explains the differences of approach between Moshe and G-d regarding the women’s mirrors.
When it comes to the Menorah (the soul), there are many gradients. Intrinsically, all souls are “golden,” but outwardly, the Menorah can be made of any material – even the iron off the spit.
The כיור, however, represents the elevation of the physical world itself, and therefore it HAD to be made of copper. The Hebrew word for copper is נחשת, which shares the exact root as נחש – the [primordial] Serpent[8], representing the lowest baseline of physical desire and the evil inclination. Even when King Shlomo replaced the כיור and built a massive new washbasin, the ים של שלמה – the sea of Shlomo, he made it out of copper[viii] as that is the required material.
Moshe believed that elevating the physical world could only be done once the raw material had reverted to a neutral state. As long as an object was still in the form of something used for base lust – like a vanity mirror – it could not be elevated.
G-d’s response was a paradigm shift: The mirrors were used to entice husbands in a time of despair, thereby creating the next generation of the Jewish nation. What greater transformation of a base animalistic desire could there possibly be? Taking the tools of evil inclination and using them for holiness is the ultimate elevation!
Crowning the King
The ultimate purpose of prayer and Divine service is to ask G-d to change the reality already coming down and being made real in this world. In other words, to effect the Above through the service of the Below – אור חוזר.
The Gemara[ix] states that the angel Sandalphon takes these prayers and weaves them into a “crown” for G-d. A crown sits upon the head, meaning this bottom-up service has the power to change the Divine Will that exists even above Divine Wisdom.
But to accomplish this, the angel must be directly connected to this world. Sandalphon must be present down here on this physical plane, gathering the raw, unmeasured efforts of humanity. Because the transformation of the world is not a top-down mandate. It is a bottom-up process built on our own unmeasured purification.
ר’ גבריאל נושא חן
This uniqueness of the כיור and the ability to change the Divine Will is echoed in a Ĉassidic story of Reb Gavriel נושא חן – who received that title in connection with the following story:
Reb Gavriel, a disciple of the Alter Rebbe, and his wife, Ĉana Rivka, had been married for twenty-five (25) years, but were childless. Reb Gavriel had been a prosperous merchant in Vitebsk, but hard times and persecution had destroyed Reb Gavriel’s fortune. In those days, it was not the custom of the Ĉassidim to go to the Alter Rebbe and complain about physical hardships. They were exclusively focused on spiritual challenges and thus Reb Gavriel told no one of his change in fortune.
At that time, the Alter Rebbe was trying to arrange for the release of some Jewish prisoners. Large sums of ransom money were needed, which the Rebbe attempted to raise amongst his followers. Because Reb Gavriel had been known to be wealthy, he was assessed as being able to donate a certain large sum – but he could not; he was heart-broken at not being able to participate in the great commandment of Redemption of Captives to the extent expected of him, nor did he feel comfortable contradicting the Alter Rebbe that he could not afford the amount he had been assessed.
On learning of her husband’s distress, his wife sold all her pearls and jewelry in order to obtain the required sum of money. She then scoured and polished the coins till they sparkled, and with a heartfelt prayer that their fortune should also begin to shine, she packed up the coins and gave them to Reb Gavriel to bring to the Rebbe.
When he came to the Alter Rebbe, Reb Gavriel placed the package in front of the Rebbe on the table – as was the custom amongst the Ĉassidim.
The Alter Rebbe looked at the coins and went into a state of דביקות for a few moments. Then, in his customary sing-song voice, the Alter Rebbe said, “Of all the materials which the Jews donated to build the Mishkan, the only thing described by the Torah with the word מראות – shining was the mirrors donated by the Jewish women. These coins shine… Tell me, where did you get these coins?”
Reb Gavriel broke down and told the Alter Rebbe of his plight and how his wife Ĉana Rivka had raised the money.
The Rebbe rested his head on his hand and went back into a state of דביקות. Then, raising his head, he blessed Reb Gavriel and his wife with children, long years, riches and extraordinary grace. He told Reb Gavriel to close his business in Vitebsk and instead he should begin dealing in diamonds and precious stones.
The blessing was wholly fulfilled. Reb Gavriel נושא חן – the graceful, as he came to be called – became a wealthy man and the father of sons and daughters. He died at the age of 110 years old and was even out lived by his wife by two years.
AND THEREFORE…
And, if you are wondering who in the world is capable of elevating the entire world, and changing the Divine Will … just look in a mirror.
[1] See the legal defense of the Jewish people against this exact Egyptian claim in the court of Alexander the Great by Geviha son of Pesisa [Gem. Sanhedrin 91a].
[2] See Shulĉan Aruĉ [Ĉoshen Mishpat 228] which prohibits lying to a gentile in any type of transaction, even one which he is not affected at all by. For example, one may not sell non-kosher-slaughtered meat to a non-Jew and tell him it was properly slaughtered, even though a non-Jew may eat non-kosher.
[3] As an aside: how could the Jewish people claim wages if they were legally classified as slaves? In which case, they weren’t entitled to wages at all! But that is a question for another time.
[4] See commentary on the verse [Vayikra 18:3] כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו – do not act in the manner of the actions of the Egyptians where you dwelled. The Sifra explains this refers to their sexual proclivities and deviances, as Egypt was the most sexually amoral nation of the world.
- That the כיור was excluded from the primary list and that there were early placement instructions is shared with the golden altar [see Shemos 30:1-6].
- That it was excluded from the accounting is shared with the Aron, whose tablets are not even listed in the accounting, even though Moshe donated them – they were initially Moshe’s personal belongings as it says in the verse [Shemos 31:18] ויתן אל משה. Even if you want to claim that they were only given to him as a messenger, see Yerushalmi Ta’anis 4:5 that tells us Moshe won the tug-of-war with G-d, and took them for himself.
[6] Although the Mishna Midos 3:4 explicitly states that iron may not be used for the altar, because its purpose was to create weapons to shorten life, nevertheless, it appears that the Ĉashmonaeans used iron anyway for the Menorah. The Gemara [Menaĉos 28b and Avoda Zara 43a] states they initially used iron spit rods (the kind used to roast meat over a pit) covered in wood for the Menorah. Then, when they got wealthier, they replaced it with silver. And finally, they eventually got wealthy enough to replace it with gold.
[7] This also explains why the Menorah was included with the top-down vessels despite having no dimensions: the purpose of the Menorah is to inspire the soul. The soul is not inherently a part of this physical dimension; it is a Divine spark inserted here. Although the means by which the soul is elevated is the refinement of the physical world through the observance of Mitzvos and the study of Torah, nevertheless the Menorah serves to inspire the soul alone – and therefore is not included with the one vessel that serves to prepare the world for holiness.
[8] Indeed, that is why, when the Jews were punished with a plague of snakes, Moshe’s “antidote” was to prepare a copper staff to remind people to dedicate their lives to G-dliness. See Bamidbar 21:6-9 and the commentaries there.
[i] Shemos 30:18
[ii] Shemos 38:29-31
[iii] Shemos 40:3-8
[iv] See Tehillim 37:21, and Pirkay Avos 2:9
[v] See Gem. Menachos 28a. See Rambam Laws of the Chosen House 3:3-4
[vi] Mishlei 20:27
[vii] Likutei Siĉos 2 פרשת בהעלותך
[viii] See Melaĉim I 7:39
[ix] Gem. Ĉagiga 13b