MIRRORING MAJESTY – PARSHAT VAYAKHEL 

Shira Smiles shiur – February 20, 2011/16 Adar I 5771

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein

Parshat Vayakhel continues describing the process of building the mishkan, the Tabernacle, begun in Parshat Terumah. Among the vessels and implements, the copper laver stands out as the only vessel for which the particular source of the material was identified and which was not previously listed. The laver was made “from the mirrors of the legions who massed at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.” Why specify the source of this copper in contradistinction to the sources for the other utensils? Does this source have specific meaning both for its intended purposes and as lessons for us?

To begin our discussion, it is necessary to understand what these mirrors were and how they were used. Understandably, mirrors are used by women to beautify themselves, often with lustful intentions contrary to a Torah perspective. But these mirrors were special, for the Jewish women used them in Egypt to encourage their men, to continue normal family relations in spite of the overwhelmingly depressing circumstances, and to bring forth new Jewish children into the world, to maintain some form of shalom bayis. Perhaps these children became the “legions who massed at the Tent of Meeting.” The selfless actions of these women, using these copper mirrors, ensured the survival of the Jewish people and made these mirrors most beloved in the eyes of the Creator.

As the mirrors brought peace to the homes of our ancestors in Egypt, so would they be destined to bring back peace in the home between husband and wife in the future. If a husband were to suspect his wife of having improper liaisons, she would drink water from this laver. If she were indeed innocent, the water would bring blessings to the home and recreate the peace and tranquility that had been shattered between husband and wife. The spiritual essence our women forebears imbued into the copper mirrors leached into the water.

Indeed, Rav Lugassi in Byam Derech suggests that the main purpose of man is to imbue the physical and mundane world with sanctity just as God Himself encased the holy soul in a physical body. Everything in the physical world has the potential for sanctity, from the money we use in business to the mirrors the women used in Egypt.

Rav Lugassi develops this idea further. The physical world may appear totally inanimate to us, but all things nevertheless have a certain animus, a will to serve Hashem in their own capacity, to become elevated themselves. They can accomplish this only through man’s using them for holy purposes. Therefore, says Rav Lugassi, when our souls go up to their final judgment, the walls of our very homes will testify before the Ribbono shel olam. They will testify if they were used to create a quiet haven for the study of Torah or, God forbid, to contain a den of iniquity. The walls themselves have a vested interest in our behavior, for they too wish to be elevated. This is what the women did with the mirrors, and the mirrors were elevated and became an integral vessel necessary for the service within the Tabernacle. These mirrors were so beloved that Hashem wanted every one of them; the copper laver is the only part of the Tabernacle that has no specific dimensions. It would need to be big enough so that every donated mirror would be used in its totality, not melted down, and retaining its sacred properties.

People mistakenly believe, continues Rav Lugassi, that articles that are involved in doing a mitzvah impart sanctity to the person performing the mitzvah. In fact, contends Rav Lugassi, the reverse is true. The tefillin, for example, do not impart sanctity to the wearer, but the wearer can elevate the tefillin by being in the proper frame of mind, by seeking his connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, as he prepares to wrap the straps around his arm. Man imparts sanctity to things, whether it is tefillin, a menorah, or an etrog by what his heart brings to the mitzvah, not the other way around.

This was how the women sanctified the mirrors. Their purpose in using the mirrors was to create a Jewish home, a peaceful home, so that the Divine Presence could dwell with them even in their misery. The mirrors absorbed the holiness of this mindset, and the waters of the laver made from these mirrors were filled with this same sanctity. Therefore the water had the power to bring that same shalom bayis back to a fractured family.

How were these women capable of maintaining their positive dispositions in such terrible circumstances during the enslavement? As Rav Zeichick points out in Ohr Chodosh, man does not achieve greatness through his superior intelligence or talents. Man achieves greatness through his dedication and self sacrifice to accomplish his goal. It was clarity of purpose and dedication, mesiras nefesh, that gave the women the strength to encourage their husbands and maintain their homes.

Similarly, continues Rav Zeichick, Bezalel and the artisans of the Mishkan were not educated and trained in the intricacies of carpentry, silversmithing, or other skills necessary for the construction of the Tabernacle. They had all been simple slaves. But they all had the wisdom of the heart that was dedicated to serving Hashem. They were determined and willing to self sacrifice. Indeed, Bezalel’s grandfather Chur had literally sacrificed his life trying to prevent the building of the golden calf, and Chur’s mother Miriam put herself in danger to save the Jewish babies from Pharaoh’s decree. The whole reason the Torah spends so much time describing the work involved in building the Mishkan, says the Ramban, is to teach us the importance and power of mesiras nefesh.

Our homes are meant to be a mikdash me’at, a miniature sanctuary. Our women today are the keepers of the flame as they were in Egypt, maintaining the sanctity of the home. While men bring the content into the home with their Torah study, it is the women who maintain the atmosphere conducive to such pursuits and to raising children who will continue our heritage. Rav Pincus in Nefesh Chaya warns of the dangers all around us from the prevalent cultures. Even seemingly innocuous fairy tales are replete with elements contrary to a Jewish lifestyle. It is the women who are the guardians of the gate, of what comes into the household. She will tell bedtime stories of our sages rather than of Goldilocks. She will make the walls of her home receptacles of holiness and spirituality.

In our homes, says the Sifsei Chaim, we create a Sanctuary every Shabbat. The thirty-nine prohibited activities all reflect the activities in constructing and maintaining the Mishkan. Construction of the Mishkan was the human counterpoint to Hashem’s creation of the world, a creation from nothingness, according to Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch. In creation, Hashem took His spirit and used it to create matter; in building the Mishkan, Bnei Yisroel took matter and used it to create spirit. The mirrors used for the laver are a perfect symbol for the entire Mishkan and for Shabbos. Just as a mirror contains nothing within it except a reflection of that which is brought to it, explains the Nefesh Shimshon, so too does Shabbos reflect the shalom, the peace we bring to greet it. On Shabbos we sit at the table of the King, at our personal mizbeach. We are His guests and we will behave as guests, maintaining peace with our spouses so as not to disturb the peace of Shabbos. Throughout Shabbos we are aware of His presence. Every action we take, from preparing our salad to taking a walk contain reminders of the sanctity Hashem has invested in this day, and we keep that sanctity by how we treat the matter of this world. The holy Shabbos mirrors the majesty of the King to us , and we reflect it back to Him through our observance and raise ourselves to a new plane of reality, to a level where nothing exists except Hashem and our relationship with Him.

We have the ability to transform ourselves. The verse states that the mirrors came from “the legions who massed at the Tent of Meeting.” What were the women doing there? They had come to learn Torah and to pray. Rav Nevenzahl explains that the women prayed with such deveikus, such a desire to cleave to Hashem, that they were transformed. They had come to the Tent of Meeting with their mirrors, for the mirrors went with them everywhere, perhaps in their equivalent of a handbag. But their prayer was transformative. They realized that their mirrors were a reflection of the vanity of this world, and they cast them aside to dedicate them to the reality that nothing exists save Hashem Himself.

Hashem understood all that the mirrors represented, from the holy intentions of the righteous women in Egypt to the complete dedication to Hashem, their families and Bnei Yisroel. He now also appreciated the intensity of their prayer. All this was embodied in these mirrors, and Hashem valued them above all else. These would become the perfect medium for the kohanim to wash their hands and feet before entering the service of Hashem, for all these sparks of holiness would cling to them as their hands and feet touched the water within the copper laver. The prayers they uttered and that Bnei Yisroel uttered with each animal brought upon the altar were meant to carry the same sincerity and transformative power as the prayers of the women who contributed the material for the laver.

May we approach our tefillot with the same dedication as our foremothers and may they transform and elevate us, and may we build our homes, our mikdash me’at, so that they reflect the majesty of the King who resides within us.