The image of the evil queen from Snow White, standing before her magic mirror, has become a fundamental part of western culture, from Disney’s classic cartoon to Charlize Theron, in Snow White and the Huntsman, and Julia Roberts, in Mirror Mirror. The evil step mother, obsessed with her own reflection, her own beauty lasting forever, has become a key part of our idea of what mirrors mean.
We might then be surprised to find mirrors at the heart of the tabernacle, the mishkan, whose construction we read about this week as the conclusion of the book of Exodus.
Exodus 38:8 tells us about Betzalel making the basin, the kiyor, with which the priests would wash themselves before beginning the service:
8] And he made the basin of bronze, and the base thereof of bronze, of the mirrors of the serving women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting.
We know that the mishkan was constructed from the offerings of the people, whatever their hearts moved them to give, but why construct the basin out of mirrors? What place do mirrors have in our most sacred places?
On one level, I believe that this is to teach us that each of us must be able to see ourselves in our communities, to see our sacred spaces as embodying our own ideals and values. The mirrored water basin is a reminder that the community cannot exist separate from the people, that it must serve as a reflection for each of us individually, as well as for all of us as a whole. It cannot be like the queen’s mirror, a source of narcissism - falling in love with oneself - but must reflect the entire people.
But Midrash Tanhuma (Pekudei 9, quoted by Rashi) understands these mirrors quite differently:
“You find that in the time when Israel were in forced labour in Egypt, Pharaoh decreed against them that they could not sleep in their houses, in order to stop them sleeping with their wives.
“Rabbi Shimon bar Chalafta says: What did the daughters of Israel do? They went down to draw water from the Nile, and the Holy Blessed One would arrange for them tiny fish inside their buckets. They sold some of the fish, and cooked the rest, took wine, and went to the field. There they fed their husbands as it says “and all labour of the field” (Ex1).
“Once they had eaten and drunk, the women took mirrors and showed them to their husbands. She would say “I’m more beautiful than you” and he would say “I’m more beautiful than you” and through this they became accustomed to desire once more, and were fruitful and multiplied and God visited them straight away with children...
“Through the merit of these mirrors that the women showed their husbands and re-accustomed them to desire in the midst of the slavery, were established the hosts (tzvaot) of the Israelites, as it says “All the hosts of God left Egypt” and “God brought out the Israelites from the land of Egypt in hosts”.
“When later God told Moses to build the Tabernacle, all of Israel stood up and gave voluntarily. Some brought silver, others gold or bronze...
“But the women said ‘what do we have to give as an offering to the mishkan?’
“They arose and brought the mirrors to Moses.
“When Moses saw the mirrors, he was furious. He said to Israel ‘Take sticks and smash them. What do we need mirrors for?’
“But God said to Moses. ‘Moses, you think these are worthless? These mirrors established all the hosts in Egypt. Take them and make a basin of brass and its base for the priests, for through it the priests will sanctify themselves...’”
This wonderful story, while obviously speaking from traditional gender norms, expresses a profound idea about the basin and why it should be made of mirrors. Based on the words “Marot ha’tzovot” the mirrors of the serving women, the midrash interprets it as the mirrors that made hosts. In the midst of soul-crushing, back-breaking labour, it was these mirrors that reawakened desire in the people of Israel, these mirrors that helped them create a people and a future for themselves, and thus it is these mirrors that God wants to sanctify the priests.
In seeing themselves in the mirrors, the Israelites learnt to really see their partners, to see them as desirable and attractive. It is this desire that is enshrined as holy and used to construct the basin. Judaism does not teach that desire is opposed to the sacred, but that appropriate physical attraction belongs at the heart of our holiest spaces - whether in the tabernacle of the wilderness, our own communities, or our own hearts.
Moses did not believe that this aspect of ourselves belong here. He took the gold and silver but thought that the mirrors, with their connotations of sexual attraction, had no place in God’s house. God must intercede to correct Moses - the Mishkan must be built of everything that our hearts are moved to give, constructed from every but of us that we can offer. When we see ourselves reflected in that community, it must be our whole selves, with nothing left out.
The queen’s mirror is locked away, concealed from all others. Her relationship is cold, bloodless, removed from all other people - like the Greek Narcissus, the evil queen has fallen in love with her own beauty, but unlike him, she is willing to kill anyone else who threatens her special status as the fairest in the land.
Our mirror is different - because our mirror is shared between people in relationship, both looking at themselves and looking at each other. It is sacred relationships with ourselves and with others that allow us to have a sacred relationship with the divine. As the chassidic teacher Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev said “a person reaches in three directions: inward, to oneself. Up, to God. Out, to others. The miracle of life is that in truly reaching in any one direction, one embraces all three.”
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