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?
