Mirror, Mirror - Reflections on Parashat Vayakhel/Pekudei

    “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”

    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?

Tales of the Dreamscape - Treasure House - Part 1

The deepest cave in Dreamscape’s shifting land,
Beneath the wondrous home of Duke and consort,
Contains the greatest treasures that the world
Has ever known, or dreamt in midnight hours
When the moon is low, and the stars are free and twinkling
In the cloth of softest night and darkest sky.
Wherever gold has glittered, silver shone,
The cave of dreams is there, gently waiting -
And all your treasures are contained within
Where all desires begin.

And when the wind blows cold from northern climes
With diamond snow from Dreamscape’s farthest shores,
The proud and lordly Duke of Dreams trembles,
Seeks refuge in the cave of ancient trove,
Wandering winding ways among the gems,
That shift their forms as the dreamer lingering stares.
He finds a treasure never seen before,
Inspects it with his bright and piercing gaze -
The choicest prize your mind has deftly wrought,
Is there as solid thought.