“He made the basin out of copper and its base out of copper, from the mirrors of the women who had gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (Exodus 38:8).

Rashi here quotes a Midrashic teaching that at first, Moses didn’t want to accept these mirrors donated by the women because they were used to apply makeup and adorn themselves. Moses felt that their use to attract and arouse the opposite sex were inappropriate items for the Tabernacle. But Hashem told Moses that those mirrors were more precious to Him than all the other contributions made to the Tabernacle because the women used the mirrors to beautify themselves for their husbands during the servitude in Egypt. 

The men were so exhausted and dispirited from the crushing work imposed on them that they lost any desire to be with their wives and father children. Using these mirrors, the women aroused their husbands and maintained the continuity of the nation.

This Midrash highlights a central Torah idea – that one of the main goals of creation is to elevate the physical realm by directing it toward holiness. When doing this, we transform the physical/material to the spiritual level.

By Rabbi Michael Skobac

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