The final detail of the Mishkan to be taught was the Kiyor, the copper wash fountain and stand that was used by the Kohanim to wash their hands and feet at the start of each day. The Kiyor was made from the polished copper mirrors that were donated by the Jewish women.
The Midrash relates that when the women presented these mirrors to Moshe, he did not want to accept them. Since they were items that were made for arousing the Yetzer Hora, they had no place in building a holy sanctuary for the Divine Presence.
Hashem told Moshe to take the mirrors “for they are more precious to Me than anything else”.
These mirrors were not used by the Jewish women for immodesty, vanity or immorality. The Midrash describes how righteous women of that generation used their mirrors to beautify themselves for their husbands. They would revive their broken husbands’ spirits and arouse their affection, thereby continuing to give birth to the future Jewish nation, even in the darkness and suffering of Golus.
Chassidus teaches that the Mitzvah of making a Mishkan was not limited to a physical structure. Hashem’s desire is to rest within each one of us, that through our Avodah we become a resting place and sanctuary for the Shechina.
In the construction of the physical Mishkan, different materials were used. Some were naturally conducive for this holy purpose and Moshe was ready to accept them. In our Avodah, these are the innately holy activities of Torah study and prayer. These are the pursuits of our G-dly soul.
But Hashem does not only desire to dwell within us when we are engaged in Torah study and prayer. Hashem wants our Mishkan to be all-encompassing, incorporating every facet of our lives, including our engagements in physicality; our eating and drinking, business, relationships and our regular day-to-day.
This was Hashem’s message to Moshe. Hashem was telling Moshe that the spiritual Mishkan cannot be limited to the innately holy parts of our lives. We need to elevate the drives and passions of our animalistic soul and our involvements in the mundane physical world, things that are not so readily G-dly. They too must be brought into our inner Mishkan and dedicated to Hashem.
Transforming our animalistic drives and desires to become holy is not easy and it comes with real inner struggle and effort. But it is the struggle that makes it so meaningful and precious. Like the mirrors, not only are our worldly and animalistic drives an essential part of building our Mishkan, they are more precious to Hashem than anything else.
The greatness of the Kiyor is also alluded to in the fact that it was the first of the Keilim to be used each day and was a prerequisite for all of the subsequent Temple service.
The Tzemach Tzedek observes that the root of the word נחושת (copper) is נחש (snake). The snake represents the Yetzer Hora and the unrefined physicality of the world. But the word נחש also shares the same Gematria as משיח - Moshiach.
It is specifically through our Avodah of ‘polishing’ the ‘copper’ - transforming the נחש of our Yetzer Hara, that we will merit the ultimate resting of the Shechina amongst us. This will be realized in the times of משיח when we will have the culmination of the Mitzvah of the Mishkan - the Third Beis Hamikdash Bimheira Beyameinu Amen.
