Vayakhel 1996

Today we have read the two Torah portion Vayaka and Pekude.  Today is also Parshas HaChodesh.  The very first commandment that was given to the Jewish people was to set up a calendar, to make Nisan the first of all the months, and Nisan had to come out in the springtime.  We learn in the Torah portion Vayakhel that Moshe was to construct all the appurtenances of the Tabernacle, all its furniture, all its curtains, etc.  It says this job he gave to Betzalel Ben Ur, but he was also told that he should build a laver.  The laver was built of copper and was a huge bowl in which the priests would wash themselves and prepare themselves for the service.  It was a way in which they would renew themselves both physically and especially spiritually so that they could do the service in the Temple.  This copper laver, the Torah tells us, was made up of the mirrors of the women.  It says, "And he made this copper laver and its stand with the copper of the mirrors of the women of Israel who came crowding into the opening of the tent of meeting."  In other words, the women donated their mirrors in order to make this copper laver.  It seems that Moshe Rabbeinu did not want to accept these women's copper mirrors.  He demurred.  He thought it was a bad idea to use these mirrors.  After all, these mirrors were an object of vanity, but G‑d told Moshe Rabbeinu to accept these mirrors.  G‑d told Moshe Rabbeinu that we had to remember that it was the women who caused the exodus from Egypt to occur.  The men had given up hope, but the women had not.  The women still urged their husband to have children and not to give up hope.  It was the moral courage of the women which allowed the Jewish people to be worthy of the exodus.  What's more, at the time of the golden calf the women did not listen to the blandishments of the men who wanted them to worship the golden calf, and they even refused to give their gold pieces toward it but the men took it forcibly.  Later we learn how the women did not listen to the advice of the spies, that evil report in which they stated that the Jewish people should not go up to the land of Canaan; it was too strong for them.  We see that it was because of the moral courage of the women that Judaism has been able to endure throughout all the generations.  In fact, before G‑d gave the Ten Commandments and the Torah to the Jewish people it says that He first spoke to the Beis Yaacov, the House of Jacob, which the rabbis explain meant the women.  G‑d knew that if the women would accept the Torah no matter what the men did the Torah would be kept forever, but if only the men accepted the Torah but the women did not the Torah would cease to exist very quickly.

The question still remains, though, that, after all, a mirror is still an object of vanity.  It is true that the women were very worthy, but wasn't Moshe really right to not accept the mirrors of the women?  If we look carefully, though, at what a mirror does we will notice that a mirror is a object which allows a woman to renew herself.  Every woman is beautiful.  I have read the Amway literature and it definitely states every woman is beautiful, and the truth of the matter is every woman can be beautiful.  However, every woman has to know how to put on her makeup correctly, how to take out this wrinkle, how to fix the eyebrow, make sure the lipstick is on straight, to make sure they use the right hues and shades, etc.  It is an art, cosmetology, and in order for a woman to fix herself up so that she looks stunning and beautiful she has to know what she is working with.  She has to look at herself straight.  She has to know where her defects are and where her good points are and she has to compensate with her makeup to make sure she presents a beautiful and wonderful image.  Every women can be beautiful.  She just has to learn how to apply the makeup the correct way.

This applies also to all human beings.  All of us, if we want to have a spiritual and good life, have to know what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are and we have to compensate for them.  If we want to renew ourselves, if we want to be truly beautiful inside we have to recognize what our faults are and what our good points are.  For example, if there is a person who is terribly stingy and cannot even spare a dime then he has to recognize that and work at that particular characteristic, and if there is a person, on the other hand, who is a spendthrift and cannot keep in his hands thousands of dollars, then, of course, we know that he has to work on that.  So it is only through a rigorous examination of ourselves that we can spiritually renew ourselves, that we can really prepare ourselves to act properly in the sanctuary of Hashem, that we can respond adequately to Divine command because we know ourselves, we know our limitations, we know our strengths, and, therefore, we can live spiritual, good lives.
That, of course, is what the laver was meant to teach the priests and those who came to the Temple.  We had to purify ourselves and in order to purify ourselves spiritually we had to rigorously look at ourselves and figure out who we are and what we are and what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are.  If we would do this, then we could make sure that we could be spiritually renewed.

That, of course, is what Shabbos HaChodesh is about, too.  It is about renewing ourselves.  We all have the opportunity to be better and to be spiritually beautiful.  That, of course, is why the Hebrew word for month, itself, means renewal.  It means Cheedush, to renew ourselves.  That is the purpose of this Shabbos HaChodesh before Pesach, that we should all renew ourselves.  Spring is coming up.  Nature is renewing itself and we have to spiritually renew ourselves, too.  We learn about the exodus, how the Jewish people are given another chance.  They could spiritually renew themselves.  They came out of slavery, both the physical slavery of Egypt and also the spiritual slavery of Egypt with all its idolatry and superstition and terrible rites.

So we see that it is very appropriate that the women's mirrors were used to form the laver because it is only through a rigorous examination of ourselves that we can make ourselves beautiful.  But there is also the question, why is it that we have to read four separate Torah portions about the furniture of the Tabernacle?  We learn in Terumah and Tetzaveh how we are to construct the different items that appeared in the Tabernacle and about the different clothings of the priests and high priest.  Then we learn in Vayakhel and Pekude how these things were actually implemented.  Why do we need four Torah portions?  We can say we need the first two because they gave us G‑d's command to make the furniture and the dress, but why didn't we just say that they were done?  Why do we have to repeat everything over again?  The rabbis tell us that we have to learn two other things.  One, we had to learn how to respond to the Divine commandment.  Unless we know how to respond to the Divine command then we will not be able to be spiritually uplifted by it.  Then we have another element.  After we respond to the Divine command G‑d then responds to our response.  That, of course, is what we are talking about here, too.  When a woman fixes herself up, when a woman tries to be beautiful and when a woman does put on her makeup it is not that she is beautiful outside but she becomes beautiful inside.  That is why it is important to go to beauty parlors, etc., so you should feel good inside.  If a person knows they are beautiful then they feel beautiful inside.  If a person knows that they can be beautiful then they feel beautiful inside.  The same thing is true with the spiritual.  We have to know that we can respond to the Divine command and then when we do respond to the Divine command we feel good because G‑d responds to our response and uplifts us and makes us feel good.  Therefore, when we do a mitzvah knowing that we are fulfilling Divine command, in order to do something important for the betterment of the world it actually makes us feel good because our response evokes a response from G‑d Who actually makes us feel better.  Therefore, it is very important that we all recognize this.  It is very important that we all recognize that when we respond to a Divine imperative, when we help our neighbor, when we do deeds of kindness it elevates us.  It makes us feel good and that is the way we renew ourselves also, but in order to respond to the Divine command we have to know ourselves.  We have to look at ourselves rigorously and if we do look at ourselves rigorously and we know our strengths and weaknesses then we can respond adequately and then G‑d will respond to us by uplifting us and making us feel good about ourselves and about what we have accomplished and giving us added strength to even do more.  Let us all hope and pray that all of us will look rigorously at ourselves and know what it is that we can do and what we cannot do unaided, and that we should correct those things that we cannot do and make sure that we can do them so that we can adequately respond to the Divine commandment, the Divine imperative so G‑d will respond to us and we will feel good about ourselves and good about what we are doing and help make this world a better place so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.