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Wednesday, 11 March 2026
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Through the Looking Glass
Through the Looking GlassHow the Women’s Mirrors of the Mishkan Became the Torah’s First “Found Object”
 The Torah is usually very clinical when it describes the construction of the Mishkan. It carefully accounts for the weight and value of every material used: gold, silver, copper, wood, linen. The inventory reads almost like an accountant’s ledger. The materials are measured and catalogued, but almost never explained. We are told what was used. But almost never where it came from.
Except once. Buried deep in the inventory report of the Mishkan we suddenly get provenance:
Suddenly the Torah stops sounding like a balance sheet. Who were these women?
But before we get to the Midrash, we need to linger with the verse itself. Because on its face, it is deeply puzzling. The Strange Phrase: “The Women Who Gathered”The Hebrew phrase is enigmatic: הַצֹּבְאֹת אֲשֶׁר צָבְאוּ פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד Literally: “the women who assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.” The verb צבאו (tzav’u) comes from the same root as tzava, an army or organized force. Many translations struggle with it:
The language suggests an organized group — almost a guild or corps. But what exactly were they doing there? And there is another problem. At this point in the Torah narrative, the Tent of Meeting has barely been inaugurated. Yet the verse seems to assume that women had already been gathering there regularly. The text appears to assume a story the reader already knows. Which brings us to Rashi. The Famous Midrash of the MirrorsRashi fills the narrative gap with a beautiful Midrash. He explains that the mirrors belonged to Israelite women in Egypt:
According to the Midrash, Moses initially rejected the mirrors because they symbolized vanity. But the Midrash, reading like a letter day Hasidic tale has God intervening.
Why? Because in Egypt the men had become exhausted and hopeless, maybe even impotent, under forced labor. The women used their mirrors playfully, even seductively, to revive them. Rashi paints the scene vividly:
The mirrors that once sparked intimacy and life were transformed into the basin used by the priests. Even the Sotah ritual, designed to restore trust between husband and wife, would later use water drawn from that basin. It is a magnificent Midrash. But it raises an uncomfortable question. How did the rabbis get from this verse… to that story? Rashi’s Rejected Translation: A DelightRashi briefly mentions something he ultimately rejects. The word מראות (mar’ot) clearly means mirrors. But it could also relate to מראה — meaning vision or appearance. In other words, the verse might refer to the vision or designs of the women, rather than physical mirrors. Rashi dismisses the possibility. וְתֵדַע לְךָ שֶׁהֵן מַרְאוֹת מַמָּשׁ But the fact that he even mentions that we might not be talking about “mamash” mirrors but rather women’s sense of fashion or feminine intuition, is delightful. It reminds us that like a mirror, the sacred text can reflect manifold interpretations and that before the Midrash crystallized, the verse itself was open to multiple readings. Sometimes the most intriguing interpretations are the ones set aside. A Troubling Echo in the Book of SamuelThe phrase “women who gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” appears only once again in the Bible. This time in a disturbing passage:
Suddenly the phrase carries darker undertones. Josephus, probably conveying the popular understanding, interprets the passage bluntly as sexual abuse. Later rabbinic commentators soften the story, suggesting the priests merely delayed the women’s offerings after the birth of a child and thereby kept them from their husbands…. But the question remains. Why were women gathering at the sanctuary in the first place? Women Seeking Fertility?One possible answer emerges from another biblical story. In the same book of Samuel we meet Hannah, a barren woman who travels to the same sanctuary to pray for a child and beseeches Eli with a silent prayer. Her desperate prayer leads to the birth of Samuel. What if the women in Exodus 38 were gathering for similar reasons?
Across the ancient Near East, women often visited sacred sites seeking fertility or safe childbirth. (I could add, across all cultures and up until today) Here another clue emerges. Ancient Egyptian mirrors were often associated with the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.
Many mirrors were decorated with her image. In Egyptian symbolism the mirror itself was associated with life. The mirrors may therefore have carried meanings far deeper than simple vanity. The First “Found Object” in the BibleModern art offers a striking way to think about this verse. In the twentieth century, artists like Marcel Duchamp and latter Andy Warhol introduced the idea of the “found object.” Everyday objects — a urinal, a soup can, a bicycle wheel — were taken from ordinary life and placed into an artistic context.
The object itself did not change. But how we saw it did.
Found objects were initially shocking. They challenged the accepted distinction between what counted as art and what did not. Even today, although the practice has become widely accepted, it still provokes questioning. The Mishkan basin may represent something similar. An ordinary household object was repurposed into the holiest structure in Israelite life. Midrash as Found ArtThis insight may also illuminate how Midrash itself works. The rabbis did not invent their interpretations from nothing. They discovered strange words, textual anomalies, and narrative gaps within the biblical text. They worked with what they found. Like artists working with found materials, they transformed those fragments into meaning. A puzzling word becomes a story. An ambiguity becomes theology. The universal desire for fertility, even amongst or pagan sisters was recognized and absorbed. Emotions like jealousy and desires like lust were absorbed. In short, humanity and the mundane were valued as the most holy.
Looking Into the MirrorPerhaps that is why mirrors appear here at all. A mirror reflects whoever looks into it. And the same may be true of the biblical text. Rashi sees redemption and marital devotion. Shadal imagines organized labor. Cassuto hears echoes of an ancient traditions. Modern scholars see fertility rituals and Egyptian symbolism. Rashi’s rejected interpretation sees imagination over material. Each interpreter looks into the same verse — and sees something different. Which may be the Torah’s quietest lesson. Sometimes the most powerful sacred objects are not the ones we craft. They are the ones we discover. Objects — and words — that we find, and then transform…. or let live. Just like Midrash itself. Sefaria Source Sheet: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/713285 Listen on Spotify:
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