Ki Sisa

The sicha for parshas Ki Sisa is in Vol. VI of Likkutei Sichos.

In this week’s parsha among the details of the construction of the Mishkan, we find that G-d tells Moshe to make the kiyor, the washbasin from which the kohen would wash his hands and feet before he went into the Mishkan to do his avodah. The kiyor and the instructions to make the kiyor were not mentioned together with all the other vessels of the Mishkan, enumerated in the two previous parshas, even though the kiyor is an essential part of the Mishkan. In the making of the vessels which is described later, there the kiyor is included with the other vessels, but when it came to the actual commandment to make the kiyor, it is mentioned separately.

The commentaries say that the reason the kiyor stands apart is because the function of the kiyor is only a preparatory one – the washing of the hands and feet is not one of the services of the Mishkan – it is merely a preparation. In order for the kohen to be able to do his avodah, he first had to wash his hands and feet. So it was a preparation, not yet itself a mitzvah. The difference between the kiyor and the other vessels in the Mishkan is not only where it appears in the Torah, but also by where it appears in the Mishkan itself, its physical location.

All the vessels of the Mishkan were in the Mishkan, even the mizbeach, the altar, that stood outside in the courtyard was directly related to the Mishkan because it was right outside the entrance to the Mishkan. The kiyor however was removed to the side; it was not allowed to be facing the entrance to the Mishkan. The space between the mizbeach and the Mishkan was holy and the kohen was not allowed to enter that space without first washing his hands and feet. So the kiyor was situated in a place that allowed the kohen to approach it without having washed his hands and feet, in order to wash his hands and feet because the place where the kiyor stood did not require sanctification.

Now the preliminary function of the kiyor which prepared the kohen for all the avodah in the Mishkan is reflected also in the size of the kiyor. The Torah says that the function of the kiyor was for Moshe, Aharon and his two sons to wash from before they do the avodah. From this the Gemarrah derives the instruction that any kiyor that doesn’t contain enough water for four people to wash their hands and feet is not a kosher kiyor and can’t be used in the Mishkan.

Now at first glance the Rebbe says this needs explanation. Moshe was not a kohen. He served in the Mishkan only the first few days before the Mishkan was completed and the avodah was initiated. After that, Moshe was no longer a kohen, he was a Levi and he did not do any avodah in the Mishkan.

The question is, if Moshe was not going to have a permanent role in the avodah of the Mishkan, why does the kiyor have to contain enough water for four people when in fact it was only going to be Aharon and his sons using the kiyor after the introductory days of the construction of the Mishkan.

The Rebbe explains as follows:

The days in which Moshe served as a kohen were preparatory days, getting ready the Mishkan for its daily routine of services, which would then be conducted permanently by Aharon and his sons. The kiyor, as we said before, is also an introduction, it prepared the kohen for his daily service in the Mishkan. And so the kiyor had to have enough water for four people because it reflects the preparation stage, and in the preparation stage of the Mishkan, there were four people. At that time Moshe was a kohen, and needed to wash his hands and feet from the kiyor.

The Rebbe makes an interesting observation that the kiyor is the only vessel in the Mishkan that reflected the presence of Moshe. No other vessels of the Mishkan involve Moshe in any way even though Moshe was the one who had the Mishkan built. The dimensions of the kiyor being that it has to contain enough water to include Moshe, because of those days in which Moshe functioned as a kohen remains forever, for all generations to come. So on the one hand the kiyor is only a preparation to the avodah of the Mishkan, and that is why it stands separately, and yet on the other hand, it contains and reveals the influence of Moshe on the Mishkan, more than any other vessel.

This is also reflected in the materials used in making the kiyor. They were made out of the copper and brass mirrors, donated by the Jewish women who brought them from Mitzraim.

These mirrors also have these two opposite conditions. On the one hand they are the lowest of all the materials, to such a degree that when they were first donated, Moshe refused to accept them. They had originally being used by the women in Mitzraim, to make themselves appealing to their husbands, so that their husbands would agree to have children. The men were discouraged under the horrors of Mitzaim, they didn’t see the justification of having children under those circumstances, therefore the women enticed them by making themselves attractive, using these mirrors, to have children with them. So the mirrors were used to draw the yetzer hara’s attention. And because of that, Moshe who was an ohev Israel, who loved every Jew and could see no faults in them, had distaste for these mirrors, since they were somehow associated with the yetzer hara.

In fact when all the materials used in the construction of the Mishkan are mentioned in parshas Pekudei, that list does not include the mirrors among the donations. And yet, G-d tells Moshe that he should accept them and use them to make the kiyor and even more so, says that these mirrors are more precious to Me than all the other materials donated to the Mishkan.

The Rebbe explains that the building of the Mishkan, making a dwelling place for G-d’s presence consisted primarily of Jews taking physical objects that are by nature not G-dly and from them fashioning a place, a condition that is holy and worthy of G-d’s presence. So the materials used to make the Mishkan were all physical objects, and yet G-d dwelled in them. This reflects the greater plan of making the entire world, the lowest of all worlds, a dwelling place for G-d.

And since the desire that G-d has is for a dwelling place in the lowest world, including also the lowest part of the lowest world, the lowest possible condition, lower, beyond which nothing can be further from G-d, so the Mishkan had to include the mirrors that were used to attract the yetzer hara, so that the lowest of all conditions be included, even that part of this lowly world that is associated with not only permissible things but with prohibited things – the yetzer hara. The yetzer hara generally represents that which is prohibited. Of course, in this case, the mirrors were used G-d forbid for any sinful activity, but because for idealistic reasons, the husbands were not committed to having children, it had to come through the yetzer hara.

Yet Moshe had distaste for these mirrors. This was because of the level of Moshe’s prophecy. Prophecy means the clarity in which we see G-dliness. Other prophets were not on the level of Moshe. Their prophecy was not as clear as Moshe’s. When Moshe gave over a prophecy, he used the word “zeh” - these/this. “These are the words of G-d” “this is G-d’s instruction”. Other  prophets  would  say  “koh ” - “something  like  this”. Moshe  saw  G-dliness in its pure form, not as a reflection, not through a hint, not through a vision, but rather directly, as through a transparent glass.

That is why he was uncomfortable with that which is related to the animal soul, to the yetzer hara, because the yetzer hara does not permit a view of G-d that is unobstructed and clear as was the vision of Moshe. Moshe wanted the dwelling place that was going to be created through the Mishkan to reveal G-dliness the way he saw G-dliness, through a clear, transparent glass where you see what is on the other side, not only a reflection of it.

There are two forms of prophecy, the clear looking glass, and the glass that is not clear, which the Rebbe says means a glass that has a coating on the back that turns it into mirror. Now a mirror has the advantage in that when you look at the mirror, you can see what is behind you, so it is a very high level of G-dliness where you can see that which came before you. But what you are seeing is not the object itself but rather a reflection of it. So on the one hand, you are seeing something you could not otherwise see, but on the other hand, you are not looking at it directly, you are looking at its reflection. This  reflection is  called “koh”. This  is something like what G-dliness is all about. However since I am looking at its reflection, I can’t say “zeh”, this is G-dliness, I can only say G-dliness is like this. Whereas Moshe saw G-dliness not in a mirror, but in a transparent looking glass, so that he saw the object itself, he was able to say “zeh”, this is G-dliness.

Now when it comes  to the yetzer hara, even  though  it  is being used for G-dly purposes, it is being refined, being drawn into holiness, yet by its very nature, the yetzer hara and also the animal soul, is not a clear, unobstructed looking glass that allows you to see G-dliness directly. Instead G-dliness is reflected off the coarseness of the yetzer hara, and it gives us a glimpse into G-dliness that we wouldn’t otherwise have, which is the virtue of elevating and refining the animal soul. But on the other hand, that vision of G-dliness that we gain by elevating the animal soul, is not the level of Moshe, it is not “zeh” but “koh”.

So Moshe Rabbeinu wanted the dira b’tachtonim, the dwelling place where G-d would make Himself known and visible, be on the level of “zeh”, on the level of his prophecy, that everyone should be able to see the essence of G-d directly the way he sees it.

What is Moshe going to do about the fact that G-d wants a dwelling place in the lowest part of the lowest world? So the Rebbe says, as far as Moshe was concerned, on his level, that which reflects G-dliness, the yetzer hara brought up to a level where it reflects G-dliness was for him enough of a tachton, that was low enough to satisfy the desire for a dwelling in the lower worlds. And yet G-d said to him, no, it is not enough, you have to go down to an even lower level, to the level of the yetzer hara, that which is made for the yetzer hara, and make even that, a dwelling place for G-d.

And not only does the yetzer hara have to be included in the dwelling place for G-d, but this is more precious to G-d than all the others. Because in order to elevate the yetzer hara, to bring the yetzer hara into G-dliness, for this you have to have a complete and total bittul, a total humility in the service of G-d, without any feeling of self and without any involvement of one’s own opinion or feeling, a pure, clear, transparent devotion to the mitzvah - only then can the yetzer hara be brought to G-dliness.

This is the level of “tzivos Hashem” the army of G-d, the soldier who serves with kabbalos ole, with total and complete bittul. And so G-d says, when there is a yetzer hara, and the yetzer hara is active, and yet the person refuses and does what G-d wants, to the point where he elevates the yetzer hara that it too submits to G-dliness, that is more precious than all the other materials that were donated to the Mishkan.

Just as these mirrors, which on the one hand were the lowest of all materials, were not included in the list of materials donated in parshas Pekudei, and yet on the other hand, they are more precious than the others, the same is true also with kiyor which was made from these mirrors. The kiyor was only a preparation for the services of the Mishkan, and because it was only a preparation, it is not mentioned among the other vessels when G-d instructed the creation of these vessels. On the surface, the kiyor is lower than all the other vessels, not on the same level at all with the other vessels, and yet on the other hand, this preparation of the washing of the hands and of the feet, which every Jew does, in order to wash away the undesirable, the unholy, and enter into the service of G-d, this washing is more precious to G-d than the mitzvah itself which will be performed after the washing, either on the altar or inside the Mishkan.

This is because this washing away of the unholiness weakens the unholiness, as was said before, like a soldier serving G-d with a complete and total humility, which was accomplished through the mirrors.

This is also why the kiyor reflects the presence of Moshe in the Mishkan. The essence of Moshe was bittul, as the Torah testifies; Moshe was the most humble person in the world. And it is only through this humility, which Moshe instilled in us, that we are able to make this world into a dwelling place for G-d, including the lowest level of the lowest world, which G-d also wants included in His dwelling place.

And so the kiyor reflects the presence of Moshe, which tells us that in order to make a dwelling place for G-d out of all of physical objects, the materials which the Mishkan was made of, and the world in general is made of, in order for the world, with all its material substances, including the yetzer hara, become a dwelling place for the essence of G-d, you have to have the mitzvahs performed with a complete, total selflessness and transparency which we get from Moshe, because Moshe was the essence of humility.

The kohen in general and Aharon in particular, also represent bittul, and this is why the service of the kohen was performed silently, unlike the Levi who sang and played on instruments. The kohen’s avodah was completely silent, which reflects a state of bittul, a level of humility which was unique to kohen. So all kohanim really have to the quality of bittul, in order to do their avodah in the Mishkan, but the essence of that bittul comes from Moshe, and so Moshe’s presence and influence in the creation of a dwelling place for G-d in the lowest world, is an on-going constant process, and lasts for all generations, even though he was actively involved in the Mishkan only for the first few days as a preparation.

But it is this preparation that makes it possible for all generations, all over the world, to make wherever they are and their portion of the world, into a dwelling place for G-d, as the Baal Shem Tov said, “ mach da Eretz Israel” to make wherever we are, and the physical materials we use, to make them dwelling places, vessels for G-dliness that G-d can be completely totally revealed in His essence, in this physical world. That comes only when we do the mitzvahs in the way that Moshe made possible with a complete and total transparency, so that we will be able to say “zeh” this is G-dliness, and point to it with our fingers and see it clearly, not only as a reflection, but G-dliness itself. And this is why the kiyor which was the introduction to the specific avodah in the Mishkan, reflected the presence of Moshe in the greater purpose of making the world a dwelling place for G-d, through the bittul in our service.

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