Rav Shlomo Wolbe seems to say as follows: There are two forces within a person—the yetzer hatov and the yetzer hara, and every action of a person can stem from either yetzer. Now, since a person only sees with his eyes and does not have the ability to perceive a person’s essence and motives, he thus lacks the ability to determine with certainty from where the actions of others stem from (Alei Shur 2, p. 206). From our parsha we might see how far this idea may go.
Our parsha discusses the construction of the kiyor (wash basin). The verse teaches that the kiyor was made “from the mirrors of the legions.” Rashi explains: The women of Am Yisrael had [copper] mirrors in their possession from when they were residing in Egypt. These were the mirrors that the women wished to donate toward the Mishkan (and which the kiyor was ultimately made out of). However, when they presented their contributions of these mirrors to Moshe, Moshe was disgusted by them because they were made for accomplishing the ends of the yetzer hara. However, Hashem told Moshe: “Accept [them], because these are the dearest to Me of all, for through them, the women produced many legions [of offspring] in Egypt.” For when their husbands would be exhausted from the racking labor [imposed upon them by the Egyptians], they would go and bring them food and drink, and feed them. Then they would take the mirrors and would use it to entice their husbands and bring them to desire, and would have relations with them, ultimately conceiving and giving birth. Thus, by means of the mirrors they produced offspring—legions of more Jewish children.”
From this Rashi, Rav Chaim Walkin observes a stark contrast between Moshe’s initial perception and feeling and the perception that Hashem introduced by way of His response to Moshe. On one end of the spectrum, Moshe was repulsed when presented with the mirrors, while on the other end, Hashem informed him that not only were these mirrors beloved to Him, but they were the most dearest to Him of everything else! This, as Rav Walkin seems to explain, is a result of the difference between how man sees others, and the way Hashem sees others. Man only sees what his eyes see, whereas Hashem sees the heart, the essence of a person (Daat Chaim U’mussar, Vayakhel).
What might emerge from Rav Walkin’s insight is that Moshe reached a strikingly erroneous conclusion—essentially, the complete opposite—of what was the actual reality regarding the intentions of those women, for Moshe perceived the intentions of those women critically, when in truth, the reality was totally different, as the intentions of the women were, so lauded and beloved by Hashem.
We can perhaps learn from here how limited our ability may be when it comes to perceiving the essence and intentions of others, and how we might reach erroneous and negative conclusions about others, even when the reality may very well be that the intentions of those people are, in fact, upright, praiseworthy and the total opposite of what we might think. From the above we perhaps see that this phenomenon may, on some level, apply even to someone like Moshe Rabbeinu, which might teach us that no matter how wise and spiritually great we may be, we still carry this limitation in perceiving the essence and true intentions of others.
Binyamin Benji is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
