Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Avraham Moeinzadeh
We learned in last week’s parasha that Moshe Rabenu a”h made the kior (washing basin) of the Mishkan from the copper mirrors that the ladies had dedicated. This week’s parasha discusses the requirement for the Kohanim to wash their hands and feet from the kior prior to performing their services in the Bet Hamikdash.
Different explanations have been given to explain why the Torah specifically mentions and emphasizes the origins of the kior and what it was made of.
One of the explanations given is that since the Kohanim are representatives of Klal Yisrael for offering the korbanot, on a daily basis they would come across people who were bringing korbanot for the atonement of different sins. After a while a person tends to develop an attitude of forgetting his own shortcomings and he can become more judgmental of other people’s flaws. The kior was therefore made specifically from those mirrors to convey the point to every kohen that he should evaluate himself and his own flaws before engaging in the service.
Once he realizes that although he may have some shortcomings, it doesn’t mean he does not posses any good qualities with which to serve Hashem. With this outlook the Kohen would enable himself to look for and see other people’s good qualities. This is a mussar haskel for all​ of us to train ourselves to find the good potential in anybody who we come in contact with (including ourselves) and help develop them.
Shabbat Shalom.