Immediately following the paragraph regarding the half-shekel, the Torah proceeds to describe the kiyor, the laver. The kiyor was the apparatus which the Kohanim used to wash their hands and feet before beginning their service in the Mishkan/Mikdash.
What exactly is a kiyor? Rashi (quoting the Gemara, Yoma 37a) describes it as a container made from copper, that holds water. Attached to this container are faucets that allow you to empty the water from the container. Until the second Temple there were only two faucets in the kiyor, until Ben Katin, the Kohen Gadol, instituted 12 faucets (Yoma, ibid.)
Connected to this kiyor was its kanoh, which Rashi describes as some kind of base. The base had a dual function. It was a container to hold the water that flowed out from the kiyor so the Kohanim could wash both their hands and feet. It was also used to elevate the kiyor to a sufficient height that would facilitate washing the hands and feet. In the first Beit HaMikdash, Shlomo created mechonot, some kind of base on wheels, a trolley, on which to place the kiyor.
The Torah gives no specifications regarding the required dimensions, shape and capacity of the kiyor. According to sefer Mikdash David (Kodshim siman b) these details are not relevant – any shape or form the artisan made the kiyor in was acceptable. The importance of the kiyor was not in its appearance, but its functionality.
In the Mishkan, the source of the copper to make the kiyor and its base was from brass mirrors, that the women donated to the Mishkan (Shemot 38:8).
The location of the kiyor was in the space between the outer Mizbeach and the Heichal (Shemot 30:18), on the southern end (Mishna Middot 3:6).
All types of clean water may be used for the kiyor, but de facto, in the Mikdash they used well water (Rambam, Hilchot Bi’at Mikdash 5:12) using an aqueduct to transport water from the Well of Eitam, near Solomon’s Pools.
The Kohanim washed their hands and feet standing up, because it was considered avodah and all avodah is done standing. According to the Chachamim (Zevachim 19b) they would wash first the right hand and right foot and then switch to washing the left hand and left foot (including underneath the foot, which required lifting the foot up). The hands had to be washed up to the wrist and the feet up to the knee (Minchat Chinuch 106b). The action of washing combined scrubbing and rinsing, to clean off the dirt (Tosefta Menahot 1:7).
Of all the vessels in the Mikdash, the kiyor is something of a conundrum. Is it one of the main vessels in the Mikdash, like the Menorah, Shulchan, etc., or not? It is not mentioned in parshiyot Truma/Tetzaveh together with the other vessels. Later, in sefer Bamidbar (Chap. 7) describing transportation of all the parts of the Mishkan by the Levites, no mention at all is made of the kiyor, not how it was wrapped (if at all) and by whom it was carried.
Another question is why the copper used to make the kiyor in the Mishkan were from brass “vanity” mirrors used by women to beautify themselves? Such activity is normally associated with the evil inclination and not exactly the kind of thing you would want in the Mishkan. In fact, that was Moshe Rabbeinu’s first reaction when G-d told him to use them.
To answer these questions and understand the inner essence of the kiyor, we need to return to sefer Bereishit, to the Creation.
R’ Shimon Bar Yochai (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 2:2) says that the components of the Mishkan down here in this world are paralleled by similar components in Heaven and correlate with the six days of Creation … On the third day G-d concentrated all the waters on earth into one place (seas and oceans) and these are paralleled in the Mishkan by the kiyor, etc.
On the second day when G-d separated the lower and the upper waters, the lower waters complained that they did not want to be “disconnected” from Heaven. G-d placated them saying that they would be reconnected to the upper waters when the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash would be built, the salt (sea) water via the salt used to salt the korbanot and the fresh (river/lake) water in the Nisuch Ha’Mayim, water libation on Sukkot. According to the Midrash above … also through the water of the kiyor.
Water in the Torah has a slightly schizophrenic personality. On the one hand water is synonymous with Torah. On the other hand, water is considered to be the element in nature that is connected with desire and the yetzer hara.
This is reflected in the word mayim, water. You have the two letters “mem,” the two opposing types of water. What is the pivotal point in the middle that decides which type of water dominates? The letter “yud,” the Ten Commandments. When they are present, the scales are tipped in favor of the spiritual water of the Torah. In their absence we fall into the abyss of the waters of yetzer hara. The pivotal point is the “yud,” the yadayim, the hands.
If we sanctify the hands, they become fit for performing avodah in the Beit HaMikdash, the highest level of spirituality a human can achieve in this world. Conversely, chas veshalom, if we do not sanctify our hands, they can lead to the most terrible sins – all those on the left tablet of the Ten Commandments, which are all directly or indirectly connected to the element of water, like jealousy and avarice.
When G-d told Moshe to use the vanity mirrors donated by the women to the Mishkan, he was affronted. How can a tool of the yetzer hara be a part of the Mishkan? The answer is these were not simple vanity mirrors, used for the purpose of desire. They played a vital role in the creation of Am Yisrael. The pious women in Egypt, after a long day of back breaking slave labor, used those same mirrors to make themselves beautiful to entice their equally exhausted husbands for one singular purpose – to establish the multitudes that would form Am Yisrael.
The kiyor is not inferior to the other vessels, it is the most elevated, which is why it is mentioned last – Acharon Chaviv.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What caused a golden calf to emerge from the fire?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What were the hats of the regular Kohen and the Kohen Gadol called? The regular Kohen’s hat is a Migba’at and the Kohen Gadol’s hat is a Mitznefet.
