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Why did the women donate the very mirrors they used to arouse their husbands in Egypt, now that the Mishkan was built? The shiur develops a profound yesod: intimacy rooted in genuine closeness and selflessness requires less external stimulation than intimacy driven by using another person. With the presence of God in the Mishkan, the women's relationships became holier—more focused on giving and merging—making the mirrors unnecessary.
Rabbi Zweig analyzes the story in Parshas Vayakhel of the women donating their copper mirrors to construct the Kiyor (washbasin) in the Mishkan. Rashi (רש"י) explains that these were the mirrors the women used in Egypt to beautify themselves and arouse their exhausted husbands, leading to the birth of many Jewish children. Moshe initially rejected the mirrors as tools of the yetzer hara, but Hashem (ה׳) declared them the most precious of all donations because they had brought multitudes of Jewish children into the world. The central question Rabbi Zweig poses is: if these mirrors were so precious for fostering intimacy and procreation, why did the women give them away now? The conventional answer—that increased religiosity means less intimacy—is deeply troubling and contradicts the Torah (תורה)'s values. The shiur rejects this Victorian notion entirely.
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Shemos 38:8, Parshas Vayakhel
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