The dictionary defines vanity as shallow, excessive attention to beauty. In our culture, the pursuit of personal glamour is often seen as a pursuit of vanity. While that may often be the case, is it necessarily so? Could there conceivably be a place for beauty in a refined, holy life?
It’s all in the attitude. The operative question is: Why do we want beauty?
Is beauty an end in itself or is it a helpful aid to a meaningful end?
The Book of Proverbs tells us that “Grace is false and beauty is vain”, but “respect for the Divine… should be praised”. Beauty is false and vain when it is detached from a meaningful context, but if beauty helps us – or others - in the quest for meaning, then it is praiseworthy.
Does one want to turn heads on the street (with a beautiful image) or impress friends (with a beautiful home), just for the admiration of others? That’s beauty with no substantive purpose.
At the same time, ‘looking good’ can bring powerful credibility to a speaker’s meaningful message, just as a beautiful Shabbat table helps to create a serene and dignified ambience for a holy purpose.
Beauty is one of G-d’s gifts to the world. We can use it vainly, or we can use it to make the world a better place.
When the Jews were being tortured in Egypt, Jewish women pushed through the pain and struggled to pretty themselves, desperately trying to bring some glimmer of beauty to their families’ lives. What did they use as mirrors? Our Rabbis tell us that they used sheets of shiny copper.
These copper sheets later found an interesting use: Once the Jews were ultimately liberated from Egypt and received the Torah, G-d commanded them to build the Tabernacle. This structure would be a bastion of holiness, a nexus for connection between the Divine and the human.
The Tabernacle would have designated functionaries, the Kohanim (priests), who were to be our agents of holiness and purity. G-d instructed that there be a copper laver at the mouth of the Tabernacle, where the Kohanim could cleanse their hands and feet before entering the Tabernacle as part of their self-purification for the holy rites.
What copper did they use for the laver? The copper mirrors the women had used in Egypt. G-d pointed to the mirror, potential tool of shallow vanity, as a tool of holiness -- holiness that can come from beauty.