Sunday 16 Adar I 5703
Torah Lessons (5703)	Chumash: Ki Tissa, First Parsha with Rashi. Tehillim: 79-82. Tanya: Ch. 30. This also (p. 133)...is explained elsewhere (p. 135).

The Alter Rebbe said: The offerings for the Sanctuary included gold, silver and copper, but nothing sparkled except for the mirrors presented by the women. [1]

From these mirrors were fashioned the washbasin and its base.

These were the last of the Sanctuary articles to be made, but were used at the start of every Sanctuary service (for laving by the Kohanim) - for their beginning is implanted in their end. [2]

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) "He made the copper washbasin and its copper base out of the mirrors of the dedicated women who congregated at the entrance of the Communion Tent." Sh'mot 38:8.

2. (Back to text) "Their beginning is implanted (lit. `wedged') in their end, and their end in their beginning" (see Sefer Yetzira 1:7).

   This general principle of Chassidus is often used to indicate the "circular" nature of Divine Flow; e.g. the nethermost levels ("end") of G-dliness inherent within this lowly world express the highest core and essence ("beginning") of G-dliness.

   A parallel (though not synonymous) concept is:

   "The final act was the first conceived"; see Likutei Sichot, Vol. 6, p. 19, footnote 57.

   Here the principle is apparently used in a more general sense (i.e., the washbasin was last to be made, first to be used).

   However, it MAY refer to the basin's donation by women (malchut, "end") and its use at the very start ("beginning") of every service. Compare Sh'vat 23, and footnotes.