Exodus 35:1–40:38 & 12:1–20 - Shabbat haChodesh
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me
MARCI N. BELLOWS
“Magic mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
With these few words, I can evoke a familiar image within you—the evil queen of the “Snow White” story, who is immensely concerned with being the most beautiful woman in the land.
Armed with a magic mirror, she asks it if she is the fairest one of all. For much of her life, she is indeed the most beautiful. Yet, one day, the fairy tale tells us, the mirror reveals that Snow White is now the most beautiful. Thus the queen sets out to destroy Snow White and remove her prime competitor. The mirror, one of the ultimate symbols of vanity and self-obsession, reveals much about the character of the evil queen.
Mirrors have been around for quite a long time. They hold a certain power in the cultural landscape, and human beings have always been fascinated by them. While mirrors can help us feel beautiful or confident, they also can devastate, depress, or even frighten us. I’m sure that as soon as primitive humans observed the reflective properties of water or metals, they must have become obsessed with their own appearance.
You also may recall the Greek mythological tale of Narcissus. His is a moral tale in which the proud and unfeeling Narcissus is punished by the gods for having spurned all his male suitors. Some believe it was intended to be a cautionary tale addressed to young men.
In one version of the story, a young man named Ameinias loved Narcissus but was scorned. To rebuff Ameinias, Narcissus gave him a sword, which Ameinias used to kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep. As he died he hurled curses upon Narcissus. The curses were fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by his own reflection in a pool. Completing the symmetry of the tale, a desperate Narcissus took his sword and killed himself.
Even today, mirrors play a powerful role in cultural literature, including Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and the “Mirror of Erised” in the Harry Potter series.
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me
MARCI N. BELLOWS
“Magic mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
With these few words, I can evoke a familiar image within you—the evil queen of the “Snow White” story, who is immensely concerned with being the most beautiful woman in the land.
Armed with a magic mirror, she asks it if she is the fairest one of all. For much of her life, she is indeed the most beautiful. Yet, one day, the fairy tale tells us, the mirror reveals that Snow White is now the most beautiful. Thus the queen sets out to destroy Snow White and remove her prime competitor. The mirror, one of the ultimate symbols of vanity and self-obsession, reveals much about the character of the evil queen.
Mirrors have been around for quite a long time. They hold a certain power in the cultural landscape, and human beings have always been fascinated by them. While mirrors can help us feel beautiful or confident, they also can devastate, depress, or even frighten us. I’m sure that as soon as primitive humans observed the reflective properties of water or metals, they must have become obsessed with their own appearance.
You also may recall the Greek mythological tale of Narcissus. His is a moral tale in which the proud and unfeeling Narcissus is punished by the gods for having spurned all his male suitors. Some believe it was intended to be a cautionary tale addressed to young men.
In one version of the story, a young man named Ameinias loved Narcissus but was scorned. To rebuff Ameinias, Narcissus gave him a sword, which Ameinias used to kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep. As he died he hurled curses upon Narcissus. The curses were fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by his own reflection in a pool. Completing the symmetry of the tale, a desperate Narcissus took his sword and killed himself.
Even today, mirrors play a powerful role in cultural literature, including Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and the “Mirror of Erised” in the Harry Potter series.
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