Thoughts on Mirrors and the Year Ahead

(Photo above: Aunt Esther and a much younger me next to Mom’s mirror, no longer in the living room in this later house, but now in the dining room.)

I recall when I lived in my parents’ home, my mother had a large, antique mirror with a gaudy thick gilt frame hanging in the living room in their first house. Sometimes, as a little boy, I’d like to stand in front of the mirror looking not only at my own reflection but considering all of the objects in the living room that also appeared in the mirror. In particular, I’d try to see at the edges of the mirror things that were not directly in front of the glass yet which one could still see in the room behind in that magical space “through the looking glass” as it were. The reflection did not stop at the frame, but if one could find just the right angle, one could see the whole room. Of course, things were reversed, somewhat different, in that mirror-world and, like Alice, I thought sometimes of stepping in and exploring beyond the frame and tried hard to see what might be hidden there.

         The Brothers Grimm include in their collection of fairy tales the pre-Disney version of the story of Snow White. Of course, you may recall the looking glass of her beautiful, but evil stepmother, the Queen, who would regularly consult with her magic mirror to see who was the “fairest of them all.” The mirror never lies and that was Snow White’s downfall as she grew up and matured and then exceeded her stepmother in beauty. When the Queen tries multiple times to murder her out of jealousy, the mirror always gives Snow White away when her friends, the seven dwarves, come to her rescue and she remains the fairest of them all. Looking into the mirror, the evil Queen sees far beyond its frame.

         When Alice passed through the looking glass, she entered a very strange world where things seemed very strange and often did not make much sense. Some have interpreted this tale as representing Alice’s journey to the world of adulthood, a world that too often baffles us and fails to make much sense. These past months for many of us, we seem to have passed through the looking glass and are living in an uncertain world where things are not as they seem or if they are, they are not as they should be. Our reality is most troubling and we struggle to make sense of our world. When we look into a mirror what do we see? What image do we encounter? As we reflect on our lives at this season, what might we do to improve our own lives and those of our loved ones? How can we work to perfect our looking-glass world?

         Our sages when they speak of Moses’s prophetic vision, tell us that he alone among the prophets was able to look into an aspeklaria meirah, a clear reflection of reality. While other prophets see God’s plans through an aspeklaria meluchlechet, a blurred mirror, Moses as the greatest of the prophets had a clear vision of the Divine plan. God revealed to him secrets of the future and allowed him to see beyond the frame of the looking glass. Mirrors don’t lie. They cannot reflect what is not there. They reveal our blemishes and flaws and allow us to examine all that appears within their frames and beyond.

         On Selichot night this Saturday evening, we will be reading a story by Israeli Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon, entitled “The Face and the Image.” The narrator in this short piece is also writing about mirrors. He writes, “This device, which shows you whatever you show it, aroused my wonder even in childhood, perhaps more than the thing itself. And now that I have grown old, and seen the deeds that pass, and some of the deeds that last, I have continued to ponder on the qualities of mirrors. They are flat and thin, and smooth as ice, and there is nothing inside them. But they store up whatever you put before them, and before them there is no cheating or partiality or injustice or deceit. Whatever you show them, they show you. They do not expunge or amplify, add on or take away – like the truth, which neither adds or takes away. Therefore, I said, I will tell of their virtues and their perfect rectitude.”

         As often happens in Agnon’s stories, the narrator runs around from place to place and ultimately fails to accomplish what he sought to do. In respone to an urgent telegram, he had been heading to his mother’s bedside or possibly her funeral, but as circumstances intervened, he never arrived, but finds himself at the end of the story invited to share a meal with his housekeeper’s relatives. He is thinking, “perhaps while I was filling my gullet they were sealing her grave.” He turns his head and sees a mirror that had just been fixed in a wardrobe, by this relative, a carpenter. “The mirror stared at me face to face, reflecting back every movement of the hand and quiver of the lips, like all polished mirrors, which show you whatever you show them, without partiality or deceit.”

         This past year, continuing with the appalling events of this week, has given us horrifying visions of our world reflected in the mirrors of our lives and it has reminded us of past reflections of terror and hatred, of other ages, times we thought were left far behind us, but still intrude upon our lives and consciousness. We cannot escape the ugly images captured in the mirrors this year, they are a part of the world in which we live. We can only hope that as we enter a new year, this year of 5786, we may create images that will reflect a more positive picture of life.

As a new year dawns on our Jewish calendar, with the approach of the High Holidays, we struggle to look beyond the frame, to think outside of the box as the expression runs today, to see what awaits us in the days ahead and how we might make a difference in this world, how we can improve our reflection in that mirror and in doing so, make a difference in this world.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Edward Friedman