Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Chayei Sarah

Beauty And the Bible

Rabbi Dovid Horwitz

Fashion has come a long way since Biblical times. We associate Biblical dress with flowing robes that reach down to the feet and headgear that veils the head, leaving just the immediate face revealed. To the degree that the fashion statement of old was to conceal, today’s is undoubtedly intended to reveal. Indeed, the fashion industry of today seeks to push things to the limit; to see how much one can reveal while still staying within “acceptable” parameters.

One might ask what has changed over the centuries. Perhaps society has grown in its appreciation of body and beauty, and therefore it wishes to show it off more and more, whereas in Biblical times they did not properly appreciate the physical beauty of the human body and therefore it was unworthy of being displayed.

This hypothesis is untenable when you look at the Torah and Midrashim of the last few weeks. Clearly, the Torah places great significance on a person’s physical appearance. Rivka is described as an exceptionally beautiful maiden and is valued as such. Avraham recognized the physical beauty of his wife Sarah and the Midrash praises her for the fact that at one hundred years old she was still as beautiful as when she only twenty. Yet another Midrash extols the fact that all of the matriarchs were physically beautiful women. It is interesting to note that the Torah not only extols the physical beauty of these women, but that of men too. Joseph is later described and praised for his extraordinary beauty. Rav Yochanan in the Gemara was recorded to be one of the most physically beautiful people to have ever lived. If the Torah appreciates physical beauty, then why did the most beautiful women, Sarah, Rivka and Rachel, seek to cover it up?

Rashi explains that the beauty of the matriarchs did not stem only from the fact that their physique was exquisite, but more importantly from their deeds and actions which were truly beautiful. The sages explain that a person’s spiritual demeanor can greatly influence his physical appearance so that a person can grow to become more beautiful by perfecting their spiritual nature, or become less attractive by destroying and corrupting their spiritual self. It is no coincidence that Joseph who was known as Yosef HaTzaddik, the righteous, was physically beautiful. Being perfect on the inside drew him to be perfect on the outside. When physical beauty is viewed as an expression of a man or woman’ s state of holiness, then it is in our best interest to conceal it as best we can. To reveal the human body, whether it be male or female, to outsiders to look upon is in essence a declaration that physical beauty is nothing more than skin and flesh, devoid of sanctity. The more one appreciates the body as being one with one’s soul, the more he or she will want to conceal it, as the soul is concealed.

Our forefathers in Biblical times truly valued the beauty of the body far beyond our capabilities. Our challenge is to somehow recapture this appreciation amidst the decadence of a “modern” society.