Chaya Sarah-Beauty And Purpose

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Darash Moshe, Noach) observes that the Torah’s descriptions of the foremothers’ physical beauty are irrelevant from a moral perspective. Sarah’s secondary name was Yiska (Bereishis 11:29) because everyone looked at her beauty (Rashi; one of the meanings of the word Yiska is “to look”). Why is this mundane praise harnessed for a righteous woman?

The instances are numerous: “Now the maiden was very fair to look upon” (ibid., 24:16); “Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance” (29:17). Not only were all her traits, such as eyes and hair, of beautiful form, but also they came perfectly together in appearance. Or, she was beautiful but also possessed grace to the point that all who saw her wanted her (Ohr Hachaim, ad loc).

The Talmud (Megilla 15a) lists the four most attractive women of all time: Sarah, Avigail, Rachav, and Esther. According to the opinion that Esther was as green as myrtle (ibid., 13a), Vashti replaces her on the list. Tosfos (s.v. Arbeh) query that according to Bava Basra (58a), Sarah was like a nonhuman primate compared to Chava; why then is Chava not on the list? They rejoin that the list consists only of women who were women born. Chava was fashioned from Adam’s body.

Why is physical daintiness considered significant?

Rabbi Feinstein answers that G-d expects us to sanctify the corporeal world and manifest His glory in everything that we execute.

The Slonimer Rebbe reads the beginning of the Torah (Bereishis 1:1–3) in harmony with this viewpoint. In the beginning G-d created the heavens, the spiritual part of the universe, and the earth, the physical part of the universe. And the earth was empty and dark with its physicality that causes all to decay. And G-d said let there be light — infuse the universe with the light of spirituality (Nesivos Shalom ad loc).

Beauty, like any other attribute, can be used as a tool in the service of Hashem, especially in the hands of the righteous. This is why the Torah places so much emphasis on it.


This design is explained by Rabbi Mordechai Katz (Be’er Mechokek, Chayei Sarah). The Talmud (Kiddushin 49b) states that ten measures of beauty came down to the world. Nine of them were allocated for Jerusalem. Rabbi Katz explains that since Jerusalem is the spiritual epicenter of the world, it has to be the most aesthetically pleasing locale, because people cannot focus on spiritual matters in an unsightly place.

Rabbi Feinstein explains that this is the simple meaning of the last mishnah in Pirkei Avos: “All that the Holy One … created in His world, He created solely for His glory…” — meaning for us to use for His service, thus infusing our actions with His glory.