We are inundated with beauty, grandeur, and majesty. Social media facilitates access to breathtaking landscapes, grand vistas, majestic visions, and gorgeous people. Our eyes feast upon exquisitely appealing veneers seemingly as deep as the blue ocean. When the sun shines on these displays of pulchritude they seem to sparkle with an alluring message that says, "this is what matters".
But we know better. We saw The Beauty and Beast and read The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Idioms like 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder' and 'don't judge a book by its cover' are intertwined in the lexicon of Western Culture. We studied the Ethics Of Our Fathers(4:27) statement, "don't look at the flask but what is in it". Also, Rabbi Yehoshua said that ugliness is the best container for wisdom. (Taanis 7a) Proverbs(31) states, "Beauty is vanity. A woman who fears heaven is praiseworthy".
But is that really true? Don't the words of Billy Crystal, 'it's not how you feel but how you look', ring genuine in our ears? Doesn't it feel good to receive the ultimate compliment from Zsa Zsa Gabor, 'darling, you look marvelous'?
In fact the Torah places beauty on a pedestal. "And Yosef was of handsome form and handsome appearance". (Genesis 39:6) The Egyptian girls would scale the walls to look at him. (Rashi, Ibid, 49:22) Avsholom had Godly hair and Shaul a Godly neck. (Sotah 10a). All the ladies were jealous of Miriam's beauty. (ibid 12a) Rabbi Yochanan's handsomeness shone like a light (Brachos 5b) which left his student, Reish Lakish, stunned. (Bava Metzia 84a) The wicked ruler's daughter wanted to flay Rabbi Yishmael's facial skin and stuff it so that she can gaze upon his beauty at her leisure. (Yom Kippur Machzor, Mussaf) His son's and daughter's beauty were unparalleled on the entire planet. (Gitten 58a) Avraham said to Sarah, "you are a woman of beauty". (Genesis 12:11) Regarding Rivka the Torah states, "the maiden was very fair to look upon."(Ibid 24:16) Ten measures of beauty trickled down into the world with nine going to Jerusalem. (Kiddushin 49b)
This week's portion is no exception. "The eyes of Leah were soft(pretty-Targum). Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance."(Ibid 29:17) To ratchet up the accolades and veneration the Talmud( Megilla 15a) makes a list of the most beautiful women in history. Bava Basra(58a) compares the looks of Adam and Chava to a host of people.
Preoccupation with beauty seems incongruous with the lofty spirituality promoted in the religious ideals of Judaism? How do we resolve this oddity?
The answer is as follows. Divine commands are to provide people with a medium to propel themselves beyond the natural world; to achieve a supernatural state which is consistent with the essence of their souls. (Tiferes Yisrael, chapter 6) To that end the world which we find ourselves in is designed to be used to achieve this goal.
All of its components are intermediaries to be used to perform God's commandments. (Path Of The Just, chapter 1) Therefore, all of the rewards, gifts, and blessings mentioned in the Torah are opportunities to achieve purpose. (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Teshuva, chapter 9)
The attribute of beauty is also a tool in our hands to be used to achieve purpose. When it is used in this fashion it is praiseworthy. One example is Jerusalem's beauty. Since it the spiritual center of the planet it needs to be an aesthetically pleasant place so that it's visitors should be able to focus and not be distracted by other elements. (Bear Mechokek, Chaya Sarah)
