In parshat Lech Lecha, Avraham is commanded by Hashem to go to Eretz Yisrael. Avraham arrives there only to see that there is famine everywhere, so he takes Sarah and the rest of his household down to Egypt.
As they are about to enter Egypt, Avraham says to Sarah (12:11-13), "Behold, now I know that you are a beautiful woman and when the Egyptians see you, they will say 'She must be his wife' and they will kill me and let you live. So please tell them you're my sister so it will be good for me."
How can it be that Avraham only realizes that his wife Sarah is beautiful now? Avraham and Sarah had to have been married for a number of years by now. In all those years of being married, did it escape Avraham's attention that his wife was beautiful? And what is it about their situation now that suddenly makes it so clear to him?
Rashi quotes the Midrash that says that on their way down to Egypt, Avraham and Sarah had to cross a stream. In crossing the stream, Avraham looked down and saw the reflection of Sarah in the water. Upon seeing her reflection, Avraham suddenly realized how beautiful his wife Sarah was. But the question remains, what about seeing Sarah's reflection in a stream made Avraham realize her beauty, whereas all those years of being married could not accomplish that?
In addition, Avraham does not say, "Now I know;" rather, he says, "Henay nah yadati" -- "Now, I knew." How did this new discovery affect what Avraham knew in the past?
In Judaism, there are two words for beauty: 1) yofi and 2) chayn. Yofi is external, physical beauty. Chayn is internal beauty, which comes from a person's spiritual attributes. The amazing thing about chayn is that it can actually make a person's yofi look better than it really is. Has it ever happened to you that when you first meet someone you don't find them to be so attractive, but then, the more you get to know them (i.e., their sweet disposition and good nature), the more beautiful they seem to become? We explain that phenomena as "his looks grew on me", but really what is happening is that the chayn in him makes his yofi look better than it did at first.
All throughout their marriage, Avraham saw Sarah's beauty as being a function of both her yofi and chayn. Avraham never saw Sarah as simply an object of beauty, because he never separated her inner beauty (chayn) from her external beauty. Only when they crossed the stream, for the first time, Avraham saw Sarah simply as a beautiful, physical form, because when you see a person's reflection in water (or a mirror) you only see yofi, not chayn. So when Avraham saw that Sarah's reflection was so beautiful, he exclaimed, "Now I have proof that what I always knew is true. I always saw you as beautiful because you had a beautiful inside, in addition to a beautiful outside. But if I ever wondered whether or not my judgment of your yofi was true, since I also saw your chayn, now I see that what I knew was right. You are as beautiful on the outside as I always knew you were on the inside."
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Shprintza Herskovits was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York. After graduating Hunter College, she worked on Wall Street. In 1996, she took a three-month leave of absence to come to Israel... and has never returned. Today, Ms. Herskovits resides in the Old City of Jerusalem and is a teacher and lecturer.
The above commentary is an excerpt from Shprintza's book Rays of the Sun, which contains commentary on all the parshiot of the Torah. For a copy of the book, please write to shprintz@actcom.co.il.
As they are about to enter Egypt, Avraham says to Sarah (12:11-13), "Behold, now I know that you are a beautiful woman and when the Egyptians see you, they will say 'She must be his wife' and they will kill me and let you live. So please tell them you're my sister so it will be good for me."
How can it be that Avraham only realizes that his wife Sarah is beautiful now? Avraham and Sarah had to have been married for a number of years by now. In all those years of being married, did it escape Avraham's attention that his wife was beautiful? And what is it about their situation now that suddenly makes it so clear to him?
Rashi quotes the Midrash that says that on their way down to Egypt, Avraham and Sarah had to cross a stream. In crossing the stream, Avraham looked down and saw the reflection of Sarah in the water. Upon seeing her reflection, Avraham suddenly realized how beautiful his wife Sarah was. But the question remains, what about seeing Sarah's reflection in a stream made Avraham realize her beauty, whereas all those years of being married could not accomplish that?
In addition, Avraham does not say, "Now I know;" rather, he says, "Henay nah yadati" -- "Now, I knew." How did this new discovery affect what Avraham knew in the past?
In Judaism, there are two words for beauty: 1) yofi and 2) chayn. Yofi is external, physical beauty. Chayn is internal beauty, which comes from a person's spiritual attributes. The amazing thing about chayn is that it can actually make a person's yofi look better than it really is. Has it ever happened to you that when you first meet someone you don't find them to be so attractive, but then, the more you get to know them (i.e., their sweet disposition and good nature), the more beautiful they seem to become? We explain that phenomena as "his looks grew on me", but really what is happening is that the chayn in him makes his yofi look better than it did at first.
All throughout their marriage, Avraham saw Sarah's beauty as being a function of both her yofi and chayn. Avraham never saw Sarah as simply an object of beauty, because he never separated her inner beauty (chayn) from her external beauty. Only when they crossed the stream, for the first time, Avraham saw Sarah simply as a beautiful, physical form, because when you see a person's reflection in water (or a mirror) you only see yofi, not chayn. So when Avraham saw that Sarah's reflection was so beautiful, he exclaimed, "Now I have proof that what I always knew is true. I always saw you as beautiful because you had a beautiful inside, in addition to a beautiful outside. But if I ever wondered whether or not my judgment of your yofi was true, since I also saw your chayn, now I see that what I knew was right. You are as beautiful on the outside as I always knew you were on the inside."
-------------------------
Shprintza Herskovits was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York. After graduating Hunter College, she worked on Wall Street. In 1996, she took a three-month leave of absence to come to Israel... and has never returned. Today, Ms. Herskovits resides in the Old City of Jerusalem and is a teacher and lecturer.
The above commentary is an excerpt from Shprintza's book Rays of the Sun, which contains commentary on all the parshiot of the Torah. For a copy of the book, please write to shprintz@actcom.co.il.