The Beauty of Sarah in Rabbinic Literature

chapter 6 The Beauty of Sarah in Rabbinic Literature

Tamar Kadari

In this article, I consider Sarah’s beauty as reflected in rabbinic sources. This will lead to a more general discussion of the rabbis’ approach to the idea of beauty, the criteria by which they evaluated beauty, and the comparisons they drew in so doing. We will also examine the descriptions of Sarah’s beauty in the Genesis Apocryphon discovered in the Qumran caves. I dedicate this work to Dineke Houtman, whose loveliness and kindness graces everything she does, and whose radiance and warmth touches everyone around her.

1 The Notion of Beauty as Absolute

Sarah’s extraordinary beauty is mentioned in the Bible in the context of the story of Abraham and Sarah’s descent to Egypt. It is described from Abraham’s perspective: ‘As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Behold It is ’”.( תאהארמתפי I knew what a beautiful woman you are (yefat mareh at then again described from the perspective of the Egyptians: ‘The Egyptians saw .(Gen 12:11,15) ’( דאמאיההפי how very beautiful the woman was (yafa hi meod Sarah’s beauty is discussed in various rabbinic sources.1 In a Tannaitic source that appears in B. Megillah, the sages list her among the four most beautiful women of all time:

Our sages taught: There were four women of surpassing beauty in the world, and they are: Sarah, Rahab, Avigail, and Esther. And for those who say that Esther was greenish—remove Esther and insert Vashti.2

1 For a description of the image of Sarah in rabbinic midrash, seeTamar Kadari, ‘Sarah: Midrash and Aggadah,’ Jewish Women’s Archive, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/sarah-midrash -and-aggadah. 2 B. Megillah 15a, ms New York, Columbia University, Butler Library, x 893-t 141.

The list of women mentioned in the Baraita is ordered chronologically. Common to Sarah and the other women on the list (except for Rahab—see below) is that the Bible mentions their beauty, and the word ‘beautiful’ (yafah is explicitly invoked in relation to them.3 Also common to all these women ( הפי is their prominent position and their role as leaders and as exemplars: Sarah was the mother of the nation, Avigail married David, and Esther served as the queen of Persia and Media.4 This list raises several questions. The Babylonian Talmud wonders about Esther’s inclusion in the list, given the fact that two pages prior a teaching was cited according to which Esther was greenish.5 This disparity reflects a later stage of editing of the Talmudic source, as evidenced by the shift from Hebrew to Aramaic (beginning with the words ‘and for those who say’). The Babylonian Talmud resolves this problem by substituting Vashti for Esther, since she also meets both criteria.6 Rahab is the obvious anomaly on this list. Her beauty is not mentioned any- where in the Bible, and even her status is dubious, to say the least. Presumably her inclusion reflects an ancient aggadic tradition relating to Rahab’s occupa- tion as a prostitute.7 A similar aggadic tradition is reflected in the exchange between two Babylonian Amoraim which appears immediately after the list of beautiful women. RabbiYitzhak says that a man merely has to mention Rahab’s

3 On the beauty of Avigail, the Bible says, ‘The woman was intelligent and beautiful (tovat 1Sam 25:3). On Esther: ‘The maiden was shapely and) ’( ראותתפיולכשתבוט sechel veyefat toar Est 2:7). The Maharsha questions) ’( הארמתבוטוראותתפי beautiful (yefat toar vetovat mareh why Rachel is not included in this list, since she is also described as shapely and beautiful. We can ask a similar question about Avishag the Shunamite, whose beauty I will discuss below. 4 Tziporah Lifshitz, Beauty as a Value in Rabbinic Literature: Analysis of Rabbinic Approaches to Beauty in Human Beings and Nature (Ph.D. Thesis; Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University, 2015; Hebrew), 192. like her name Hadassah , סדה Rashi explains that her skin was green like the myrtle (hadas 5 The Talmud quotes Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah as saying, ‘Esther was greenish, but .( הסדה a thread of loving-kindness was drawn about her’ (B. Megillah 13a, ms New York, Columbia University). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah’s statement serves to emphasize that Esther was not chosen as queen because she was the most beautiful of women, but because of her loving- kindness. 6 Vashti, who was queen of Persia and Media, is described in the following verse: ‘to display her to the peoples and officials, for she was a beautiful woman (tovat mareh ( היפוי beauty (yofya .(Est 1:11) ’( הארמתבוט 7 On Rahab’s beauty, see Lifshitz, Beauty as a Value in Rabbinic Literature, 190–193. I maintain that the Tannaitic statement must first be examined independent of its context in the Babylonian Talmud.