We all have our favorite “Gedolim stories”, stories of the great humility displayed our leaders. I have always been struck by the fact that Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, besides all his other outstanding qualities, was such a humble man. He was once walking on the Lower East Side and was getting into a car. A fellow walking on the street noticed a friend of his down the block and yelled out “Hey, Moshe!” Rav Moshe Feinstein turned around and asked, “What is it you want?” How many people on the Lower East Side used to call Rav Moshe Feinstein “Hey, Moshe”? How could he think that this person meant him? The answer is because he was extremely modest. He was a person who was unbelievably great and nevertheless perceived himself to be a small person.
23:1 – "Vayihiyu chayei Sara me’ah shana v’esrim shana v’sheva shanim" – Sara’s lifetime was a hundred years and twenty years and seven years". Rashi asks why is the word shana – years said by each unit, after the hundreds, the tens, and the ones? To teach us that each one is expounded on its own; when she was a hundred years old, she was like twenty years old in regard to sin. Just as one who is twenty years old is considered as if she has not sinned (for she is not liable to punishment), so too when Sara was a hundred years old she was without sin. And when she was twenty years old she was like a seven-year-old with regard to how beautiful she looked.
The Be’er Yosef, Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant, says on this pasuk that it’s understandable to praise Sara Imeinu that when she was a hundred years old, it was as if she was twenty in regard to never sinning. But why are we praising Sara Imeinu regarding beauty? Beauty is a gift from Hashem; it isn't something that a person works to acquire. Why would the Torah consider it praiseworthy? Also, people tend to become more beautiful from age seven to age twenty, when they attain the height of their beauty. Therefore, at age twenty, Sara Imeinu should have been even more beautiful than she was at age seven. Why does the Torah tell us that she was as beautiful at age twenty as she was at age seven?
We know that "Yiska" was Sara. Why was she called Yiska? Rashi says (Noach, 11:29) two explanations. Yiska means "to see", and Sara Imeinu saw with ruach hakodesh. Also, people would all look at her beauty. Asks the Be'er Yosef, these two explanations seem to be contradictory. On one hand, to say that Sara Imeinu saw in ruach hakodesh is the highest level of praise. But then we say that everyone looked at her beauty; that seems so physical and unholy. What is the connection between ruach hakodesh which is so ruchniyos and physical beauty which is so gashmiyos?
Says the Be’er Yosef, in order to achieve ruach hakodesh one has to acquire many qualities. The gemara says in Avoda Zara 20: that first one must acquire Torah study, carefulness, diligence, cleanliness, absten[on, purity, piety, humility, fear of sin, holiness, and only then ruach hakodesh. Usually a person who has an external attribute like beauty cannot hold in reaching high levels of kedusha/ruchniyos. Chazal say that Sara Imeinu was one of four pre^est women in the en[re world. The gemara in Bava Basra 48 says that that anyone compared to Sara Imeinu looked like a monkey. And s[ll, even though she was so preay, she never viewed herself that way. It didn't mean anything to her. And therefore, she was able to elevate herself to the level of ruach hakodesh, despite being such a beautiful woman.
And that is why the pasuk tells us that when she was twenty, it was like she was seven regarding beauty. A seven-year-old, no matter how beautiful she may be, doesn't get affected by it. A seven-year-old doesn't have the understanding of what it means to be beautiful and therefore will never feel proud or haughty. A seven-year-old is simply too young to understand that she is beautiful. And that is the level of Sara Imeinu. At age twenty, at the height of beauty, Sara Imeinu had no interest or understanding that she was beautiful. She was completely disconnected from her physical looks. And that is a truly remarkable praise.
The Gemara many times says, “This is what people mean when they say...” (haynu d’amree inshee) as an indication that expressions people use in the vernacular have truth to them. Haynu d’amree inshee: Humility makes a man feel smaller as he becomes greater.
This is the greatness of our Gedolim. This is the lesson of the Matriarch Sarah. She was as beau[ful as a twenty-year-old, but she saw her beauty as innocently as would a seven-year-old.
So, what does this mean for us? We all were blessed with success in different areas. Some of our attributes were given to us as an inborn gift, while others we worked hard to achieve. Still, we must realize that ALL we have is an undeserved gift from Heaven, and all that we achieved is also a gift. There is no room for haughtiness in the thoughts of a true believer. We are servants of Hashem, each with our own unique mission and our own unique set of tools to accomplish that mission. Appreciate your gifts, use them well, never flaunt them, and never feel arrogance. Remember: the greater you become, the smaller you feel.
