Now I indeed know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance (Bereishis 12:12)
The Torah recounts that Sarah Imeinu was beautiful. It says so about Rivkah and Rachel, too. And Chazal say:
There were four beautiful women in the world.
One of these women was Sarah. Why is it so important for us to know about their beauty? Is it not written שקר החן והבל היופי – “Charm is false and beauty is insubstantial”?
Physical beauty is not always vain. It can be based on something real and true. If a person possesses inner holiness and spirituality, even though his outward appearance is purely physical, his inner spiritual light can shine through the outward cover, thus granting his physical appearance a special quality of beauty.
This is why a person looks beautiful only when he is alive. The moment he dies and his soul departs him, even if he was the most beautiful person in the world, all his beauty is gone.
A sculpture, even if it is a masterpiece produced by a world-class artist, will never have the beauty of a live person.
So it says in Tehillim:
You were more beautiful than people. Grace was poured out on your lips.
This verse implies that the most beautiful thing in the world is people. (Live people, of course.)
“Charm is false and beauty is insubstantial” means that when the charm and beauty are merely superficial, when they are only skin-deep, they are empty and worthless. But when the Torah says that Sarah had beauty, and that Rivkah and Rachel were beautiful, it means their inner kedushah was so great that it shined outwards and could be seen clearly on their faces. This caused them to be counted among the four most beautiful women in the world.
חכמת אדם תאיר פניו – A person’s wisdom will light up his face.
When a person has wisdom, his face is even more beautiful. It shines with the illumination of kedushah and ruchniyus.
