After exploring the essence of true beauty, we can now ask a deeper question: is beauty a virtue or a danger? In sefer Bereishis we find a number of times that beauty can carry great risk.
In parshas Lech Lecha (Bereoshis 12:10 – 15), Avraham tells Sarah that upon descending to Egypt he fears for his life because “you are a woman of beautiful appearance.” The Torah emphasizes that Sarah was taken by force to Pharaoh’s palace “for she was very beautiful.”
Similarly, in the story of Yitzchak and Rivkah, when Avimelech takes Rivkah by force, the Torah again explains the reason: “for she was fair to look upon” (Bereishis 26:7).
In other words, where there is no Yiras Shomayim, such as Egypt and among the Philistines, beauty becomes a snare and source of danger. The people of those lands were ruled by lust, capable of killing a husband to seize his wife, or even taking her by force. Therefore, in their lands, beauty was simply dangerous.
This raises a profound question: what is the Torah’s view? Is beauty a desirable quality, particularly in a woman, or does the Torah simply warn us of its dangers?
