“And they said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘Behold, in the tent’” (Bereishis 18:9).
The Gemara (Bava Metzia 87a) explains this verse: “To make known that our matriarch Sarah was modest.” And Rashi explains there: “To let him know that she was modest, unlike her companions, that she was not seen and that one had to ask about her.”
The importance and beauty of Sarah our matriarch is expressed in the words “Behold, in the tent”: to make known that she was modest. This means that in truth, we know nothing about her, because she was entirely inward and modest. As it is written, “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within” (Tehillim 45:14). The praise the angels gave her was not a quality that the eye sees; rather, precisely because she is not seen, we do not know the worth of her virtues, and this itself is the essence of her greatness.
The Name “Yiscah”
It is a wonder that only once in the entire Torah does the name “Yiscah” appear (Bereishis 11:29), while everywhere else in the Torah she is called Sarah. Rashi explains there that she is called Yiscah because she saw through divine inspiration, and because all gazed (sochin) at her beauty, and it is a term of nobility and authority.
But after she married Avraham Avinu, she became married to Avraham, and as is known, all of a woman’s beauty belongs only to her husband and not to a stranger. Therefore it is no longer fitting to say “Yiscah,” whose meaning is “that all gaze at her beauty.” Ponder this.
The Kesav VeHaKabbalah writes: “There is no doubt that the primary reason she was called Yiscah was because of her beauty, which is visible to the eyes, for who made her parents (at Sarah’s birth) prophets, to know the nature of her soul, that she would in the future see through divine inspiration? Therefore she was called Yiscah only as long as she was unmarried, for then her beauty would arouse many to desire to marry her. But from marriage onward, when beauty is meant only for her husband, they changed her name to Sarai…” And I heard that the Ben Ish Chai explained similarly.
This is what we said: that Sarah was modest, and thus it is well understood why she is called Sarah everywhere and not Yiscah. In truth, even the second explanation of Yiscah, “that she saw through divine inspiration,” does not fit, because modesty is not merely an external, physical matter of being covered from the eye. When the angels praised her as “modest” because she was in the tent, they did not mean only that her body was in the tent. Rather, we see the depth of their intent: her entire inner life, her levels, and all her good deeds were all in the category of modesty, and all her ways were in walking humbly with Hashem, with modesty and humility, which, as is known, are two that are one, and walk together.
It turns out that even the divine inspiration she had, and all her inner virtues, are not visible to every eye, for all are concealed in the tent and in walking humbly. For that reason the name “Yiscah,” whose theme is looking and seeing, is not fitting for her after her marriage.
The Tent and the Woman
There is another place in the holy Torah where we find that “tent,” “woman,” and the theme of modesty go together and are one matter, for in Parshas Balak it is written: “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Yisrael.”
And in the sefer Zikaron Zos, it seems to me, he says that the meaning of “How goodly are your tents” refers to the woman herself, for our Sages say (Yevamos 62b): “Whoever has no wife lives without good,” implying that the woman is the aspect of “the good.” And indeed in many places in the Torah a woman is called by the name “tent,” such as what is written, “Return to your tents”, meaning to your wives.
One may say that “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov”, meaning the power of modesty of the tent and of the woman, brings it about that the home will be in the category of “your dwellings, Yisrael”, a place where the Divine Presence rests, and thus it becomes a home full of Hashem’s blessing.
We see in several places that “tent” means the resting of the Divine Presence, and “the bride is the Shechinah,” as is known. In light of what we have said, this matter is well understood. We find that the tent alludes to the woman and to the power of the trait of modesty within her (and the woman was created from the modest place of the man, as is known), and from this power it becomes the aspect of “Ohel Moed”, the Divine Presence resting in the tent. And thereby we merit all the blessings that the Master of the World bestows.
Woman and Tent: One Essence
The tent covers and conceals the one who sits within it, and so does the woman. From her very nature she is the aspect of modesty, for she was created from the modest place of the man, as is known. It turns out that modesty is not a garment a woman puts on from outside, but the essence of her creation. Therefore, when the angels said “Behold, in the tent,” they were not only telling of her place of sitting, but of what she is: one whose entire being is inward.
Two Explanations of the Tent
Two explanations have been said on “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov.” The first: that the tent is the woman herself, because she is the aspect of “the good” in the home. The second: that the power of modesty of the tent and of the woman is what turns the home into “your dwellings, Yisrael.” Both explanations come to one: the tent is the source of the good, and modesty is the way in which the good is revealed and descends into the home. For this reason the Mishkan is called “Ohel Moed,” because the Divine Presence rests where modesty dwells.
Greatness That Is Not Seen
Usually a person’s greatness is measured by what is seen of him. But with Sarah our matriarch, her very greatness is that she is not seen. When the angels say “Behold, in the tent,” they testify that the essence of her virtue is not what the eye sees but what the eye does not see. This is why the name “Yiscah,” whose theme is that all gaze at her beauty, does not remain with her; for her whole essence is in inwardness, and not in appearance.