Rashi says that Sarah at a hundred was like twenty in regard to sin, and at twenty like seven in beauty. The first comparison praises her righteousness. But what difference does it make that a woman of twenty looked like a girl of seven? What is Rashi hinting at?
And the life of Sarah was a hundred years and twenty years and seven years: the years of the life of Sarah.
1“And the life of Sarah was …” comments: “At a hundred she was like twenty … like seven in beauty.”1 At first glance, what difference does it make that she was like a girl of seven in beauty? It seems that Rashi meant his words to hint at two levels by which a person is obliged to conduct himself all the days of his life. The first is to take very great care and guard himself from every sin and transgression, so that he never, Heaven forbid, violates any positive or negative commandment. The second level concerns permitted things too, such as eating, drinking, clothing and the like: he must bring all of them into holiness, intending them for the sake of Heaven. When a person dresses and adorns himself in fine, handsome clothes and adornments, his intention should be to adorn the image of the King, as the Gemara explains. So too in everything, his intention should be for the sake of Heaven. When he conducts himself this way, whatever he has, whether money or clothing, will be enough for him; he will be content with what he has and rejoice in it, and his life will be his own. But if in all these his intention is not for Heaven, he will always lack something and never have enough. So his life is no life, and it is not his own.
Rashi on Bereishis 23:1. In full: “At a hundred she was like twenty in regard to sin: just as at twenty she had not sinned, for she was not yet liable to punishment, so at a hundred she was without sin; and at twenty she was like seven in beauty.” ↩
Sources here
In shortRashi hints at two lifelong levels: guarding against every sin, and bringing even permitted things, food and clothing, into holiness for the sake of Heaven.
2This is a plain hint. “At a hundred she was like twenty” is the first level: she had no sin at all against a positive or negative commandment. “And at twenty like seven in beauty” hints at the second level. A small child who adorns himself does not know how to take pride in it or to long for costly finery. So it was with Sarah at twenty. That is the age when a person's desire is strongest to beautify and adorn himself, and for the rest of this world's affairs; yet in all her adornment and beautifying, her whole intention was only for Heaven.
In shortSarah was without sin at a hundred, and at twenty, when the urge to adorn oneself is strongest, she adorned herself like a child, only for Heaven.
The maamar as a whole
R’ Elimelech asks why Rashi troubles to tell us that Sarah at twenty was like seven in beauty. He reads Rashi as hinting at two levels a person must keep all his life. The first is to guard against every sin: “at a hundred like twenty,” for Sarah was as free of sin at the end as in her youth. The second reaches into permitted things, food, drink and clothing, which must also be brought into holiness: one who adorns himself should intend to adorn the image of the King. One who lives this way is content with what he has and his life is his own; one who does not is never satisfied. A small child adorns himself with no pride and no longing for finery. So Sarah, at twenty, the age when the urge to beautify oneself is strongest, adorned herself only for Heaven.
Takeaway
Guarding against sin is only half of the avodah; the other half is to bring even our food and clothing into holiness. When we dress and eat for the sake of Heaven, what we have is enough, we rejoice in it, and our life becomes truly our own.
