[Avodah] Beauty and Innocence

[Yitzchok Levine]

RSRH writes the following in his commentary on Bereishis
231 Sarah’s life was a hundred years, and twenty 
years, and seven years: years of Sarah’s life.

Thus, Sarah took the beauty of childhood into young adulthood,
and she retained the innocence of a woman of twenty all the days of
her life. This view of our Sages contrasts greatly with the view that is
commonly held in our time — and not necessarily to our advantage!
The Sages look for beauty not in the woman of twenty but in the girl
of seven, and for innocence not in childhood but in young adulthood.

We are accustomed to speaking of “the innocence of a child.” But
it would be sad if one would have to envy children their innocence. For
innocence presupposes the possibility of guilt. Innocence means to have
struggled with sensuality and passion, and to have overcome them. Only
a girl who has matured into womanhood, and only a boy who has
matured into manhood — only they can reach the level of true innocence.

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