[Avodah] Why are beards considers so choshuv?

[Ben Waxman]

The beard was for the amcha, not the rabbis. He was already a member of the Sanhedrin and they voted him to be nasi. It was his wife who didn't believe that he would be accepted because of his youth. However, clearly the problem wasn't with the rabbis.

Ben
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: T613K at aol.com 

  >>>>>

  1.  It wasn't R' Azariah, it was R' Elazar ben Azariah, quoted in the Hagadah, "Harei ani keven shiv'im shanah" -- "I am like a man of seventy years old."  He was the man who was appointed head of the Sanhedrin or something like that at the age of 18 and miraculously his beard turned white, so that the other chachamim would respect him as an elder and not look down on him as a youngster.  
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