“Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself on the inside and out” -Anonymous

The Gemara relates the story of when Caesar’s daughter met Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Chananya. Rabbi Yehoshua was widely known for both his erudition as well as his ugliness. When the princess first saw Rabbi Yehoshua she was appalled and asked him, rather tactlessly, “Why are you SO ugly? How could someone so scholarly be so unattractive?”
Rabbi Yehoshua gave a strange answer, which seemed as if he was dodging her question. He replied, “What sort of vessels does your father, Caesar, keep his wine in?” The princess answered, “Caesar stores his wine in clay pottery”. Rabbi Yehoshua retorted, “Is pottery fitting for a king?! Certainly a king should keep his wine in gold and silver vessels!”
Upon hearing this the princess realized how common it was to keep wine in pottery and immediately had all of her father’s wine transferred into vessels of royalty– gold and silver. A while later, when Caesar requested a drink, he tasted the wine and it was spoiled. All of his wine was spoiled! Caesar demanded an explanation. All of his staff faulted the princess, and the princess faulted Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya.
It was with this that Rabbi Yehoshua finally answered the princess’s original question. He explained, “When the vessel becomes more important than what it contains, it spoils its contents.”
With this the princess understood. There is inherent value to beauty; however, external beauty must serve the purpose of enhancing internal beauty and not overpowering the inner beauty and detracting from it.
The purpose of dressing with style should be for the sake of modesty. As intelligent Jewish girls, no one should want to be judged on face value. We want people to see our external selves and be intrigued to look further at our even more beautiful internal selves. Style is a tool used to create depth. Perhaps the quote we began with was actually authored by none other than Rabbi Yehoshua.

– Mrs. Michal Zisquit