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617 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

617 Nor did

the art of heightening the natural beauty woman fall into disuse during the Talmudic era. Fondness for bathing was made the subject of special note in the case of no less apersonage than Hillel. The use of ointments (Lev. R. xxxiv.) the attention paid to the toilet of the bride on her day of joy the ornaments which are deemed indispensable to woman (Ket. 48a, 596; B. B. 22a); the recorded use of artificial cosmetics ("kahal") to beautify the eyebrows or the finger-nails; the fondness ascribed to women for fine garments and fine surroundings in preference even to luxurious food (Esther R. i. 9) the artificial heightening of the forehead ("kilkul," Shab. viii. 4; 806) these and many similar particulars, abundantly scattered throughout Talmudic literature, go far to disprove the popular thesis of the lack of appreciation for beauty of body "Woman's ator surroundings among the Jews. tractiveness is her beauty " (iQvi> &6k !"!K>K fK), said the fair maidens of Jerusalem at their gathering on the hills on the Fifteenth of Ab and at the close of In fact, the the Day of Atonement (Ta'anit 31a). Jews had a standard of personal beauty which was The acrostic praise of the good largely their own.

of

man

or





—

housewife's virtues in Proverbs throws some light on the peculiar disposition of the Jewish mind in Still more telling are the descriptive adthis field. jectives and similes of the Song of Standards Solomon. There is good reason for saying that, in the estimation of the and Types of Jews, physical beauty both in the Biblical period and during that of the Beauty, Palestinian Talmudists conformed to the requirements which we know to have been considered indispensable by the Arabs (compare Lane's "Arabian Nights," i. 25). Just as the Bible extols Sarah (Gen. xii. 11), Rebekah (Gen. xxiv.16), Rachel (Gen. xxix. 17), Joseph (Gen. xxxix. 6), David (I Sam. xvi. 12), and Abigail (I Sam. xxv. 3) for beauty of appearance, so the rabbis mention, as the most beautiful women that ever lived, Sarah, Rahab, Another version Abigail, and Esther (Meg. 15a). gives Vashti in place of Esther, the latter having owed her seeming beauty to the grace bestowed upon her by an angel. The sons of Beeri and all the daughters of the tribe of Asher are said to have attracted attention by their beauty (Pesik. R. 38 [ed. Friedmann, p. 1356]). Eve, again, is extolled by the picrabbis as the type of all womanly beauty.

A

ture (" eikon ") of her, it is said, was traditionally transmitted to the heads of the generations; but Sarah is held to have been her superior, while Abishag merely approximated the prototype (Gen. R xl.). God Himself adorned her before presenting her to Adam (Gen. R. xviii.). "The daughters of Israel are all beautiful

by

nature, only poverty dis-

figures them," says R. Ishmael (Ned. ix. 10, p. 66*). In connection with the rabbinical amplification of Sarah's adventure in Egypt, it is stated that, in accordance also with the Shulamite's words in the

of Songs, black or dark complexion was conThe hair worn sidered to detract from beauty (ib.). high and coiled back was regarded as an effective device to increase personal beauty (Cant. R. iv. 1; compare Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." ii. 385); while

Song

the eyes of the bride,

if

sparkling and

soft,

were

Beautiful

held to be sufficient and to free her from the necessity of resorting to other ornaments. In this connection it is interesting to note that from these passages it would appear that the hair must have been worn exposed though mention is made of veils and hoods, which, however, were of such material as to heighten rather than to conceal the magnificence of the hair. One of the ways to allure a would-be suitor and to inflame his passion was the plaiting of the hair (Yer. Sanh. ii. 20a; Num. R. ix. 24). Child-bearing was known to be detrimental to the comeliness of the body the matriarchs preserved their beauty so long because they were childless for quite a time (Gen. R. xlv.). Adam is regarded as the type of all manly beauty. As by the Mohammedans the beard is looked upon as the sign of manly beauty and is, Female therefore, ordained by the Prophet as and Male a mark of the true believer, distinct from the infidel, so among the Jews Beauty. manliness and beardlessness were held Abbahu is to be well-nigh incompatible (Yeb. 80J). mentioned as one of the handsomest of men, not merely on account of his towering stature, but also and in this respect distinguished even beyond Johanan for his flowing beard (B. M. 84a); see Rashi on the expression |pf DJQ rmn. This latter declaration that the beard constitutes the splendor of the manly countenance is variously credited to R. Akiba and to Joshua ben Korha (Eccl. R. x. 7; Shab. R. Johanan b. Nappaha was so deeply im152a). pressed with his own beauty that he used to sit for hours by the portals of the bathing-establishments, in order to impress the women with his appearance and thus influence the looks of their expected offspring



—

—

(Ber. 20a;

"

Low,

Lebensalter, " p. 63).

The

desire

have beautiful children was keen among the women of Israel and various devices are on record employed by them to accomplish this end (Low, I.e.), although the father transmits his own beauty as well as his vigor to the sons ('Eduyyot ii. 9). to



If the attention paid to physical culture was less insistent or less intense among the Jews than among the Greeks, it was due to the moral abhorrence of nudity. The Maccabean era influenced in this di-

rection the habits and prejudices of the Jews for centuries while the sad persecutions to which they were exposed in the Middle Ages deprived them of the opportunity to cultivate physical beauty. To the former cause must be ascribed the suspicion with which athletic sports in the circus and the theater were regarded. Especially was attendance at theater

and circus performances on the part of Jewish girls declared to be improper (Ruth R. ii. 1); theaters could not but be suspected of influences making for Moreover, then as now the stage was emidolatry. ployed to cast ridicule on the Jews (Lam. R., Introduction, and iii. 13). In many ways the contact with Roman degenerate life had led to practises which shocked the moral sense of the better Jewish classes. There is no legitimate reason for holding that the Jews were indifferent to the cultivation of beauty and

departments of art they displayed much not originality. The Bible shows that they were adepts in all the domestic arts, in weaving, work spinning, dyeing in purple they knew how to art.

In

all

ability, if