Beauty, we define as what society makes it out to be. Society says skin is beauty, the more revealed the more beautiful! Clothes seem to shrink from generation to generation; soon there will be clothes that are transparent.
I think about this and say, so what? I won’t put on a barely there outfit and be labeled by society as beautiful. Reason being because beauty on the outside fades, in fact as we all know, but have a hard time facing, our outside appearance melts away, it disintegrates and after a long fulfilling life shrivels up into dust. The beauty of developing who I am as a person and doing as many mitzvos as I possibly can to give me that pure aura, that’s what beauty is, and that beauty is everlasting!
The quote, don’t judge a book by its cover; its meaning isn’t just literally what it says. This quote also implies other concepts as well. The cover of a Jew can look dry, dull, boring, unlively and just simply unappealing. Though being a Jew by definition is actually living in itself. Inside the pages it’s full of creativity, charisma, life, meaning, warmth, depth, beauty, mystical stuff, secrets, fulfillment, a life that emphasizes the pearl, who we are and not the clam, our body that protects the pearl.
The cover of one not connected to G-d looks sparkly, mesmerizing, glamorous, it’s rich, tasteful, alluring, attracting, tempting, pretty, full of life, but don’t be fooled because it’s pages are empty, lacking the pearl, lacking in context, representing nothing. They represent the shell not the being. They try to manipulate you into thinking that by definition you’re a shell and on the inside your dead, you don’t exist. They put zero meaning into life. The shell is their focus that’s what they make of life!
They beautify the shell – like mummification back in Egypt. They savored the body. The person that lived in it could pass on but that didn’t matter to them. Just remember the soul is what turns on the switch of a live body, without the soul the body is as empty as a plastic doll, (ironically that’s all they want you to be in Hollywood). Your soul is who you are, and in this physically disguised world our bodies is what we are put in, in order to serve G-D who loves us and gives us everything we need to accomplish our mission. So don’t get deceived, we must emulate who we are, not what we are gift wrapped in (the body).
When opening a beautifully wrapped gift do we savor the gift wrap (and put it on a shrine in display) or the actual gift itself? The same concept applies to ourselves. We are put in these bodies to reach heightening goals that are long term. Do we get caught up with the gift wrap – our bodies – or do we focus on who’s in the actual body, because let me remind you, your body that’s made out of flesh and blood will eventually reach its expiration date, until then all you can obtain through exposure and arayos is temporary bliss. Who we are though, who we choose to develop into and what we make of ourselves will last for an eternity. What I’m trying to clarify to every one of you is that this world is one big physical disguise and could be very misleading. But if we are clear in who we are and our mission in life and stay focused then we can actually embrace tznius and what it has to offer, by portraying what we are actually made of!
I want to conclude by saying that when a person goes upstairs and learns he lived for all the wrong reasons, trust me he’s not going to be happy. Realize your stay on planet Earth isn’t permanent. Take all your moments of inspiration and live a life worth living.