Last week I attended the opening ceremony of the flagship store of the Makimi chain in Israel. As someone who has spent a large part of her life in the world of fashion (children's clothes are also fashion), I was able to see what many of the attendees at the ceremony would not have imagined.
I saw the design work behind the scenes and one of the designers, who, although she is not yet observant of Torah and mitzvot (so she says), manages to create a fashionable and rich collection that meets all the rules of modesty.
As with any such event, there were also women who are still undecided about their Haredi identity. Yes. There are Haredi women for whom the boundaries are still unclear. Those who have difficulty accepting clothing that meets all the requirements of halakhah, because they must define their identity by pushing the boundaries.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
I couldn't help but recall this week's parables and lean on the female characters who fill the parables we read, and those we will read in the coming weeks, for our good.
In all of them, the Holy Torah tells us about our mother Sarah, who succeeded in becoming a young and influential female leader, despite her modesty and piety, to the point that God, blessed be He, instructs her husband, "Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.".
It turns out that you don't have to go against the law to stand out, because inner content and happiness radiate outward.
Typical female nobility
Abraham and Sarah were the first advertisers in the world. They were engaged in advertising the identity of the leader of the world – the Holy One, blessed be He. Abraham converts the men and Sarah converts the women.
They set out on a mission from God to an unknown land with "every soul that they had made in Haran," and they constitute for us a symbol, a model, and a tangible example of the life of a Jew according to Halacha.
The current era is full of courses, workshops, and a host of instant "solutions" to life's difficulties and their meaning.
But there is nothing new in this. People have been dealing with the same problems since ancient times, and the solutions are all found in the Holy Torah, for "whatever you turn into, you are bound by it.".
God instructs our forefather Abraham to take his family with him and go into the unknown. To leave his country, his homeland, his father's house, his comfort zone, to "the land that I will show you." Long before the mantras of the "new age," the Torah teaches us how to deal with life.
Our mother Sarah, the first woman in the history of our people, the beautiful and prophetic, who was married to a man who was all about kindness for others and who, with her feminine wisdom, balanced the abundance of kindness radiating from him, knew very well what the consequences would be of the birth of Ishmael, the fruit of the womb of her mother, Pharaoh's daughter, and yet she asked Abraham to marry Hagar so that he might have a son, and this was out of her love for him.
Try to imagine the situation: I don't believe anyone would have stood this test. Not to mention the other tests that Abraham our father went through, and especially Sarah, his wife, the mainstay of his household.
She was required to leave everything she knew in her homeland and join Abraham on their journey to an unknown land, at the command of God, the Blessed One, and she did so with joy.
She was required to say that she was Abraham's sister when, despite God's command, they were forced to go down to Egypt. As a prophetess, she knew that nothing would happen, but she fulfilled her husband's wish.
The commentators discuss this act of our forefather Abraham. The Ramban believes that our forefather Abraham sinned by mistake and brought his righteous wife as a stumbling block of sin out of fear that they would kill him. "He had to trust in God to save him and his wife," says the Ramban.
In contrast, the Holy Light of Life says, "Although the righteous trust in God, blessed be He, nevertheless, this rule is in our hands that we do not trust in miracles" - and teaches a virtue about the Father of the Nation.
Either way, Sarah did not engage in legalistic frivolities, but rather followed her husband and fulfilled his request.
She could have offered him other ways that would save them both, but she didn't argue and carried out his order even though she knew the cost. This is feminine nobility that is typical of Israeli women.
Who will be surprised by anything?
And who brought the plagues on Pharaoh and his household, after she was taken to the king's palace? The angel at Sarah's behest. After such a trauma, we would expect her to withdraw into herself, but she continues to act in the spirit of the mission entrusted to her and her husband, to bring more and more women closer to faith in the one God.
The step in which she asked her husband to marry Pharaoh's daughter, his slave Hagar, later turns out to be the right strategic move. "Perhaps I will build from her," says Sarah, who later becomes Sarah of all people, and indeed is built and gives birth to Isaac.
This event is a defining event in Sarah's mission. This unimaginable miracle, in which a ninety-year-old woman becomes a mother, brings more and more people closer to believing in the existence of a Creator of the world who can rob the systems of nature.
This fact has an impact on wider circles of women who come to witness the great miracle on the day Isaac was weaned.
Despite being "barren" and despite the fact that her slave has become her trouble, she does not become depressed and welcomes guests wholeheartedly and cheerfully, and she hurries to fulfill her husband's wishes. She kneads dough and makes cakes, and none of this prevents her from observing all the boundaries of halachah.
She does not allow her mission to violate even for a single moment the instructions of the Holy Torah. She remains in the tent because all her dignity as a daughter of a king is within. She shares in the commandment of hospitality while adhering to all the bounds of modesty.
Our mother Sarah is the example of the behavior that is appropriate for every Jewish woman. In her modesty, in her willingness to sacrifice for the peace of her home, and in her strict adherence to all the precepts of halakhic law.
Her wonderful story should instill hope in the hearts of each of us because even in the most difficult moments, when it seems that "there is no chance," we must continue to believe in the Creator of the world and remember that only He holds the key to changing the world order.
Even a ninety-year-old woman can give birth because "I am the Lord, the God of all flesh - who can be surprised at anything by me?""
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
• The writer is the owner of 'My Choice', an event host, lecturer and radio broadcaster: [email protected]
