Faith
How One Verse Fits With Another
Question
Hello, honored rabbi,
I wanted to ask how it is that in our holy Torah there are sometimes contradictions. I would like to ask about two verses: "A fine dwelling, fine vessels, and a fine wife widen a person's mind," and "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain; a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised."
How do these two verses fit together, since in one it says that a beautiful woman widens a person's mind, while in the other verse it says that a woman's beauty is utter vanity?
Answer
Hello and blessings.
First, the matter must be clarified. The verse "Charm is deceitful," etc., is in Proverbs. "Three things widen a person's mind" is a statement in the Gemara in tractate Berachot (57b), not a verse.
Regarding reconciling the matter, it should be noted that the words of the Maharsha in Berachot (57b) explain that "three things widen a person's mind" means that a person's mind and soul become expansive in order to pursue the pleasures of this world. The Gemara does not present this as a good and beneficial matter, but rather as something bad and harmful.
With blessings,
Binyamin Shmueli
