Commentaire de citation sur Samuel 2 1:24

In that hour Rabbi Ishmael wept and said, “The daughters of Israel are beautiful, but poverty disfigures them.” And when Rabbi Ishmael died, the daughters of Israel raised a lament, saying, “Daughters of Israel weep for Rabbi Ishmael.” And thus it is said too of Saul, “Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul” (II Samuel 1:24). After having beautified the woman, thereby permitting her to the man who had vowed, Rabbi Ishmael laments the state of Jewish women in his day. Rabbi Ishmael lived through and after the Bar Kochba revolt, a revolt that was quelled by the Romans in 135 and that may have been even more devastating than the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Ishmael laments that the oppressive state in which they live prevents the inner beauty of Jewish women from being seen. We might add, that this oppressive state may have also made it more difficult for men to have seen through the women’s worn exteriors into the deeper layers of beauty. For such sentiments and recognition of the difficulties under which they live, and perhaps also for his outstanding abilities as a cosmetician (!), the daughters of Israel lament him at his death, just as they King Saul was lamented at his death.