Act Your Age -- or Not

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Chayei Sarah

How old are you?

According to tradition, Sarah was as innocent from sin at one hundred as she was at twenty. And her attractiveness at age twenty was equivalent to her pure beauty as a seven-year-old. (Rashi, Bereshit 23:1)

So, how old are you? Well, that depends. Chronological age? That's based on the calendar. Biological age is the condition of your physical health in terms of the cellular processes. How you actually feel -- that's psychological age.

To further complicate things, how about the idea that, created in G-d's image, we are all ages at once -- a composite package of past, present, and future. A bundle of kinetic and potential energies. It's the idea of the "inner child" that is always inside of us, or the wise old soul that we feel are growing into with each life experience.

So, how old are you? And in the end, does it really matter?