This Shabbat falls within the days of Passover and is called Shabbat Hol Hamoed Pessah, meaning the Shabbat within the intermediate days of the holiday. On this Sabbath, it is customary in many communities to read Shir Hashirim, the “Song of Songs” – the biblical love song composed by King Solomon. In some communities, the “Song of Songs” is also read at the conclusion of the Seder or on the last day of Passover.
This song describes in rich and unique language a complex and enduring love story between a young man and a young woman. But it is clear that such a song would not be included among the holy scriptures, the Tanach, if its meaning was limited to the love between a young man and a young woman. The reason that the “Song of Songs” was included in the biblical corpus is due to the understanding that it is a metaphor for the relationship between the Jewish people and God. The people are compared to a young woman, and God to a young man who loves her.
This interpretation is interesting because the “Song of Songs” does not describe a simple reality but rather depicts a complex love relationship with many ups and downs. However, what is unique about this song is that despite everything, even when there are disturbances, the bond between the lovers remains unbroken. It continues to thrive and blossom again.
Understanding Song of Songs
Thus writes Rashi, the distinguished Torah commentator, at the beginning of the “Song of Songs”:
“Rabbi Akiva said: The entire world was not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel [because] all the Writings [the third division of the Tanach] are holy, and the Song of Songs is the holiest of holies... for it consists entirely of the fear of Heaven and the acceptance of the yoke of His Kingdom and His love.”
With his measured and precise words, Rashi revolutionizes the Jewish understanding of faith. The concept of “accepting the yoke of His Kingdom” may seem intimidating. Who wants to take on a yoke? Does religious obligation not contradict the freedom that a person seeks to attain? To this end, Rashi adds the words “His love.”
A Jew who accepts upon himself the yoke of heaven does not bend under tyranny; rather, he enters into a relationship of love and friendship with God. Certainly, a relationship of love imposes limitations, but the meaning and happiness it brings to life are endless. Who among us does not long for love despite the limitations it entails?
Let us examine the verse that opens the song of love:
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.” (“Song of Songs” 1:2)
The speaker is the young woman, and she turns to her beloved and tells him that she longs for and yearns for his good kisses, which are for her as delightful as a wine banquet. And allegorically, the people of Israel turn to God and remember with longing the foundational revelation that took place at Mount Sinai.
Let us again turn to the enlightening words of Rashi on this verse:
“There are places where [people] kiss [each other] on the hand and on the shoulder, but I desire and long for Him to behave with me according to the original custom as a groom with a bride, mouth to mouth... because He gave them His Torah and spoke to them face to face, and those beloved ones are still pining for Him with all delight, and they are promised by Him that He will still appear to them to explain to them the secret reasons and the hidden mysteries, and He turns His face to fulfill His word, and this is: ‘Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.’”
Why does the Jewish nation long for that divine revelation? Because through it they received the Torah, which enveloped them with all delight. But Rashi adds here a marvelous promise. Even the spiritual depths that we discover in the study of Torah and in the fulfillment of the commandments are only the outer dimensions of the Torah. In the future, when we merit further illumination, we will know “the secret reasons and the hidden mysteries” of the Torah. Our longing is not in vain. A day will come when we merit the dazzling light of the Torah in its full intensity.
There is no more suitable time than Passover, the historical “birthday” of the Jewish people, to express this longing and to hope that we will merit such divine illumination that will reveal to us the secrets of the Torah, the secret of the eternal existence of the nation.
The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites.