Religious Living - Observance | Temple Israel of Northern Westchester

Song of Songs

Observance
Shabbat Chametz Chanukah Counting the Omer Elul Havdalah Jonah Kohelet Kol Nidre On Death and Mourning Pesach Proverbs Purim Rosh Hashanah Shavuot Simchat Torah Song of Songs Sukkot The Scroll of Ruth Tisha B'av Tu B'Shevat Words of the Prophets Yom Ha'Atzma'ut Yom HaShoah Yom Kippur

Song of Songs

This article was written by Stephen Butterfass for Religious Living on the Web.

"Arise my love, my beautiful one, and come away,

For lo, the winter is past, The rains are over and gone,

Flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come..."

Shir ha shirim (Song of Songs), bold in metaphor, vivid in imagery, is a most unique part of our sacred writings. Nowhere else among this vast literary heritage can be found such a lyrical and sensual celebration of physical love between a man and a woman. The work is a collection of passionate love songs. They describe the courting rituals of a pair of young lovers, who express their frank delight in each other's physical features and the joys and uncertainties of their love. These songs are thought to be separate and independent, rather than one literary composition. Because of certain allusions to King Solomon, and because some of the songs speak of a lovers' triangle of shepherd, maid, and a king, the rabbinic tradition has assigned authorship of the Song to Solomon.

Was the line dividing sacred and secular poetry not as clear in ancient Israel? The Song makes no mention of God, nor does it treat any of the religious themes and sacred topics typically found in the other poetic books of the Bible. Yet it would seem that at some point, these songs were viewed by some authorities as secular, not worthy of inclusion among the works considered holy. The tradition records that only Rabbi Akiva's intervention in defense of the Song of Songs averted the threat to its sacred status: "[all the ages past] of the whole world are not worth the day when the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies" (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5).

Though the Song of Songs was saved for posterity by its inclusion in the canon, there was a price to pay. The literal interpretation of its content, sensual and openly sexual, was suppressed by rabbinic commentators in favor of an allegorical view of the songs. This interpretation controlled how the work was viewed and taught for centuries. According to this tradition, the love poems express a spiritual relationship between God and Israel: the lover in the songs is God and the beloved, the people Israel.

The Song of Songs is read and studied on Passover. The themes of love and nature's flowering are especially appropriate at this season, since the origin of Passover is a celebration of Spring and birth. If the traditional interpretation of the songs is preferred, then it is equally appropriate: What better festival on which to read this than the one that marks the beginning of Israel's stormy yet loving relationship with their God?

Selections from the Song of Songs

The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth

For your love is better than wine.

Your ointments have a delightful fragrance;

Your name is as oil poured out

Therefore do the young women love you.

Ch.1:1-3

To me, my love is a sachet of myrrh

Lying between my breasts.

My beloved is a cluster of henna

In the vineyard of Ein-Gedi.

Behold, you are beautiful, my love,

Behold, you are beautiful, your eyes are as doves.

And oh, you are handsome my lover, oh sweet.

Ch.1:13-16

I am a rose of Sharon,

A lily of the valleys.

As a lily among the thorns,

So is my love among the daughters.

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

So is my beloved among the sons.

Delighted by its shade, I sat,

And its fruit was sweet to my taste.

Ch.2:1-3

Listen! The voice of my beloved! he comes,

Leaping over the mountains,

Springing over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

See, there he stands behind our wall,

Looking through the windows,

Gazing through the lattice.

My beloved answered and said to me:

Arise, my love, my beautiful one and come away.

For see, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,

The time of singing has come,

And the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.

The fig tree sweetens her fruit

And the vines are in blossom, giving off their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away!

Ch.2:8-13

My beloved is mine and I am his,

He grazes among the lilies.

Before the day cools and the shadows flee,

Turn my love, become like a gazelle or

a young stag upon the mountains of Beter.

Ch.2:16-17

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, you are truly beautiful;

Your eyes are like doves, through your veil;

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

Cascading down from Mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, uniformly shaped,

come up from washing, all paired together,

None lost among them.

Your lips are as a scarlet thread,

And your mouth is lovely.

Your temples are as a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

Your neck is like the Tower of David

Built as a fortress,

A thousand shields hang upon it,

All the armor of heroic warriors.

Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle,

Which graze among the lilies.

Ch.4:1-5

You have enchanted me, my sister, my bride;

You have enchanted me with one glance of your eyes,

With one link of your necklace.

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How finer than wine is your love!

And the fragrance of your ointments than all the spices.

Sweet honey drops from your lips, my bride,

Honey and milk are under your tongue;

The scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

An enclosed garden is my sister, my bride;

A wellspring closed up, a fountain sealed.

Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates,

With choice fruits;

Henna and spikenard,

Spikenard and saffron,calamus and cinnamon,

With every tree of frankincense, myrrh and aloes

And with all the best spices.

You are a garden's fountain, a well of living waters,

Streams from the Lebanon.

Awake, North wind,and come you South wind;

Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eats its choice fruit.

Ch.4:9-16

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Eat, friends;

Drink, drink deeply, beloved.

Ch.5:1

How is your beloved any different from other lovers,

O fairest among women?

How is your beloved different from other lovers

That you appeal to us so?

My love is pure and ruddy,

Prominent among ten thousand.

His head is like purest gold

His locks are curled, and black as a raven.

His eyes, like doves on water courses,

washed in milk, and properly set in.

His cheeks are a bed of spices,

Towers, filled with perfume.

His lips are like lilies,

Dripping with flowing myrrh.

His hands are rods of gold,

Inlaid with topaz.

His belly is like polished ivory,

covered with sapphires.

His legs are pillars of marble,

Set upon foundations of finest gold,

His appearance is as the Lebanon,

Strong as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet,

And he is wholly delightful.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

Daughters of Jerusalem.

Ch.5:9-16

I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.

Come, my beloved, let us go into the fields;

Let us lodge in the villages.

Let us rise early to the vineyards;

Let us see if the vine has flowered,

If its blossoms have opened,

And the pomegranates have sprouted;

There I will give you my love.

Ch.7:11-13

Set me as a seal upon your heart,

As a seal upon your arm.

For love is strong as death,

Jealousy is cruel as the grave;

Its flames are flashes of fire,

A blazing flame of God.

Many waters cannot quench love,

Neither can rivers wash it away.

Ch.8:6-7

Shabbat
Chametz
Chanukah
Counting the Omer
Elul
Havdalah
Jonah
Kiddush for the Eve of Yom Tov
Kohelet
Kol Nidre
On Death and Mourning
Pesach
Proverbs
Purim
Rosh Hashanah
Shavuot
Simchat Torah
Sukkot
The Scroll of Ruth
Tisha B'av
Tu B'Shevat
Words of the Prophets
Yom Ha'Atzma'ut
Yom HaShoah
Yom Kippur
Kiddush