Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) -- the Song of Eternal Love

The holiday of Pesach (Passover) fast approacheth, and as such, it befits us to examine the biblical work known as "Shir haShirim," "the Song of Songs." Not only does this season call for this study because this book in read in synagogues on the Sabbath that falls during the Pesach holiday, but also because, as we shall (G-d willing) see, that much of the text, in metaphoric language, describes the love relationship between G-d and Israel that was forged through the climactic experience of the Exodus from Egypt, the great historic event commemorated by this festival.

Let us begin with an exerpt from the introduction of Rashi to his commentary on this work:

“Shelomoh (Solomon) saw through divine inspiration that Israel was destined to be exiled, one exile after another, destruction upon destruction, and to mourn in exile over their prior glory, remembering [G-d]’s original love for them, as they were His treasured nation. They will say, ‘Let me go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now’ (Hoshea 2:9). They will remember His kindnesses, and the treachery they perpetrated, and the good things He told them he would grant them in the end of days. [Shelomoh] composed this book through divine inspiration, in terms of a woman bound as in eternal widowhood, pining for her Husband, endearing herself to her Beloved, recalling her young love for Him, and confessing her wrongdoing. Her Beloved, too, is pained by her pain, recalling the kindnesses of her youth, her pleasant beauty and the rightness of her acts, through which He became bound to her with a fierce love. He informs her that He has not removed her from His heart nor is her banishment true banishment, for she is yet His wife and He is her Husband, and he will yet return to her.”

Let us approach Pesach this year with an appreciation of just what we had in those great and early days when we walked with HaShem (G-d), and what could be ours again if want it sincerely enough and strive for it with earnest.