Introduction: From the Parable to the Allegory
Having examined the second song on the level of the parable, we now turn to examine its allegorical meaning: what these matters symbolize. The maiden in the song represents the soul of Shlomo. In the first song, that soul attained a tremendous prophecy from the Holy One, blessed be He, and afterwards the maiden was confined in Shlomo's palace - meaning within the body - for many days. Autumn passed, part of spring passed, the month of Ziv arrived - and then the Beloved came to the maiden. In other words: the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks once again to connect with the soul of Shlomo, calling upon it to renew its connection with the Infinite, blessed be He. All of this is an allegory for the second divine communication that the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke to Shlomo.
The first divine communication was one of promise - "Ask what I shall give you" - and the Holy One, blessed be He, promised Shlomo wisdom; it came through the power of Shlomo's own spiritual elevation. The second communication was brief, and was not full prophecy but merely a temporary communication. Thus it is stated in I Kings, chapter 6: "And the word of Hashem came to Shlomo, saying: Concerning this House that you are building, if you walk in My statutes, and execute My ordinances, and keep all My commandments to walk in them, then I will establish My word with you, which I spoke to David your father; and I will dwell among the Children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel." This was the entire communication, and this was the entire prophecy through which the Holy One, blessed be He, initiated contact with Shlomo's soul.
Notice that here the connection does not originate from the maiden. It is not the soul seeking the Beloved; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself, as it were, of His own accord to the soul of Shlomo. The soul is not yet ready; it has not prepared itself for prophecy, remaining in its winter slumber. In the first song, the maiden went out to the desert - meaning she sought to detach from the physical body in order to attain prophecy. Here, that is not the case: "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes" - he is coming to her, rather than her going out to him. Therefore, the encounter is also not in the desert but in the vineyards, for the vineyards are close to the city while the desert is far from it. The maiden did not manage to detach from physical reality to the extent of reaching the desert, and therefore the connection takes place only in the vineyards.
And the daughters of Jerusalem, in the allegorical sense, are the bodily forces. The bodily forces have no desire for the soul to depart and unite with its Creator; on the contrary, they pull it toward earthliness and matter. For the moment, they released their grip on it, so as to "catch the foxes that destroy the vineyards," as will be explained later. But by the time "the day breathes," the forces of materiality reasserted their dominance and pulled the soul back into the body, whereupon the connection with the Holy One, blessed be He, was severed.
"The Voice of My Beloved" - The Prophet Recognizes the Voice of Hashem
קוֹל דּוֹדִי הִנֵּה זֶה בָּא מְדַלֵּג עַל הֶהָרִים מְקַפֵּץ עַל הַגְּבָעוֹת׃ (ב, ח) - "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills." (2:8)
The maiden hears the voice of her Beloved on High and recognizes that it is the Holy One, blessed be He. This is a fundamental principle in the Malbim, as also discussed in Mishnat HaChalomot: when a prophet receives prophecy, he has no doubt whatsoever that it is from Hashem. He cannot possibly err and think that it might merely be an ordinary dream. For if this were not so, we would ask: on what basis did Avraham Avinu go to bind his son at the Akeidah? On the basis of prophecy! But perhaps you only had a dream? Perform a hatavat chalom (dream betterment ritual) and go back to sleep, rather than slaughtering your son! Rather, there are certainly no doubts here, and the prophet knows with complete clarity that this is a prophecy from Hashem.
And if one should ask: did we not find in the case of Yaakov that he was not certain, and in the case of Shmuel that he ran each time to Eli and did not realize it was prophecy? The answer is that all of that occurred at the very beginning of their acclimation to prophecy. The first time, a person does not yet know what it is. But once he has already experienced one prophecy, he is never again confused between a dream and prophecy. And this is the meaning of "The voice of my beloved" - I recognize that it is His voice.
Five Stages in the Descent of the Shechinah
"Leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills" - the Malbim explains that there are five stages here, one above the other, expressing the manner in which the Shechinah cascades downward until it rests upon the soul of the prophet. First, "leaping over the mountains," and a mountain is higher than a hill. The mountains symbolize the earth, and above the mountains means above the earth - the Shechinah being, as it were, beyond the worlds, in the aspect of sovev kol almin (encompassing all worlds), surrounding and external (as discussed at length regarding the Nefesh HaChaim). Afterwards, "skipping over the hills" - it has already descended to a lower level, entering into the world, which is the aspect of memaleh kol almin (filling all worlds). For if sovev is external, memaleh is already an entry inside.
דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים הִנֵּה זֶה עוֹמֵד אַחַר כׇּתְלֵנוּ מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן הַחַלֹּנוֹת מֵצִיץ מִן הַחֲרַכִּים׃ (ב, ט) - "My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattices." (2:9)
The gazelle and the young deer, even as they move away, their nature is to return to their place. The gazelle is unique in that even while running, it turns its head backward - which is why it is almost always depicted with its head looking behind it, unlike a horse or donkey, which are always drawn looking straight ahead. According to this, in the first aspect, where the Holy One, blessed be He, is, as it were, outside the worlds, encompassing all worlds (sovev kol almin), He is like a gazelle looking behind it: His providence is directed toward the angels, the celestial intellects, the heavenly spheres and celestial wheels, and He does not, as it were, turn toward us. In the second aspect, He is like a stag, which gazes forward toward the world, yet still longs to return to its place. That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, is already filling all worlds (memaleh kol almin), but not in a permanent manner - a temporary connection that yearns to return, for the Shechinah to return to Her celestial abode.
Three Aspects of Individual Divine Providence
"Behold, he stands behind our wall" - this is already a third level, individual providence (hashgachah pratit), truly close to the righteous person. The "wall" is the body, expressing physical corporeality. In the three expressions found in the verse, three types of individual providence that the Holy One, blessed be He, exercises over the tzaddik are hinted at.
The first: providence over the body. The Holy One, blessed be He, watches over the body of the righteous person to grant him his needs, his sustenance, and his livelihood, and to protect him from harm. This is like someone standing behind the wall to ensure it does not collapse. The wall represents the exterior - the outside of the house, as distinct from what is within - and this is "standing behind our wall."
The second: "peering through the windows." Through windows, one looks into the interior of the house. If the wall is the body, the interior is the soul. Here, the Holy One, blessed be He, no longer watches merely over the bodily matters of the tzaddik, but also over the matters of his soul: helping the tzaddik elevate his soul so that it may attain spiritual perception and sublime heights, sending him assistance from the sanctuary in the spirit of "one who comes to purify himself is granted assistance."
The third: "gazing through the lattices," which is complete, direct individual providence. Here it is not merely oversight, but a complete union of the soul of the tzaddik, residing as it were inside the house, with the Holy One, blessed be He. "Metzitz" (gazing) relates to "tzitz" - a small blossom peeking and emerging outward. In this way, the Holy One, blessed be He, opens the door slightly, as it were, and sends a blossom inward, poking His head inside. And what is this if not bonding with the soul? This is the very nature of prophecy: the Holy One, blessed be He, unites with the soul of the righteous person, prepares it for Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration), and speaks with it face-to-face, until the tzaddik becomes a chariot for the Shechinah.
"Arise, My Love, My Fair One"
עָנָה דוֹדִי וְאָמַר לִי קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי וּלְכִי לָךְ׃ (ב, י) - My Beloved spoke and said to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." (2:10)
At first, "my Beloved spoke [anah - called out]" - from afar, and afterward "and said to me" - an intimate, personal communication from up close. Divine speech corresponds to man's preparation, for the levels of the righteous are not identical: the more a tzaddik prepares himself, the higher the level of speech and divine flow he merits. And although this entire connection originated from the Holy One, blessed be He, human preparation is nonetheless required for the connection to form properly. Therefore He says to her, "Arise" - prepare yourself for the divine speech; "and come away" - depart from the chambers of Solomon, step out of the body and the physical frame. For from within the confines of the body, a divine bond cannot be formed: as long as you remain attached to corporeality, desires, and worldliness, it is impossible to unite with you.
The Malbim notes that an additional appellation is added here. Until now He called her "my love" (ra'ayati), whereas here He says "my love, my fair one" (ra'ayati yafati). Ra'ayati stems from friendship (re'ut), and friendship is a matter of choice: I can choose to be your friend or choose not to be your friend, and a person chooses with whom to associate. Love stemming from beauty, however, is due to the beloved's very essence and virtue - because of its beauty, all yearn for it and love it. Therefore, initially, before the spirit rested upon the soul of Solomon, it was on the level of "my love" by virtue of choice. But once the spirit had already rested upon him once, the Holy One, blessed be He, recognized, as it were, the beauty of Solomon's soul, and now He seeks to renew the connection because of that soul's intrinsic beauty. The beauty of Solomon's soul is itself the reason the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks to continue uniting with it, and therefore she is now called "my love, my fair one."
"For Behold, the Winter Has Passed" - The Soul as a Field
כִּי הִנֵּה הַסְּתָו עָבָר הַגֶּשֶׁם חָלַף הָלַךְ לוֹ׃ (ב, יא) - For behold, the winter has passed, the rain is over and gone. (2:11)
This is something we have already seen in the Book of Yeshayahu: our Sages compare the soul to a plot of field in which one sows, and according to what is sown, so it produces. The field contains potential, and it has the power to bring forth whatever is planted in it. And this is truly how it is. Take a child - what is he? A field. What will you sow in him? If you sow roses, roses will grow; and if you sow garlic, garlic will grow. What you sow is what you will reap, and you will have no one to blame but yourself. If you send him to a Torah education, to an education of Torah and fear of Heaven - along with much prayer and great effort - that is what you will receive. If you send him to a heretical education - that is what you will receive. The child is the field, and you are the sower.
So too, the human soul is compared to a plot of field. When one cultivates the soul through in-depth study, engagement in Torah, and the service of Hashem, it yields holy fruit worthy of praise and brings forth the divine seeds hidden within it. The soul possesses tremendous spiritual potential - develop it, sow within it, and see what beauty flourishes. But the reverse is also true: the soul also contains destructive drives, and if one cultivates them, God forbid, "a wild ass of a man will be born."
The Rambam: Intellectual Apprehensions Resembling Sensory Perceptions
The Malbim cites the words of the Rambam in The Guide for the Perplexed (part 1, chapter 32), that it is very possible that intellectual apprehensions, because they depend on physical matter, undergo something similar to sensory perceptions. The sentence sounds obscure, so let us explain. There is a great and true principle here: matter tires out. A person who worked and worked and worked - what does he need afterward? Rest. Animals sleep in order to attain rest, so they may renew their strength for further labor.
Indeed, it is noted in Mishnat HaChalomot that the Gra writes that the purpose of sleep for man is not rest at all, but rather to achieve spiritual apprehensions that are impossible to attain while within the body. The soul leaves the body, ascends to connect with its supernal abode, goes to learn in the Heavenly Academy, and achieves there what it cannot achieve within the body. And so the Gra recounted about himself, that in a single night he dreamed thousands of explanations on the verse "Ascend here in the south," and it is a well-known story that he afterward forgot them and tried to recall them in the midst of prayer. But let us set that aside for now and speak of the sleep of animals, which is meant to replenish strength, as the body grows weary and exhausted and the animal must sleep to renew its faculties.
Sleep in Plants and in the Earth
This is true of plants as well, as is known in the science of botany: plants also require a phase of sleep. There are plants that droop their heads, and there is a state where all activity within the plant's organism drops to a low level - a kind of sleep - after which the plant is revitalized. So too with trees: the tree yields its fruit, enters dormancy in the winter, until in the summer it is renewed once more and bears its fruit.
And the Holy One, blessed be He, implanted this principle in the reality of the earth and nature, and it is essential for the seed of the earth and its produce. After the grain harvest and the vintage, at the end of summer, once the earth has brought forth its vegetation and the garden has sprouted its plantings - its energies become exhausted and weary. If it were summer perpetually and the earth produced fruit without cease, its fruits would be shriveled, thin, and meager, from the weakened power of growth. Our Sages have already noted even more than this: the winter alone is not enough for it as a brief respite, but sometimes it requires a sabbatical year, and indeed it was their practice to let their fields lie fallow, leaving a field untended for a period so that it could subsequently yield its full strength. Today, in order to gain the benefit of fallowing without limiting their sowing potential, farmers rotate crops: each time they sow a different crop, and each plant draws different minerals and nutrients from the soil. Were it not so, repeated crops would deplete the soil and its fruits would turn out meager.
Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, established a statute for the earth: after the harvest, the days of autumn and snow begin. Then all the forces of nature, as it were, go to sleep, gathering inward, resting quietly, lying still and replenishing their strength beneath blankets of snow and ice, as if swooning - until spring and blossoming arrive, when they awaken anew and continue to give of their vigor.
The Autumn Days of the Soul
And just as occurs with the senses - fatigue and subsequent renewal - so it occurs with the faculties of the soul, by virtue of its connection to physical matter. The soul is spiritual, but what can be done when it is bound to physical existence? Just as in physical reality there is a phase of weariness, so too when the soul bears its fruit and blossoms like a rose - perceiving divine visions, connecting to the Holy One, blessed be He, with its clusters ripening grapes of prophetic attainment - this cannot continue perpetually. After it has yielded its fruit, a winter dormancy sets in: the soul faints and sleeps for days, resting in the embrace of the physical body, and these days are called the autumn days of the soul. The soul's powers recede and snow covers them, until it renews its strength and becomes worthy once again of divine providence and prophetic connection.
From Here to Bein HaZemanim
Many ask an obvious question: Why is there such a thing as "bein hazemanim" (intercession break)? Is there ever a time when one is exempt from studying? The holiday is over - go back to learning! And indeed, in Beit Eliyahu there is no bein hazemanim and learning continues non-stop, but in the holy yeshivot and kollelim there is bein hazemanim. Why is that, really?
Returning to the verse: "The rain is over and gone"
To summarize: the faculties of the soul also require renewal. Therefore, after the immense prophecy that Shlomo was privileged to experience the first time, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, promised him wisdom, the winter days of the soul arrived. Now Shlomo's soul lay dormant within the body, needing an awakening from without. The Beloved arrived - the Holy One, blessed be He, came and awakened it, saying to it: Behold, the winter has passed, and the rainy days have also departed. Now there must be an awakening; now the soul must renew its youth like an eagle and once again unite with the Divine, for the summer days have arrived when the blossoms emerge and bloom anew.
The Malbim adds a precise insight: At the beginning of the summer, which is the end of the winter, there are still rains and there is still mist, caused by the melting snow that rises as vapor, so the air is not yet pure. Only when summer truly sets in do the clouds and mist completely dissipate. Similarly, the soul at this stage has not yet become entirely purified, and a fog still lingers over it. Regarding this, the Beloved on High comes and says: not only "the winter is past," but also "the rain is over and gone" - the remaining mists of winter have likewise departed. Therefore, the connection and prophecy with Shlomo's soul must now be renewed.
The Flashing Lightning - Four Times in Shlomo's Life
The Rambam already wrote in the introduction to Moreh Nevuchim that there is one for whom the lightning flashes time and again with little interval between them, until it is as though he stands in continuous light; whereas another experiences a flash of lightning followed by darkness, and then another flash, followed again by a period of darkness. Moshe Rabbeinu was the greatest of the prophets, and the flashes of lightning he was privileged to perceive were constant - he walked continuously in the light. "In all My house he is trusted," and at every single moment, how fortunate was this mortal born of woman, who could say, "Stand and I will hear what Hashem will command regarding you." This is an unbroken lightning flash. But with the other prophets, each according to his level, the flashes burst forth only intermittently, shedding a ray of light in the darkness that illuminates the soul, bearing its fruit when the soul returns to the body. The duration of the interval between flashes depends upon the prophet's stature: the higher his level, the greater the frequency of the flashes.
And for King Shlomo, says the Malbim, the lightning flashed four times throughout the night of his life; four times the Divine sun shone upon him. Between one revelation and the next were the days of winter and days of snow - the times when Shlomo's soul was bound to the body, to materiality and earthliness, and was not united with the Infinite.
In summary:
This song depicts Shlomo's second prophecy, which originated from the Holy One, blessed be He, rather than from the soul itself; it was therefore brief and temporary, and the encounter took place in the vineyards rather than in the desert. "The voice of my Beloved" - the prophet recognizes the voice of Hashem with certainty; "leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills" - encompassing all worlds and filling all worlds; "standing behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattices" - three levels of Divine providence: over the body, over the soul, leading to complete union, which is prophecy. "Arise, my love, my fair one" - the preparation of the soul and its departure from physical matters, because the Holy One, blessed be He, recognized the beauty of her soul. And "the winter is past" - just as the earth and flora require winter dormancy to replenish their vigor, so too does the soul require periods of winter between one spiritual attainment and the next, which also explains the need for rest and bein hazemanim. Such were the four flashes of lightning that shone for Shlomo during the night of his life, with days of snow and winter intervening between them.