Before us is the fourth song in Shir HaShirim, and we now transition from the mashal (the parable) to the melitzah (the inner meaning). In the mashal, we saw the maiden who left her beloved and became settled in Solomon's palace. Now we turn to examine what this conveys in the melitzah - what is the inner meaning? The third song concluded with the supernal Beloved returning to His holy abode: after the prophetic experience granted to Shlomo's soul, the soul returned to the physical body, to its former mundane state, and the supernal Beloved, as it were, ceased to maintain continuous communion with it. As a result, the maiden - the soul of Shlomo - forgot her Beloved for many days.
We find this explicitly in the verses: "And King Solomon loved many foreign women" (I Melachim 11:1), and "And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods" (ibid. 11:4). This describes a state of spiritual distance. Shlomo's soul, which had previously attained divine revelations and prophecies, became submerged within the physical body, attaching itself to material pursuits and forgetting its supernal Beloved. It forgot the transcendent spiritual attainments and prophecies it had experienced through its communion with the Ein Sof, blessed be He.
The verses in I Melachim chapter 11 are very severe in their literal sense: "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Tzidonim, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Hashem, and went not fully after Hashem, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his foreign wives, who offered and sacrificed to their gods" (11:5-8). How could Shlomo have done such a thing? What was his intention in marrying a thousand wives, and how was he willing to build high places for their idolatrous worship? These questions require extensive explanation, and it is best to study the commentaries in their proper place to keep matters in true perspective. Here, we will not dwell on this at length.
What matters for our study is the consequence: "And Hashem was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Hashem, the God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice" (11:9). In truth, there were three revelations, but the Malbim explains that the actual prophetic visions occurred twice. "And Hashem said to Solomon: Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant" (11:11). Yarov'am ben Nevat would receive the bulk of the monarchy, while Shlomo's son Rechav'am would receive only two tribes. "Nevertheless, in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son" (11:12), since the Holy One, blessed be He, had promised David that his son Shlomo would enjoy complete dominion. "However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David My servant's sake" - "one tribe" referring to Yehudah, with Binyamin included alongside it - "and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen" (11:13). Immediately following this: "And Hashem raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the king's seed in Edom" (11:14). From this point onward, the prophet chronicles Shlomo's decline. Some say he was even driven from his throne, at which point he was aroused to repent.
Notice, however: although he eventually arose to open the door to his Beloved, he was never again granted prophetic visions of Hashem. His soul could no longer divest itself of corporeality and attain complete communion with the Holy One, blessed be He, until the day of his death. This entire song expresses Shlomo's deep yearning - once he realized the loss and the tragedy of this distance - to rectify the rift. Yet he did not succeed until the ultimate hour of love for all souls, the time of passing from this world, when the soul departs the body and reunites with its supernal Beloved. But to the level of prophecy he had attained in earlier years, to that sublime height, he was no longer able to return in life.
אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר, קוֹל דּוֹדִי דוֹפֵק, פִּתְחִי לִי אֲחֹתִי רַעְיָתִי יוֹנָתִי תַמָּתִי, שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי נִמְלָא טָל, קְוֻצּוֹתַי רְסִיסֵי לָיְלָה׃ (ה, ב) - "I was asleep, but my heart was awake. Hark! My Beloved knocks: 'Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one, for my head is drenched with dew, my locks with the droplets of the night.'" (5:2)
The Malbim explains: although Shlomo was in a fallen spiritual state - "I was asleep," meaning his soul was slumbering and lacked the inner vitality to unite with its Beloved - nonetheless, "my heart was awake." He was never completely severed from his God; his heart still yearned and sought divine communion and cleaving. It is then that the soul hears "the voice of my Beloved knocking" - this refers to the fourth vision, that prophecy in which the Holy One, blessed be He, addressed Shlomo: "And Hashem said to Solomon: Because you have done this..."
"Open for me" - the Malbim explains that Shlomo's inner chambers were closed, and a wall stood between him and Hashem. He cites the verse: "In their setting of their threshold by My threshold, and their post by My post" - their threshold next to Mine, their doorway next to Mine - "and the wall between Me and them" (Yechezkel 43:8). That is, a barrier stood between them, preventing direct passage between us and the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written: "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Yeshayahu 59:2), and as the Sages teach, following the destruction of the Temple an iron barrier was erected between Israel and their Father in Heaven. This is the meaning of "the voice of my Beloved knocking": the Holy One, blessed be He, knocks, as it were, from beyond the partition, seeking reunion with Shlomo's soul, seeking to bestow prophecy upon him, calling upon Shlomo's soul to elevate and uplift itself once more.
If we trace the beloved's titles throughout the book, the Malbim explains, we see a clear progression. In the first vision, she is called "my companion" (1:9; 1:15; 2:2). In the second vision, another title is added: "my companion" (2:10; 2:13) and also "my dove" (2:14). In the third vision, yet another title is added: "my companion" (4:1; 4:7), "your eyes are doves" (4:1), as well as "my perfect one," and also "my sister, my bride."
"My sister" is the name she bore even before descending into the body, for the soul is "a portion of God from above," and "he who breathes forth breathes from his innermost essence." When the Holy One, blessed be He, breathed life into man, He breathed of His own transcendent essence, and therefore the soul is in the category of a "sister." This is why the Holy One, blessed be He, opens here with "Open to Me, My sister," for this is where everything began. The other titles correspond to the three dimensions of the soul: the Malbim divides the soul into the vegetative soul, the animate soul, and the rational soul, corresponding to Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah. The vegetative soul corresponds to plant life, the bare minimum of living existence. The animate soul corresponds to movement and vitality, like an animal possessing locomotion. The rational soul corresponds to the Neshamah, the intellect and power of speech, the "speaking spirit" within man. "My companion" corresponds to the intellective soul, the Neshamah. "My dove" corresponds to the animate soul, as the dove is an animal, and a dove is completely devoted to its mate. "My perfect one" corresponds to the body, a pure and whole body, corresponding to the vegetative soul, the lowest level of the soul's faculties.
And He says to her: Open to Me by virtue of these heights you acquired through your good deeds, as we saw earlier. This was the primary indictment against him: you attained profound perceptions, so how could you descend to where you have fallen? If a person never attained or saw anything, it would be understandable; he has always walked in darkness. But you, Shlomo, merited a Divine bond, you merited full prophecy, how could you abandon everything? This is the rebuke: "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant." The Malbim explains: the punishment is magnified because "you have done this" - prophecy was already with you, you attained sublime heights, and therefore this sin magnifies your punishment.
What is the meaning of "for My head is filled with dew"? Dew is a metaphor for the prophetic influx that the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bestow, as in the verses "Your dew is like the dew of lights," "I will be like dew to Israel," and "My speech shall distill as dew." The dew represents the spiritual abundance that the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks to bestow upon the soul of Shlomo.
And what is the distinction between the head and the locks? The Malbim explains along Kabbalistic lines: the head symbolizes the supernal Thought, the hidden Thought, the Mochin (intellect). The locks are the emergence of those thoughts outward, like hairs emerging from the head. Kabbalah speaks similarly of the "surplus of the brain," where the Mochin, as it were, emerge and manifest outwardly through those hairs. It is well known that there is a profound, exalted concept in the supernal Partzufim regarding hair. It suffices to consider what we recite at Tashlich, where we describe the thirteen Tikkunei Dikna (rectifications of the beard), and know that the Tikkunei Dikna are only one level, whereas the rectifications of the head - of Reisha d'Arich or of Ze'ir Anpin - are far higher. To such an extent that regarding the hair of Adam Kadmon, which is the source from which all Partzufim emerge, the Ari z"l does not speak at all, stating that it is an unimaginably elevated realm. Hair therefore expresses the power of the Mochin, showing how that which is internal emerges outward.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: The supernal Thought is filled with dew, and I desire to bestow this dew upon the soul of Shlomo, but "My locks are filled with the drops of the night." Night always signifies darkness, the force of evil, the Sitra Achra. The deeds Shlomo is committing prevent the dew from descending and influencing him in a positive way; instead, they turn into drops of the night, the forces of strict judgment and the Kelipot that do not allow the abundance to reach Shlomo. Consequently, this ultimately brought about the shattering of the kingdom into fragments, for Shlomo's kingdom was eventually torn apart and dispersed.
פָּשַׁטְתִּי אֶת כֻּתָּנְתִּי אֵיכָכָה אֶלְבָּשֶׁנָּה, רָחַצְתִּי אֶת רַגְלַי אֵיכָכָה אֲטַנְּפֵם׃ (ה, ג) - "I have taken off my robe; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?" (5:3)
This is how the soul of Shlomo responds when hearing the Divine desire to forge a bond with it. One must understand that the spiritual element within man, the soul, cannot exist without some form of garment. As long as the soul is in this world, its garment is the body. But what happens during prophecy, when the soul disengages from bodily consciousness - does it remain naked? No. It has "garments of light," a spiritual garment that envelops and surrounds the soul, created from good deeds, mitzvot, intellectual-spiritual insights, and the spiritual achievements one has accomplished. This garment ensures that it does not remain naked even when it disengages from the body and merits prophecy. These are the garments of light that Adam HaRishon wore prior to the sin.
The sacred books teach that when angels descend to this world on a mission, they enclothe themselves in a physical garment, and this garment is meant to keep them from becoming completely corporeal. The Kabbalists explain that if angels linger here too long, they become coarse and material and can no longer ascend. This is what happened to Uzza and Azael: because they became attached to material reality and did not ascend in time, physicality dragged them down, and they could no longer rise. Thus, there must be a spiritual garment, a kind of protective armor, that guards the soul from ever being left completely naked.
Therefore, the soul of Shlomo says: Master of the Universe, You want me to attain prophecy, but what can I do when, in my sins, "I have taken off my robe"? Instead of garments of light (or with an aleph), I have garments of skin (or with an ayin), and skin represents flesh, corporeality, and earthiness. Shlomo's soul is bound to material reality, and it is impossible, as long as I am clothed in skin, to attain prophecy, for that requires garments of light. "How shall I put it on?" - I currently have nothing worthy to wear.
The foot and the shoe symbolize the body, as explained in the Zohar Chadash and other sources. Based on this, we have previously explained the concept of chalitzah: by removing the shoe, one symbolically strips physical existence away from the spiritual soul, allowing it to proceed to its rectification and rightful place. Through this, we also understand what the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: "Remove your shoes from your feet," as the Zohar explains: you must cast off corporeality, for you stand upon holy ground and are destined to attain continuous divine speech, which is impossible while attached to physical existence. To Yehoshua, however, it was said: "Remove your shoe from your foot" - a single shoe - because Yehoshua did not experience continuous communication with Hashem, may He be blessed, and did not separate from his wife. Therefore, he was told to remove only one shoe, rather than two like Moshe Rabbeinu.
The Malbim explains: at the time of prophecy, the shoe is removed; that is, physical and material reality is stripped away, one sheds the body and merits the level of garments of light (kotnot or). Regarding this, the soul of Shlomo says, "I have washed my feet" - like a delicate person who does not walk barefoot, but rather keeps his feet washed and wears shoes - "how shall I soil them?" I cannot now leave the body, which serves as a protective guard for the foot, and if I place my foot outside, it will become soiled. This is an allegory expressing: Master of the Universe, I have already become attached to matter and the physical world; how can I now detach from the shoe that represents materiality? To do so, I require a spiritual garment, yet I lack the spiritual garment of light, for I am not at that level of spiritual attainment. Shlomo's soul is in a state of descent, meaning it would be left without physical garments and without spiritual garments; therefore, "how shall I soil them?"
דּוֹדִי שָׁלַח יָדוֹ מִן הַחֹר, וּמֵעַי הָמוּ עָלָיו׃ (ה, ד) - "My beloved reached his hand through the latch-hole, and my innards yearned for him." (5:4)
Seeing that the doors were locked, the Beloved on high reached forth His hand. "Reached His hand" refers to prophecy, as seen in several sources: "And He stretched forth His hand and touched my mouth," "And behold, a hand was stretched out to me," "For so Hashem said to me with a strong hand" - in all of these, "hand" denotes prophecy. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, sends prophecy through the keyhole, meaning: I am not establishing a complete bond with you. Shlomo's soul is not currently worthy of the connection it once had, yet a message is sent through the keyhole. The message itself expresses distance: you are not worthy of union; the door still separates us; I do not enter her chamber face to face, but convey only words of rebuke. As Scripture recounts: "Because this was with you," "you have not kept My covenant," "I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant." This was not a prophecy of affection and bonding, nor an intimate clinging of spirit to spirit, but through a narrow crack through which the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered His words and departed.
"And my innards yearned for him" - the soul of Shlomo began to stir; its innards churned, longing for the days of old, for the prophecies it had merited in past times, yearning to renew its connection with the Holy One, blessed be He.
קַמְתִּי אֲנִי לִפְתֹּחַ לְדוֹדִי, וְיָדַי נָטְפוּ מוֹר וְאֶצְבְּעֹתַי מוֹר עֹבֵר עַל כַּפּוֹת הַמַּנְעוּל׃ (ה, ה) - "I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the lock." (5:5)
Here it is described that after the harsh rebuke spoken by the Holy One, blessed be He, to Shlomo, Shlomo arose from his slumber to awaken and open the door for the Beloved on high. He sought to prepare himself for divine connection, for holiness and purity, casting aside physical pursuits and the desire for women, so that he might once again be worthy of the divine revelation he had previously enjoyed.
We have already seen two recurring expressions in the book: myrrh (mor) and frankincense (levonah). Myrrh is derived from the animal kingdom - from an animal in India; it is musk, a most distinct fragrance. Frankincense is derived from the plant kingdom. Both are among the ingredients of the incense (ketoret). When the soul of Shlomo would unite with the Holy One, blessed be He, it was not merely through its lowest part, the vegetative soul (nefesh hatzomachat), symbolized by frankincense from the produce of the earth; nor through the vital soul (nefesh hachiyunit), symbolized by myrrh derived from living creatures, which corresponds to the level of ruach. The part that connects directly to the Holy One, blessed be He, is the rational soul (nefesh hamedaberet), which corresponds to neshamah. But notice: when the neshamah ascends, it elevates the two lower faculties along with it, joining them with itself to the Holy One, blessed be He. They become subordinate to it and they too merit spiritual perception, for whatever the neshamah attains in its ascent, it channels down to both the ruach and the nefesh.
Now, however, these lower faculties were so steeped in materiality and physical desire that it lacked the power to elevate them from where they were mired, and they were unable to reach spiritual cleaving. Therefore, as the Malbim notes, notice that she did not bring forth frankincense at all. Frankincense symbolizes the lowest part, the vegetative soul focused on eating and drinking; she had no power to elevate it to holiness, as it had become thoroughly coarsened by physical indulgence. Yet myrrh, the middle part corresponding to ruach, she managed to elevate slightly. Thus, "my hands dripped with myrrh": myrrh I managed to raise somewhat, but frankincense not at all. She succeeded only in slightly elevating the spirituality of the vital soul, which is the root of character traits and the faculty of emotional arousal.
Yet even this she could not purify completely, but only with her hands - that is, in practical actions, since hands symbolize deed - whereas to purify her character traits she was unable, attaining only the level of "hands", the externality of things. Therefore, "and my fingers with passing myrrh": whenever I came to open, the myrrh passed over the handles of the lock. I reached a certain refinement of the level of ruach, but it was "passing myrrh", so that whenever I came to open the door and connect, that refinement passed away and departed, for the evil inclination and its forces repeatedly reasserted themselves. He could not stand in holiness on the rungs of the ladder, but rather ascended and descended over and over - myrrh and once again passing myrrh - until it was impossible to reach the Divine connection.
פָּתַחְתִּי אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי, וְדוֹדִי חָמַק עָבָר, נַפְשִׁי יָצְאָה בְדַבְּרוֹ, בִּקַּשְׁתִּיהוּ וְלֹא מְצָאתִיהוּ, קְרָאתִיו וְלֹא עָנָנִי׃ (ה, ו) - I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone; my soul departed when he spoke; I sought him, but could not find him; I called him, but he answered me not. (5:6)
"I opened to my beloved" - Shlomo's soul contemplates detaching completely from physicality: since the lower levels, the nefesh and ruach, do not allow connection, perhaps the neshamah alone can detach, and I will open to my Beloved. But "my beloved had turned away and was gone" - the Holy One, blessed be He, no longer returned to rest His Shechinah upon Shlomo's soul. "My soul departed when he spoke" - dibbur (speaking) denotes harsh speech while amirah denotes gentle speech, and my soul departed when He spoke harshly: "I will surely tear the kingdom from you" (I Melachim 11:11), this harsh prophecy. And on "turned away and was gone" (chamak avar), the Midrash expounds: "Avar" - He was filled with wrath (evrah) toward me, an expression of anger.
Then the highest level of his soul, the aspect of the "soul of the soul" (neshamah la-neshamah) through which he attained ruach hakodesh and prophecy, had already departed from him. Man possesses nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, and there is the "soul of the soul", which the holy books do not discuss at great length; it is the level of chayah and yechidah. Sometimes these are counted as two levels, the fourth and fifth, and sometimes they are subsumed under a single name: neshamah la-neshamah. Concerning that level it is said, "I sought him, but could not find him; I called him, but he answered me not" - this level left me, that very aspect through which I merited the attachment of spirit to spirit (rucha b'rucha), attachment to the Supernal Light, and the portion of prophecy. These are exceedingly lofty attainments that most of the world does not possess at all; what most of the world possesses is nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, and even that not in completeness, but merely in sparks.
מְצָאֻנִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַסֹּבְבִים בָּעִיר, הִכּוּנִי פְצָעוּנִי, נָשְׂאוּ אֶת רְדִידִי מֵעָלַי שֹׁמְרֵי הַחֹמוֹת׃ (ה, ז) - The watchmen who go about the city found me; they struck me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from upon me. (5:7)
Shlomo's soul goes out to leave its chambers, seeking to part from the physical body, yet the body does not permit it, for it is bound to the nefesh and ruach that have become material and tied to desires. She wants to detach and go connect with the Ein Sof, but "the watchmen found me" - these are the watchmen of the city, the powers of the body and the physical form, who do not allow the soul to leave. "They struck me, they wounded me" - these are the forces that bind the soul to the body and sustain the physical frame. I could not move past them, for the soul was already imprisoned in their hands. The soul seeks to go forth and connect to spirituality, and the body imprisons it once more and drags it back down to physical reality, until they forced it to remain with the body, with the character traits, and with the coarse desires.
And each time it sought to go forth - "they struck me, they wounded me", blows and wounds, which are the soul's sickness and pain. As the Rambam writes in the Eight Chapters, the soul has health and illness just as the body has health and illness. Today there is no need to elaborate on this, as there are those who make a good living from mental health and its ailments; so many people are treated by psychologists, and in more severe situations by psychiatrists. It is clear to us today that illness of the soul exists. So too here: Shlomo's soul has a powerful yearning to connect to the Holy One, blessed be He, but on the other side are desires and physicality pulling it down. This constant conflict inflicts blows upon the soul, and the soul becomes bruised.
"The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from upon me" - the mantle (redid) is the ornament worn upon the head, with which I would forge a connection to the force of spirituality. For as we have seen, she lost the "soul of the soul", and Shlomo's soul no longer possessed chayah and yechidah; therefore they took her mantle from upon her. Consequently, she can no longer achieve Divine connection by way of prophecy without walls, but only messages through the keyhole, through the surrounding walls, through the walls of the body and physicality. It is perception through a wall, through doors and bolt, rather than the immediate attainment of prophecy and of Divine power radiating directly.
הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם, אִם תִּמְצְאוּ אֶת דּוֹדִי מַה תַּגִּידוּ לוֹ, שֶׁחוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי׃ (ה, ח) - I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? That I am lovesick. (5:8)
The soul of Shlomo now realizes that it no longer has any way to connect to its Beloved and attain the level of prophecy during its physical life. In the end, everyone connects to the Holy One, blessed be He, but that happens only after the moment of passing and separation from the body, when the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself to the righteous while their soul is still in their body. They attain a complete grasp of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the soul is gathered to its people. This is the aspect of death by a kiss (mitat neshikah), a Divine revelation in which the soul connects with and yearns for the Ein Sof, blessed be He.
Therefore, she adjures the daughters of Jerusalem - which are the bodily powers - and implores them: when you find my Beloved, meaning at the time of death, what shall you tell Him? Tell Him that I am lovesick, that the soul of Shlomo is sick with love to attain the supreme spiritual cleaving to the Holy One, blessed be He, and that same prophecy she had previously merited.
מַה דּוֹדֵךְ מִדּוֹד הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים, מַה דּוֹדֵךְ מִדּוֹד שֶׁכָּכָה הִשְׁבַּעְתָּנוּ׃ (ה, ט) - "What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you have so adjured us?" (5:9)
The daughters of the body, which are the physical faculties, are unfamiliar with spiritual attainments and do not understand spiritual connection. Physicality is flesh, desire, and matter, and it knows nothing of connecting to the spirit. Therefore, the bodily powers wonder at the soul and ask her: What are these yearnings, what is this intense longing to unite with the Beloved?
"What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women?" - they ask the soul: What is so unique about your Beloved that you yearn for Him more than all the cravings for physical desires and pleasures? We see here a longing that reaches far beyond the desires of the material world. How is your love for the Holy One, blessed be He, different from your love for all other worldly matters and desires? "What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you have so adjured us?" - what is the essence of this hidden Beloved? What are His attributes, what are His signs, what are His virtues, for which you have bound us with such an oath, having such an intense desire to unite with Him that you seek Him even unto death?
The fourth song describes the period of distance between the soul of Shlomo and its supernal Beloved. "I sleep, but my heart is awake": even in its immersion in materiality, the heart is not completely severed. Therefore, the Beloved knocks from beyond the wall and pleads, "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one," corresponding to the root of the soul and the three parts of the soul. Yet the dew - representing the prophetic overflow - cannot descend when the locks of hair are filled with the drops of the night. The soul replies that it has stripped off the garments of light and remains in garments of skin, unable to part with the shoe, which represents materiality. Therefore, the Beloved sends only a prophecy of rebuke through the latch opening. She rises to open, raising a bit of the myrrh, which represents the level of ruach, and even this only in action and not in character traits, while the frankincense, representing the vegetative soul, does not rise at all. Thus the myrrh passes away and vanishes, as the evil inclination overpowers it time and again. And when she opens, the Beloved has already turned away and gone, and the sublime level of neshamah le-neshamah has departed from her. The watchmen of the walls - the bodily powers - strike her, wound her, and strip her of her veil, so that she can perceive only from behind the walls. From that point on, she has no recourse other than to adjure the daughters of Jerusalem to tell the Beloved that she is lovesick, and they wonder: What is your beloved more than another beloved?