The chapter before us continues the great allegory of Shir HaShirim according to the Malbim: the soul (the Beloved Bride) seeking to depart from the body and unite with her Beloved, the Holy One, Blessed is He, against the "daughters of the corpse" - the various bodily powers - who try in every way to convince her to remain. In this section, we see the soul-searching the soul conducts prior to her departure, her ascent in the chariots, followed by the chain of arguments presented by the bodily powers, from the feet to the head, and finally the appeal of "King Shlomo" himself - the heart, ruler of the entire body.
"I went down to the walnut garden" - The Soul Makes Her Reckoning
אֶל־גִּנַּת אֱגוֹז יָרַדְתִּי לִרְאוֹת בְּאִבֵּי הַנָּחַל לִרְאוֹת הֲפָרְחָה הַגֶּפֶן הֵנֵצוּ הָרִמֹּנִים׃ (ו:יא) - "I went down to the walnut garden to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine blossomed, whether the pomegranates budded." (6:11)
The soul answers the daughters of the body, saying: "I went down to the walnut garden." Inasmuch as man is connected to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and because he deteriorated and lowered his standing from an exalted spiritual soul into a soul bound within a physical body and turbid matter, the Kabbalists compare the soul to a walnut. It is taught in Kabbalah that a walnut has four shells (kelipot) surrounding it. Interestingly, anyone who has opened a walnut has seen that it closely resembles a brain, with the fissures and contours mirroring the brain. The Zohar states: the four shells of the walnut surround, as it were, the mochin (the higher intellect). A shell (kelipah) always expresses something that encases holiness from the outside without being holy itself, depicting the coarse dregs of physical matter and its deficiencies. The Malbim refers here to Zohar Bereishit 16, Terumah 140, Ra'aya Meheimna Pinchas 287, and elsewhere.
The macrocosm as well, with the four kelipot within it, resembles a walnut. This does not refer to physical reality, but to spiritual concepts: Yechezkel beheld the Vision of the Chariot (Ma'aseh Merkavah) and saw a stormy wind, a great cloud, a flashing fire, and from within it the likeness of chashmal - four elements surrounding, as it were, the Supernal Chariot. So too, Eliyahu at Mount Chorev saw wind, earthquake, and fire, followed by the fourth realm - a still, small voice (all of which the Malbim explains there, and as discussed in the lessons on the Book of Melachim). Thus, the four kelipot are forces of impurity encasing the Supernal Chariot.
The soul says: I descended to the walnut garden - into the body, with its shells and coarse matter - to see what I might elevate from it at the moment of departure. "To see the green plants of the valley" - the growth produced by the body during its lifetime, meaning the good deeds and virtuous actions. "Ibei" (green plants) denotes blossoming and growth, as in the phrase "cut down in his prime" (be'ibo) - at the beginning of its blossoming. "To see whether the vine blossomed" - as we already explained in chapters 2 and 4, the vine alludes to deep contemplation and intellectual concepts, for from the vine wine is produced, and wine symbolizes supernal wisdom. "Whether the pomegranates budded" - pomegranates hint at the 613 mitzvot, as our ancient sages noted that a pomegranate contains 613 seeds. In other words: I went out to see what this walnut produced through its service, what deeds it performed that I might take along with me to unite with my Beloved, offering them as a tribute before the Holy One, Blessed is He.
"My soul made me the chariots of my noble people" - The Hour of Ascent
לֹא יָדַעְתִּי נַפְשִׁי שָׂמַתְנִי מַרְכְּבוֹת עַמִּי נָדִיב׃ (ו:יב) - "I knew not; my soul made me like the chariots of my noble people." (6:12)
Even as the soul makes her reckoning - whether the body refined itself, whether the green plants of the valley grew, whether the vine blossomed and the pomegranates budded - the body's time arrives, the moment of "he gathered his feet into the bed," and it must go the way of all the earth. Then she says: "I knew not" - I no longer know anything of this world. "My soul" - this refers to the Holy One, Blessed is He, Who is my soul and spirit, the Soul of my soul. "Made me the chariots" - He set me as a chariot and commanded me to ride in chariots of fire and horses of fire, ascending into heaven in a whirlwind, like Eliyahu who ascended in chariots by a whirlwind to heaven. And to where? "My noble people" (ammi nadiv) - in the sense of "gathered unto his people," to be gathered unto God and the righteous who dwell in the World of Souls. Here, the soul of Shlomo is gathered to her eternal home, uniting in the final, complete union with the Ein Sof, Blessed is He.
"Return, return, O Shulammite" - The Plea of the Body
שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי הַשּׁוּלַמִּית שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי וְנֶחֱזֶה־בָּךְ מַה־תֶּחֱזוּ בַּשּׁוּלַמִּית כִּמְחֹלַת הַמַּחֲנָיִם׃ (ז:א) - "Return, return, O Shulammite; return, return, that we may gaze upon you. Why do you gaze at the Shulammite as upon the dance of two camps?" (7:1)
When the daughters of the corpse - the bodily faculties - hear that the Beloved seeks to return and bond with her Beloved, they plead with her: "Return, return, O Shulammite," do not depart from us, wife of Shlomo. This is the inner meaning of "Shulammite": the holy soul is the consort of Shlomo (the heart, master of the body). Return to the body "that we may gaze upon you," and we promise to be subservient to you and fulfill your will; we will follow the soul's guidance, if only you reign over us. They too understand that bonding with the Beloved is the ultimate good for the soul, for in her union with Him she is no longer constrained by physical desires, urges, and material limits. Therefore, this is their way of persuading her: it is over, we will no longer demand materiality and cravings; return to us, and we will all submit entirely to your will and dominion.
The soul replies to them: "What would you gaze upon in the Shulammite, as in the dance of two camps?" - How could it be that I would reign over you and you would submit to my authority, when among you I am like the dance of two camps, as if encircled in a dance by two opposing camps? In simple words: when the soul resides in the body, there is a constant battle - the good inclination and its camps versus the evil inclination and its legions and camps. Thus, there is no peace for the soul within the body; it is always trapped between the two camps. "Woe to me from my Creator, woe to me from my evil inclination." Inside the body I am in continuous conflict, and now that I am departing and breaking free from it, I have finally been released from this endless war.
"How beautiful are your steps in shoes" - The Faculties of the Soul Depend on the Body
מַה־יָּפוּ פְעָמַיִךְ בַּנְּעָלִים בַּת־נָדִיב חַמּוּקֵי יְרֵכַיִךְ כְּמוֹ חֲלָאִים מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אָמָּן׃ (ז:ב) - "How beautiful are your steps in shoes, O daughter of nobles! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the handiwork of a master craftsman." (7:2)
They say to her: You are a nobleman's daughter, a daughter of God, and your footsteps - your strides - are beautiful, but only "in shoes." Shoes represent the material realm, as explained regarding "Remove your shoe from your foot" with Yehoshua, and with Moshe, "Remove your shoes from your feet," where the meaning is detachment from physical matter. They say to her: Your steps are beautiful only when you are in shoes, only while you are still within the body, for the soul's powers depend upon physical matter. Once you separate from the body, all your powers and all the deeds you were able to bring from potential into actuality vanish and are gone.
And why do they begin specifically with "your steps"? A step is attributed to the feet. That is to say: all the actions you perform through the power of the feet are possible only while you reside in the body; but when you are outside the body, the body can no longer take a step or move, and it will remain like a lifeless stone.
Here we should recall the three faculties of the soul that the Malbim frequently mentions: the natural soul, the vital soul, and the intellectual soul, which correspond to what the kabbalists define as nefesh, ruach, and neshamah. The natural soul is the vegetative soul, the most basic and lowest dimension, responsible for nourishing the body and sustaining physical existence. Its seat is from the loins - the belly - downward, where the nutritive faculty resides to sustain the body through eating and drinking, alongside the reproductive faculty. The reproductive faculty is hinted at by the thigh: "All the souls issuing from the thigh of Yaakov were seventy souls," and "The thigh that initiated the transgression first" - demonstrating that the thigh represents mating and childbirth.
Therefore: "The curves of your thighs are like jewels" - the thigh, symbolizing reproduction and the preservation of the human species, bringing the next generation into the world, is as beautiful as an ornament, but only when it is "the handiwork of a master craftsman." That is, only while the body - the craftsman and former - can still carry out its work. For could the soul, as an incorporeal spiritual entity, ever bear children and generate a continuation? Thus, it is worthwhile for you to remain in the body, for only in this way are the curves of your thighs like jewels, making it possible to create an ornament and bring children into the world. Without the craftsman, there is no future generation.
"Your navel is a round basin" - The Grinders Cease
שָׁרְרֵךְ אַגַּן הַסַּהַר אַל־יֶחְסַר הַמָּזֶג בִּטְנֵךְ עֲרֵמַת חִטִּים סוּגָה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים׃ (ז:ג) - "Your navel is a round basin, let not mixed wine be lacking; your belly is a heap of wheat hedged about with lilies." (7:3)
Here the text ascends to the next level, addressing the nutritive faculty: eating and drinking, what the stomach breaks down and the intestines digest. "Your navel" symbolizes human nourishment. Although the navel has no active function once a person is separated from the placenta, it permanently symbolizes the operation of nourishment, since through it an infant was fed in its mother's womb. "A round basin" - the central source of irrigation, for through the navel vitality was distributed to all parts of the body. "Let not mixed wine be lacking" - and now, when the body dies, this blending and nourishment to the entire body will indeed be lacking.
"Your belly is hedged about with lilies" - as if there are lilies within the belly, which represent the intestines, the power that digests food and extracts its nutrients. The Malbim explains that the phrase "let not be lacking" stated in the opening clause applies to the closing clause as well: "your belly, let it not lack a heap of wheat." That is, after death the belly is no longer capable of grinding wheat and digesting - "the grinders cease," "and the sound of the mill is low," in the words of King Solomon. The moment you separate from the body, all bodily faculties are nullified.
"Your two breasts" - The Faculty of Anger and the Faculty of Desire
שְׁנֵי שָׁדַיִךְ כִּשְׁנֵי עֳפָרִים תָּאֳמֵי צְבִיָּה׃ (ז:ד) - "Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle."
After addressing the lower soul - the natural, vegetative soul - he proceeds to speak of the vital soul (nefesh chiyunit), which is a higher dimension. The vital soul resides from the chest upward to the head, and it is a higher spiritual faculty from which the powers of the soul operate - lower soul-powers, indeed, but soul-powers nonetheless.
We have already mentioned what is brought in the holy books, and discussed extensively by the Vilna Gaon and the early authorities: the faculty of anger and the faculty of desire, two fundamental drives within man. Breasts allude to abundance and flow, and these two forces are, in the Malbim's formulation, products of the arousing faculty (ha-koach ha-mitorer) - an arousal to anger, and an arousal and longing for desire. They are "like two fawns, twins of a gazelle": "twins" means matching, complementary counterparts. The arousing faculty is stirred toward desire by the desiring faculty, while the irascible faculty generates anger, jealousy, and vengeance - two central drives in man. Now, as the soul draws away, these forces can no longer function.
"Your Neck Is Like a Tower of Ivory" - Dominion, the Practical Intellect, and the Theoretical Intellect
צַוָּארֵךְ כְּמִגְדַּל הַשֵּׁן עֵינַיִךְ בְּרֵכוֹת בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן עַל־שַׁעַר בַּת־רַבִּים אַפֵּךְ כְּמִגְדַּל הַלְּבָנוֹן צוֹפֶה פְּנֵי דַמָּשֶׂק׃ (ז:ה) - "Your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes are like pools in Cheshbon by the gate of Bat-Rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus."
The faculties of the body continue to recount another element that will cease functioning upon her departure. "Your neck is like a tower of ivory" - the neck allegorizes the intellect and the soul, and their governing power over the body. The neck symbolizes dominion, for throughout history, whenever rulers sought control, they built a tower from which they could oversee everything below. Anyone familiar with the "Tower and Stockade" era knows that they always looked for a high vantage point to build a watchtower, keeping watch over everything happening around them. Today there are far more sophisticated technologies, drones and satellites, and physical towers are unnecessary; but in ancient times, this was the way: a watchman stationed high above would spot the enemy and sound the alarm. Here too, the neck symbolizes sovereignty over all the faculties of the body, reigning over the physical self and subjugating its impulses under its feet.
"Your eyes" - these are the eyes of the intellect. We have already noted the distinction between the practical intellect and the theoretical intellect: the practical intellect is the cognitive faculty devoted to physical survival - what will I eat, what will I drink, where will I live, how will I support myself, how will I manage my household, and how will I purchase what I need? It governs all matters of man's material necessities. The theoretical intellect, by contrast, does not deal with mundane affairs, but contemplates abstract concepts: philosophical inquiries, analytical studies, and deep intellectual concepts.
Regarding the practical intellect, it says, "Your eyes are like pools in Cheshbon": the eyes of the intellect that calculate all bodily affairs resemble reservoirs in which water gathers - all the rainwater and streams flowing down from the mountains collect in a pool. This symbolizes all the impressions collected and remembered by the senses, through which the entire conduct of the body is "calculated" and directed.
To explain: if one examines how we make decisions, one sees that the foundation is memory, for without memory it is impossible to decide anything. For example, if a person receives a fine, he rushes to pay it. Why? Because he remembers that last time, the penalties multiplied drastically; or because he remembers someone telling him what happened when they left a fine unpaid. All our actions stem from trial and error and remembering the results. Even the career path one chooses is guided by remembering: when I tried this approach I failed, but when I did that I succeeded. This is the meaning of "pools in Cheshbon": the pool is the reservoir where all our past experience gathers, and through it we calculate every action - weighing whether something is worthwhile or not, based on the data collected in the pool, a form of memory by which we navigate life.
"By the gate of Bat-Rabbim" - it is most fitting that these eyes should remain stationed at the gates of Jerusalem. As explained, Jerusalem represents the physical frame, the body, where all bodily faculties reside. Thus, it is proper that you remain to manage the body in all its affairs and needs. For when the soul departs, who will manage it? The body simply decays. Directing the physical body in all its worldly needs requires the power of the soul to serve as "pools in Cheshbon" - managing the body with calculation, and specifically "by the gate of Bat-Rabbim", while connected to the body, to Jerusalem.
"Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon" - we have already noted that this does not refer to a literal nose, for a nose resembling the tower of Lebanon would hardly be praise. Rather, "apech" is used in the sense of the Aramaic appei, meaning face or countenance (as in appei ravrevei). The Malbim explains: if up to this point the verse spoke of the practical intellect - how to manage one's life - it now turns to the theoretical intellect, which the Malbim defines as "the face of the soul and its form", which is why it is called a face. This is the capacity for deep contemplation and intellectual insight, through which man can perceive the handiwork of Hashem in the world, man's purpose in the universe, and all matters of higher understanding.
"Looking toward Damascus" - the Malbim explains: the eyes were confined to "the gate of Bat-Rabbim", to the gates of Jerusalem, meaning exclusively to the affairs of the body; but the theoretical intellect knows no such limitation. The theoretical intellect does not concern itself with the physical body; rather, it looks toward Damascus, investigating distant matters that have no direct connection to the physical frame, reaching far beyond the streets of Jerusalem. If Jerusalem represents the holy city, Damascus symbolizes the lands of the nations, a place devoid of holiness. This hints that even through contemplation of secular and worldly disciplines, one can reach extraordinary intellectual heights. Aristotle was among the greatest of researchers and philosophers, to the extent that the Rambam wrote that his intellectual perception came close to prophecy - in terms of sheer intellectual capacity, not in character perfection or fear of Heaven. The Malbim adds: the verse specifically mentions Damascus because it lies to the east, indicating that from sunrise to sunset, across the entire world, one can contemplate and attain knowledge through this theoretical faculty. If so, upon death all of this ceases and comes to an end - is it not worthwhile, then, to remain within the body?
"Your head upon you is like Carmel" - The Source of the Soul and the Bound King
רֹאשֵׁךְ עָלַיִךְ כַּכַּרְמֶל וְדַלַּת רֹאשֵׁךְ כָּאַרְגָּמָן מֶלֶךְ אָסוּר בָּרְהָטִים׃ (ז:ו) - "Your head upon you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple; a king is held captive in the conduits." (7:6)
The daughters of the body ascend another step. Notice: we began from the thighs and have now reached the head, which is the highest, most spiritual part. "Your head upon you is like Carmel" - your very essence, the fact that the soul is a distinct, spiritual, and divine entity; you are the head of them all. "Carmel" denotes something tender and full, for grain at its fullness is called karmel. That is, you are filled with spirit and knowledge of God like Carmel, like grain full in its early ripeness.
"And the hair of your head" - that which is drawn out and emerges from your head, which was earlier called "your hair." As we already explained based on the Kabbalists, the concept of hair represents the bursting forth of the inner intellect outwards: the inner divine flow emerges in the manner of strands of hair, and in the supernal realms these are extremely lofty spiritual lights. When this serves as an allegory for the soul, it refers to the outward bursting forth of its inner faculties.
"Like purple" - the Malbim explains that purple (argaman) is an allegory for the World of the Throne, which according to the Kabbalists is called argaman. Reality is graded into four worlds, known by the acronym ABYA: Atzilut (Emanation), Beriah (Creation), Yetzirah (Formation), and Asiyah (Action), from above to below in a descending order of unfolding: Atzilut flows into Beriah, Beriah into Yetzirah, and Yetzirah into Asiyah, with the World of Asiyah being the material, physical realm. The World of the Throne, which is the World of Beriah, is the quarry of souls, and from there, from beneath the Throne of Glory, springs forth the source of the supernal souls. Thus they say to her: your head is like purple, one level below the World of Atzilut.
"A king is held captive in the conduits" - the king in the lower physical reality is the body, which reigns and rules over all its faculties. But consider: without a soul, what becomes of the king? He is bound in fetters. And which fetters? Only the bonds of the soul's influence. "Conduits" are water troughs; if there is no soul pouring influence upon it, the body goes to the grave. It turns out that all the power of influence and the very existence of the body depends solely upon you. The Malbim cites the Holy Zohar to this effect, explaining that "a king bound in the conduits" refers to the body bound in the grave. However, if the soul bestows its influence upon it, it is indeed bound - but bound under the power of the soul, enjoying existence and vitality. If you cease to bestow your influence, it has no existence and no vitality, and rather than being bound in the channels of life, it is bound in the grave.
"How fair and how pleasant you are" - There Are No Pleasures in Death
מַה־יָּפִית וּמַה־נָּעַמְתְּ אַהֲבָה בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים׃ (ז:ז) - "How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with delights!" (7:7)
You are exceedingly fair and pleasant, O soul - but only "with delights." That is, only if you love the body, only if you live the life of this world, wherein you have all matters of pleasure that physical reality affords. In death there are no pleasures, no physical enjoyment, and everything there is entirely spiritual.
"This stature of yours is like a palm tree" - The Heart Speaks
זֹאת קוֹמָתֵךְ דָּמְתָה לְתָמָר וְשָׁדַיִךְ לְאַשְׁכֹּלוֹת׃ (ז:ח) - "This stature of yours is like a palm tree, and your breasts like clusters of grapes." (7:8)
Until now we have described the powers of the body, the "daughters of the corpse," debating and trying to persuade the soul not to abandon them, each claiming that without her it has no existence, and that all her power of influence exists only while she is within the body. Now scripture describes how King Solomon himself turns to persuade his beloved, the soul, to remain and not depart to unite with her Beloved. And who is King Solomon here? We previously said that Solomon represents the body, and we have already discussed the body. The Malbim explains: there is an additional dimension here - the ruler of the body, which is the heart. From the heart stem all influences, and from the heart comes the governance of the entire body. That is, we are no longer speaking in parts - not of your navel, nor your thighs, nor your breasts, nor your neck, nor your head, nor the hair of your head - but of the body as a whole, as a complete entity, under its overall leadership represented by Solomon: the heart that directs the entire body. And now, as he faces separation from his beloved, he too attempts to utter words of persuasion, hoping she might stay.
He says to her: "This stature of yours is like a palm tree" - everything we have enumerated, from your footsteps and your feet all the way to your head, is the stature of the heavenly beloved, the stature of the soul: the vegetative soul, the vital soul, and the rational soul, the stature in its entirety, all the levels of Nefesh-Ruach-Neshamah in their completeness, from which all the powers derive. She resembles a palm tree, which symbolizes the tall, mighty tree reaching toward heaven. You seek to connect to the heavens just as the palm tree reaches upward. It is also called tamar because it is tamir, meaning tall and lofty.
Incidentally, what is the origin of the word tamrurim (signposts)? Two explanations are given: one is that it relates to moreh (a pointer or guide); the other relates to "Set up signposts (tamrurim) for yourself" - just as one might say today, "set up road markers." When travelers wished to mark a road, they would plant palm trees; hence, tamrurim were waymarks made of palm trees. The palm tree is tall, allowing travelers to see the boundary from afar.
Therefore he addresses the soul as a whole: "This stature of yours is like a palm tree," meaning that you turn upward, and your desire is toward your Husband, toward the Holy One, blessed be He, in heaven. "And your breasts like clusters of grapes" - the grapes are now ready to be harvested and brought into the winepress to extract wine from them. The vintage symbolizes departure from this world to the celestial harvest above, where wine is produced from everything accomplished down here, which is in the category of grapes. There above, the completion of all the soul's lifetime deeds comes to fruition - its divine service and the mitzvot it acquired. Thus, your stature resembles a palm tree that reaches ever upward, and your breasts are like clusters from which wine is now pressed - and this is why you yearn to unite with your Beloved on high.
In summary: This passage describes the moment of departure. The soul descends to the "nut garden" - to the body with its four shells - to examine what it has yielded: whether the vine of intellectual truths has blossomed and the pomegranates of the 613 mitzvot have budded, so that she may take an offering to her Beloved. And having now arrived, "My soul made me like the chariots of a noble people," and she ascends in a tempest to be gathered to her people. In response, the daughters of the physical body plead, "Return, return, O Shulammite," to which she answers that within the body she experiences only a perpetual battle of two camps. The faculties of the body then appeal to her stage by stage, from the feet to the head: the reproductive faculty in the thigh, the nutritive faculty in the navel and the belly, the faculties of anger and appetite in the breasts, the power of governance in the neck, the practical intellect in the eyes, the theoretical intellect in the face, and the source of the soul in the head. All of them plead that their beauty and function depend entirely on her, and that without her, "a king is held captive in the troughs" - the body is bound in the grave. Finally, the heart, which guides the entire body, addresses her and reminds her of the perfection of her stature. Yet it is precisely through that towering stature, reaching upward like a palm tree, and through those clusters that have reached their time of harvest, that it becomes clear that the soul's entire purpose is to ascend and unite with her Beloved on high.