Introduction: The Soul's Plea Before Her Creator for Her Little Sister
We arrive at the conclusion of Shir HaShirim according to the Malbim, in both the poetic allegory (melitzah) and the nimshal (the deeper inner meaning). Here, the Malbim describes how the soul pours out her prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, on behalf of her little sister. And who is this little sister in the nimshal? It is the hylic spirit (ruach hahiyulani). The soul pleads that the King take her as well, so that she will not remain tied to the corpse and perish along with it. Further on, we will hear the response of Hashem, may He be blessed, and the response of the spirit.
What Is the "Hylic Spirit"?
To understand this, we must clarify what the hylic spirit is. This is an expression used by the early sages and philosophers, and it appears throughout classical works. The Rambam writes in Shemonah Perakim that man is called a microcosm because of the rational faculty, which is the hylic intellect (seichel hahiyuli - the potential, material intellect). The word "hiyuli" (hylic/prime) always denotes that which is primal and rudimentary. The Ramban refers to the primordial hylic force, the primary formless matter (chomer hiyuli) that existed in the world, from which the Holy One, blessed be He, created the entire cosmos. The hylic intellect, therefore, represents the intellectual capacity with which man is created: the basic, primary intellect, which the Rambam defines as belonging to the realm of matter. In contrast, there is the acquired intellect (seichel nikneh) or emanated intellect (seichel ne'etzal), which is in the category of form. The hylic intellect also encompasses the faculty of speech that a person is born with, whereas the acquired intellect is a higher spiritual power that influences this primal intellect.
If we wish to translate this into the terminology of the Kabbalists, which is closer to our framework than philosophical terms: the hylic intellect corresponds to the aspect of ruach. The ruach is the part of the soul more closely connected to the body, and it serves, as explained previously, as the intermediary between the nefesh and the neshamah. When we speak of the acquired intellect, and even more so the emanated intellect, we are speaking of an intellect that corresponds to the neshamah: a lofty spiritual essence that descends and cascades down from the higher spiritual realm into the realm of the ruach dwelling here within the body. The ruach is more attached to the physical and corporeal, while the neshamah is the higher, purely spiritual aspect.
אָחוֹת לָנוּ קְטַנָּה וְשָׁדַיִם אֵין לָהּ, מַה נַּעֲשֶׂה לַאֲחֹתֵנוּ בַּיּוֹם שֶׁיְּדֻבַּר בָּהּ׃ (ח, ח) - "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?" (8:8)
The soul, as it were, pleads before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, we have a little sister, which is the hylic soul bound to the corpse. This level is not eternal in the same manner as the neshamah. It is tied to the body and withers with it, blemishes with it, and suffers from the physical deficiencies of the body. When the body is buried, this lower dimension of the spirit, being a lower spiritual stratum relative to the neshamah, perishes along with the physical matter. For now, we will set aside the Kabbalistic view on this, which differs slightly.
The Craft of Alchemy: Refining the Spirit
The Malbim explains: through the propriety of good deeds, through Torah, and through avodah, the craft of alchemy is performed upon it. What is this craft of alchemy? There is a way to perform spiritual, quasi-chemical refining on the ruach and purify it. Alchemists would take metal, such as silver, refine it, and separate the dross from it; thus, when expressing the idea of purification, classical authors refer to the craft of alchemy. In other words, one can take this dimension of the soul - which is the level of ruach tied closely to the body - and elevate it so that it becomes like the neshamah, spiritual, returning to its God upon parting from the body. The goal is that the ruach should not remain cleaving to the material realm, but rather that this alchemical refinement be performed upon it, so that this hylic spirit bound to the corpse is purified, merits eternal good, becomes a separate intellect just like the neshamah, and thus the ruach, too, attains eternal existence.
The Malbim notes, according to the masters of Kabbalah, that the ruach remains in the Lower Gan Eden (Gan Eden HaTachton). This clarifies why it is inaccurate to say that it simply remains in the corpse, for the ruach is also spiritual. What remains in the corpse is only a minute spark of vitality, the "kista dechiyuta," as the Kabbalists teach. (One who wishes may study the teachings on reincarnation [Mishnat HaGilgulim], where the levels of nefesh, ruach, and neshamah are explained: what this kista dechiyuta is, where it remains in the body, its essence, why it resides in the bones, the matter of the "vapour of the bones" [havla degarmei], and what it accomplishes.) The ruach itself does indeed detach from the body, though unlike the neshamah: the neshamah ascends to the Upper Gan Eden (Gan Eden HaElyon), while the ruach reaches only the Lower Gan Eden.
And as those versed in these matters know, regarding the Lower Gan Eden the Torah speaks of "to till it and to keep it" (le'ovdah uleshomrah). One must realize that there is an aspect of performing mitzvot even after death, and where is that? In the Lower Gan Eden. As the Kabbalists explain, when discussing the Lower Gan Eden, the concept of "to till it and to keep it" applies there too, and there is a dimension of mitzvah observance even in that realm.
Then, the masters of Kabbalah teach, the ruach remains in the Lower Gan Eden while the divine neshamah ascends above. And when the neshamah wishes to descend, the ruach serves it as a garment, a cloak of sorts, enabling it to descend and bestow influence here in this lower world. The Malbim cites numerous sources for this, which need not all be quoted in full: in the Zohar, Parashat Acharei Mot (p. 70b at length), Zohar Shemot (p. 13), Mishpatim (p. 99), Terumah (p. 136), Vayakhel, and in Parashat Lech Lecha in Sitrei Torah - many places in the Zohar and the Kabbalistic writings where this principle is established.
"And She Has No Breasts" - The Ruach Receives and Does Not Bestow
Therefore, the Neshamah comes and says: We have a little sister, which refers to the level of the Ruach. Yet "she has no breasts," and we have already explained that breasts signify influence and bestowing. She has no power to bestow, because, as we explained, she is an intellect in a potential state, born along with the body; she receives influences and does not bestow on her own, she only receives. And as we said, breasts symbolize that which bestows and grants.
"What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?" - Just as we saw that the Nefesh, meaning the soul of Solomon, was taken to the Supreme King and departed from Solomon's body, so the Neshamah asks: What shall we do for the Ruach on the day her time comes to leave the body, when she is spoken for and taken to the King's house? How can we ensure that she too will endure for eternity, rather than remain bound to the physical body, to Solomon's body, descending with it into the grave? How can we ensure she will be like the spiritual Neshamah, returning to her celestial abode?
אִם חוֹמָה הִיא נִבְנֶה עָלֶיהָ טִירַת כָּסֶף, וְאִם דֶּלֶת הִיא נָצוּר עָלֶיהָ לוּחַ אָרֶז׃ (ח, ט) - "If she is a wall, we will build upon her a silver palace; and if she is a door, we will panel her with a board of cedar." (8:9)
The Holy One, blessed be He, replies: If she is a wall - if she remained fortified like a closed wall, and desires and passions did not dominate her while she resided in Solomon's body - we will build upon her a silver palace. We will bring her to Gan Eden, to the palace longed for by the righteous. But if she is a door, if she opened her doors like a door turning on its hinge toward Solomon, toward physicality and earthly passions, we will panel her with a board of cedar: we will place her in a coffin made of cedar and lower her into the grave, and she will decay together with the body in the earth, as we have explained.
אֲנִי חוֹמָה וְשָׁדַי כַּמִּגְדָּלוֹת, אָז הָיִיתִי בְעֵינָיו כְּמוֹצְאֵת שָׁלוֹם׃ (ח, י) - "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then I was in his eyes like one who finds peace." (8:10)
The Ruach replies: I am a wall. I stood strong like a fortified wall against the yetzer, and the yetzer did not master me. "And my breasts are like towers" - here breasts represent the power of anger and the power of desire, the two strongest drives within man, and in me they stood strong like towers. I did not let the Yetzer Hara conquer them; I did not permit it to exploit them and direct them toward physicality, toward anger, lust, and earthly pursuits. "Like towers" - the Yetzer Hara could not overcome them.
"Then I was in his eyes like one who finds peace" - I made peace with the Yetzer Hara. When a person struggles with the Yetzer Hara, he is engaged in constant warfare, but once the evil inclination ceases to assault him, the battle ends. I was like one who finds peace; it no longer fought me, to the point that I drew it itself into the service of Hashem, until it forged a covenant with me to serve the Holy One, blessed be He. "And my heart is slain within me" - I utilize all the drives of the yetzer to serve Him "with all your heart," even with the Yetzer Hara. And how does one serve the Holy One, blessed be He, with the Yetzer Hara? By taking the very drives the evil inclination uses for material ends and channeling them toward spirituality. If a person possesses desire, he redirects it toward the service of Hashem. If a person possesses vigorous energy - energy that could have led him to commit many sins - he redirects it toward Torah study and the fulfillment of mitzvos. All the forces the yetzer uses to drag one toward physicality and earthliness have now made peace with me, turning around to assist me in the service of Hashem.
כֶּרֶם הָיָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה בְּבַעַל הָמוֹן, נָתַן אֶת הַכֶּרֶם לַנֹּטְרִים, אִישׁ יָבִא בְּפִרְיוֹ אֶלֶף כָּסֶף׃ (ח, יא) - "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each man would bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver." (8:11)
Here the Ruach recounts how she made peace with the Yetzer Hara and no longer had to wage war with it, and the yetzer failed to sever her from closeness to Hashem and His service. Consider: "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon." We have already explained previously that the actions a person undertakes to achieve an ultimate goal resemble planting a vineyard. Just as one plants a vineyard to attain the ultimate outcome - the grapes from which wine is produced - so too, the actions aimed at achieving that goal are compared to planting a vineyard. Solomon possessed a magnificent vineyard, meaning the vast array of deeds and endeavors in which he engaged, in matters of wisdom, knowledge, and the fulfillment of mitzvos. "At Baal Hamon" - possessing an immense multitude; his deeds, pursuits, and mitzvos were exceedingly plentiful.
"He entrusted the vineyard to keepers" - the keepers are the sons of Jerusalem and the daughters of Jerusalem, the faculties of the body. All of them guarded the vineyard and labored in its cultivation: the intellectual faculties guarded the vines of contemplation and rational concepts, in the words of the Malbim, meaning Solomon's faculties occupied themselves with spiritual matters, while the vital life-forces guarded the grape clusters, the work of fulfilling mitzvos. And each earned a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit, with "silver" (kesef), as we explained, related to yearning (kisufim) - the things after which people deeply yearn.
כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לְפָנָי, הָאֶלֶף לְךָ שְׁלֹמֹה וּמָאתַיִם לְנֹטְרִים אֶת פִּרְיוֹ׃ (ח, יב) - "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; the thousand is for you, Solomon, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit." (8:12)
The ruach says: This great vineyard is my own vineyard. I fulfilled the Torah and the mitzvot while I was with Shlomo, and therefore the reward for this toil - the deep contemplation of intellectual concepts and meditation on the Torah - must remain eternal for me, the ruach, and not remain within the body; rather, I should ascend just as the neshamah ascends and reaches the upper realms. "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me" - in reward for the vineyard that Shlomo acquired, that is, what the body acquired through labor in Torah and mitzvot, it stands before me, in the aspect of "Your righteousness shall go before you." I was meticulous and careful to fulfill all of Hashem's commandments.
"The thousand are for you, Shlomo" - the body and its faculties also toiled in the vineyard, they too engaged in Torah and mitzvot, and their reward will not be withheld either. After all, Chazal teach that the body is also destined to arise at the end of days, and why? Because the body also exerted itself and worked, and therefore the body also merits the resurrection of the dead. "The thousand are for you, Shlomo" refers to the body itself, and the fruits of the vineyard are the mitzvot and good deeds, which will belong both to the body and to the lower soul which is the aspect of the ruach. "And two hundred for those who keep its fruit" - these are the life-forces that guarded the clusters of service and mitzvot. It is likewise brought in the Midrash HaNe'elam that there is no righteous person who engages in Torah who does not receive two hundred worlds and yearnings for the sake of the Torah; thus, "two hundred for those who keep its fruit" is for the one who fulfilled the Torah and mitzvot.
We find, then, that the ruach argues: Even though I was inside Shlomo's body, my entire focus was closeness to Hashem and the service of Hashem, and if so, I surely deserve to ascend with the neshamah. Just as the neshamah reaches the upper realms to receive its reward, so do I deserve to do so. I was not in the category of a door open to Shlomo's body and desires; on the contrary, I was in the category of a silver battlement, a wall and a fortified tower, and therefore I deserve to ascend together with the neshamah.
הַיּוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּגַּנִּים חֲבֵרִים מַקְשִׁיבִים לְקוֹלֵךְ הַשְׁמִיעִנִי׃ (ח, יג) - "You who dwell in the gardens, companions listen for your voice; let Me hear it." (8:13)
This is now Hashem's response to the ruach. The neshamah returns to the bundle of life and is cleaved to the God of spirits eternally, but the ruach, as we explained, remains in the Lower Gan Eden. There is the realm of the Upper Gan Eden, which corresponds to the neshamah, and there is the realm of the Lower Gan Eden, the lower level, which corresponds to the ruach. Only on specific occasions does it merit ascending: there is an ascent of the worlds, as explained by the Kabbalists, and then the ruach also merits ascending periodically to higher levels, on Shabbatot and Yamim Tovim, when it truly merits beholding the light of Hashem at a level higher than the Lower Gan Eden.
According to this, the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to the ruach and tells it: You are "she who dwells in the gardens" - that is, in the Lower Gan Eden, where the ruach remains when it was righteous. I cannot elevate you above, because you have "companions listening." And who are the companions listening for your voice? That is the nefesh beneath you. For the neshamah ascends to the Upper Gan Eden, while the ruach remains in the Lower Gan Eden because it is connected to the nefesh, which is the lower level, the part directly bound to the body, "for the blood is the nefesh." You have companions who listen for your voice, and you are connected to the body resting in the grave; therefore, you cannot detach entirely to reach the upper realms.
But what can happen? "Let Me hear it." The Holy One, blessed be He, says to it: At designated times, let Me hear your voice. That is, on Shabbatot and Yamim Tovim, when the ruach also merits ascending in the aspect of the elevation of the worlds, then let Me hear it periodically. A permanent attachment, however - where the ruach would ascend permanently to the Upper Gan Eden - is impossible, because it is bound to the nefesh, which is bound to the body; it retains a connection to the lower realms and cannot ascend completely.
בְּרַח דּוֹדִי וּדְמֵה לְךָ לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים עַל הָרֵי בְשָׂמִים׃ (ח, יד) - "Flee, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices." (8:14)
And then the ruach concludes and says: "Flee, my Beloved," to Your upper abode, since You, the Holy One, blessed be He, do not unite with me constantly. And why? Because of the companions who listen, for it has companions down here - those levels close to the physical, the aspect of the nefesh. But as we explained, the gazelle and the hart always turn their heads back. We already noted that in illustrations, when a hart is drawn, it is always depicted with its head turned to the side, looking back. Thus the ruach says: Master of the Universe, be like a gazelle or a young hart, so that even as You flee, You will at least turn Your head back toward me from time to time, upon the mountains of spices, returning to me periodically and at designated intervals.
With this, the Malbim concludes his commentary on Shir HaShirim. Yet another section remains for us, known as the allegorical epilogue (Melitzat HaCharash VeHaMasger), which we will examine in the next chapter.
In summary:
At the conclusion of Shir HaShirim, the soul expresses its concern for the "little sister" - the raw, potential ruach bound to the body that lacks the power to influence - lest it perish with the corpse. Hashem's response: If she is a wall, if she resisted the evil inclination, we will build upon her a silver battlement; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with cedar boards and she will descend into the grave. And the ruach answers: I am a wall, and my breasts - the powers of anger and desire - are like towers unconquered by the evil inclination, until I made peace with it and harnessed its energies for the service of Hashem. Shlomo's vineyard, all of his deeds, wisdom, and mitzvot, has its reward standing before him: the thousand for the body, and two hundred for the keepers. And Hashem's answer: You who dwell in the gardens, in the Lower Gan Eden, remain connected to the nefesh and to the body and cannot ascend permanently; nevertheless, "let Me hear it" periodically, on Shabbatot and Yamim Tovim, during the elevation of the worlds. Hence the final plea of the ruach: Flee, my Beloved, yet turn Your head back to me like a gazelle and a young hart, from time to time.