Introduction: What Is "HaCharash VeHaMasger"?
After explaining the entirety of Shir HaShirim according to the commentary of the Malbim, one final section remains: at the conclusion of his commentary, the Malbim adds a section entitled "Melitzah" (Allegory), named "HaCharash VeHaMasger" (The Craftsman and the Smith). This section is essentially an esoteric explanation of Shir HaShirim according to the path of Sod (the mystical tradition). It cannot be said that he explains every single verse here, but he opens a gateway to an inner realm far deeper than anything seen thus far. To reach that point, the Malbim presents an introduction in which he distinguishes between other commentaries and his own, and then dives deeper, enabling us to understand these matters in their ultimate depth and truth.
The Malbim's prose here is poetic, sweet, and graceful; we will therefore read from his words and explain them. One should know that here the Malbim descends into the depths, touching directly upon matters of Kabbalah. The Malbim, as is well known, was an immense mekubal. He was masterfully versed in Kabbalah and studied it for years, as can also be seen throughout his commentary, where he periodically mentions mystical matters. His biographies record that he was deeply engaged in Kabbalah, even though his primary published focus was on Peshat (the straightforward meaning).
Kabbalah in the Open and Kabbalah in Secret
Here it is worth noting a distinction: among the Sephardic sages, whoever was a mekubal was openly known and renowned as such, dedicating most of his focus and day to Kabbalah. There was the holy Rashash, Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, and the Roshei Yeshivah of Beit El and Shaar HaShamayim throughout all their generations, who engaged in Kabbalah openly. By contrast, among the Ashkenazic sages, these matters were kept hidden. Only a few engaged in it openly and publicly, such as the author of the Leshem and his like, while the majority engaged in it in secret; just as they were geniuses in Peshat, they were also geniuses in Kabbalah.
This is also told of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who was a genius in Kabbalah, but chose not to publish kabbalistic works in order to fortify Halachah and the study of Peshat. It is related that when he moved apartments, there were several crates he refused to let anyone else carry, insisting on carrying them himself. In those crates were his writings on the secrets of Torah - original insights and treatises he had authored - and he did not want others to touch them. Nor did he want people to delve excessively into Kabbalah without studying Peshat; therefore, they kept the study of Kabbalah concealed, in accordance with the verse, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter." Such was the Malbim as well, and from what we will soon see, it is clear that he was thoroughly at home in the inner wisdom of Kabbalah.
Every Spiritual Entity That Descends into the World Dons a Garment
The Malbim begins: "Do we not know this, that divine spiritual matters, when descending from their holy heights to walk in the lower realm, place a veil over their heads and wrap themselves in cloaks?" In other words, when a spiritual reality descends into the physical world, it cannot arrive as it is. The material world has no direct point of contact with the purely abstract spiritual; therefore, the spiritual must wrap itself in physical cloaks in order to descend to us.
He gives examples: the holy souls, upon descending below, "don a form and a physical body." The soul descends here, but does it walk about the world purely as a soul? A person might call his wife "my soul," but there is still a physical body present. Similarly with spiritual angels: "When they roam the earth, they lean under the tree and eat." These were angels, yet they appeared in physical bodies, ate, and leaned, because whatever connects to the material realm must conduct itself and be garbed in the guise of physical reality.
That is the parable. And the lesson: "So too, the secrets of the Torah clothe themselves in a garment woven and spun from historical narratives of the world and its affairs, and its wonders place a veil over their face." The Torah itself is an immense spiritual reality descending into the world. When we look at it, it appears to recount stories: "In the beginning, God created," Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, the Children of Israel, Egypt. One who reads it strictly at surface value remains only with the garment, with the external layers. In truth, however, it contains an immense inner dimension, the deepest secrets, and what appears as Peshat is merely the outward garment of spirituality descending below. And because it descended into a physical world, it speaks to us through physical narratives.
As he puts it: "They cloak the precious light and the lightning flash, lest it cause cataract and blindness to the eyes of the bat." The light is concealed so that the bat's eyes are not blinded, allowing it to see only what it can bear: the Peshat. This is what the Zohar teaches: "The Torah has a garment, a body, and a soul." "Foolish people look only at the garment." If you explain to such a person that the verse "These are the kings... Bela son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah" hints at the Shattering of the Vessels and the fall of the worlds, he will reply: "I do not know what vessels you are talking about; I am reading about Bela son of Beor." If you speak to him of akudim, nekudim, and berudim (the striped, speckled, and spotted), he will say: "I see here that Yaakov peeled sticks at the water troughs, and as a result, the flocks gave birth." "Those who are wiser look at the soul" - one who studies deeply understands that these refer to celestial worlds, to the World of Nekudim and the World of Berudim, to higher spiritual emanations; and all of this is the inner depth of the Torah.
To summarize thus far: the Malbim tells us - know that when a spiritual entity descends into this world, it clothes itself in physical form. Do not be confused: there is immense spirituality here, and the physical garment exists only because we are in a material world, in order to forge a connection here. That is why the angels appeared as Nomadic travelers, why the soul wraps itself in a body, and why the Torah takes the form of stories about Avraham and Yitzchak. It is all true, but do not stop there - there is an inner dimension.
What Is Unique About Shir HaShirim?
Here lies the crucial distinction: "Indeed, upon examination, we see that the covering that veils the face of this holy song is unlike the veil spread over all the other Sacred Scriptures." Throughout all the Sacred Scriptures, there is a literal meaning (peshat) and an inner dimension (penimiyut), but when one looks at the literal surface of Shir HaShirim, it bears no resemblance to the literal surface of the other books. Why? "For all the holy scriptures are clad in precious garments and adorned with fine ornaments; for the narratives in which their hidden secrets are clothed are all holy, all children of the living God, radiating splendor and brilliance, full of wisdom and ethical instruction, teaching counsel and sound wisdom, righteousness and equity, making wise the simple." Even if one takes only the literal level of the rest of Tanach, one finds in it ethical teaching, inspiration, and the service of Hashem.
"Not so this song." Here, when one examines the literal surface at face value, one sees no sanctity: "It has donned a hairy mantle, covered itself in sackcloth and ashes, appearing like a song of romance, a topic of conversation for the wanton, and a tune for drunkards." What does the external narrative describe? "My beloved," "my love," "my companion" - matters of romance. That is to say: throughout the rest of Scripture, the garment itself is holy and the soul is the Holy of Holies, whereas in this song, the outer garment appears, Heaven forbid, like a secular love song.
The Malbim adds in parentheses: "Behold, Hashem has poured out upon them a spirit of deep sleep and closed the eyes of those commentators and translators of the German editions [of the Enlightenment], who walked along unpeaceful paths and desecrated the sanctity of this song, for they interpreted it according to its outer form and shell, so that to them it became like the song of a harlot. Nor did they understand the meaning of its plain poetic allegory. Therefore they cut it to pieces, tore it to shreds, and the curse-bearing waters turned bitter for them." They took the song, treated it, God forbid, like a collection of lustful ballads, and claimed it was assembled from various popular folk songs: a wine song, a friendship song, a song of spring, a dance song, songs of youths and maidens, and love songs.
The Very Lowliness of the Garment Is the Proof of Its Sanctity
"Yet this is the sign of the majesty of this song, and this is the proof of its immense splendor and sanctity." Precisely what appears to be an embarrassing garment - one that speaks of romance and desire - is the proof of the greatness of its sanctity, "for all the songs are holy, but Shir HaShirim is the Holy of Holies." How so? "Because even the robe in which it is wrapped is a holy linen tunic and a mantle of praise; therefore, due to its immense light and brilliance, wherein even its robe shines like light, it cannot by any means be seen without a case and sheath, and therefore He made darkness His secret place, and thick cloud His swaddling band" (chatulato - from the word for swaddling, meaning its wrapper). Because even its inner garment is holy and luminous, an additional outer garment had to be placed over it: sackcloth over royal robes.
From here stems the definition: "Thus, the commentary that I have termed Melitzah (poetic allegory) is the narrative of this sublime song, and it is the true parable. And the explanation that I have titled Mashal (parable) is an outer shell surrounding the delicate garment, screening the precious robe that covers it. The Melitzah is holy, while the Mashal is mundane. The Melitzah is the plain meaning, and the Mashal is a parable for it. The Melitzah is an allegory for the concealed mysteries hidden within the holy song, and the Mashal is a parable for the parable - a garment over a garment, a garment of sackcloth over royal attire, garments of skin over garments of light."
The Russian Doll Parable: Three Layers
Let us explain this with a parable. Consider the Russian nesting doll, where one doll sits inside another. The outermost layer is what was called the Mashal: the story of the love between the beloved and his maiden, where Shlomo brought the shepherdess into his palace while she continuously longed for her shepherd to venture out to the wilderness. Open this doll, and inside is a second doll - this is the Melitzah: the soul of Shlomo constantly yearning to unite with the Holy One, blessed be He, which received various messages and prophecies, and endured a period when it was disconnected, until the complete union was achieved at the time of Shlomo's passing, when his soul merged with the Holy One, blessed be He.
Now the Malbim comes and says: what has been referred to until now as Melitzah is itself actually just the parable! What, then, is the true allegory? He opens the inner doll as well, and reveals a third doll inside: this is the real story, the realm of the upper Sefirot, Malchut seeking to unite with Ze'ir Anpin. Thus it turns out that what was initially termed Mashal - the romantic narrative between the maiden and the shepherd - is not even the true parable itself, but an entirely external wrapper, a parable for the parable. We may define it like this: there is an overcoat, beneath it a suit, and beneath that a shirt. The overcoat is not the true clothing at all; it merely protects the suit, while the suit and the shirt are what is truly being spoken of.
And What Shall We Answer One Who Asks: What Is the Plain Meaning of the Song?
"Henceforth, should anyone ask you: 'Upon what is this song founded according to its plain meaning, and what is its allegorical story?' take great heed to your soul, lest you tell him that its plain meaning concerns a maiden and a shepherd, a young woman and her beloved, a simple love song, words of passion and desire, Heaven forbid! Rather, thus shall you say to him: 'Its allegorical narrative according to its plain meaning is the chronicle of the holy maiden - the soul of King Shlomo - and her dialogue with her Beloved in the heavens, across the five times she emerged from the pit, cast off her captive's garb, and entered the inner court of the King's house in holy splendor. This is the story, this is the parable, and this is the plain literal meaning.'" That is to say: everything described here in terms of romance and longing is nothing more than a parable for the parable. But if one asks what the parable truly is, it is the union of the wife of youth with her Beloved, the soul of Shlomo with the Holy One, blessed be He. That is the peshat. And as for the inner dimension - we shall see further.
Why Did the Song Require Such a Garment?
Here the question arises: if so, why speak at all in terms of romance and longing? State directly that Shlomo's soul sought to detach itself, and that there were occasions when it attained prophecy and communion. Why base the song on an allegory upon an allegory?
The Malbim answers: 'Because this sacred narrative is exceedingly precious, elevated, and set apart from all the narratives of the Holy Scriptures. For all of them recount events of the lowly, material world and tangible matters that every person has observed - human eye has seen, ear has tested words, and all flesh has perceived and grasped together.' When Scripture relates that Noach built an ark, you can comprehend it: you know what Noach is, what an ark is, how one builds, and how the animals entered. These are tangible concepts that the mind easily grasps, and therefore they can be written in plain peshat.
'Not so this song, which speaks of the chronicles of the divine soul and the matters of the spiritual neshamah in its ascent and descent, while dwelling in the body and upon departing from it, its relationship and dealings with the physical bodily faculties. All these are concealed, wondrous, and hidden matters; they are entirely concepts of the intellect, not concepts of the senses.' Who has seen a soul recently? When one wishes to describe the struggle of the higher soul with the animalistic drives, and how the forces of the body pull it downward - there is no direct way to tell a story about a soul. In Tanach there are no physical descriptions of souls, because the soul cannot be perceived by the senses. Consequently, when one comes to write peshat on Shir HaShirim, one is prevented, because the peshat itself is the communion of the soul with the Holy One, blessed be He.
'The soul and its essence cannot be seen by physical eyes, nor can any sense grasp it; therefore, even the master of language will weary of recounting its history in straightforward terms, for language contains no nouns, words, or verbs that inherently signify spiritual realities and intellectual concepts, since all the words from which language is built are drawn from tangible things.' Even someone blessed with extraordinary rhetorical talent could not do so. All our expressions are drawn from the tangible realm: a table, a wall, a cup - things you can see and touch. But to express spiritual realities that are intangible, we lack the tools. 'And they were all originally coined for material matters, for the physical world alone.'
'Therefore, when the master of language wishes to relate something of spiritual matters, his language possesses no word that inherently and primarily denotes them; and though he searches through all his tools, he will find no words or phrases through which to convey his thoughts.' If one wants to say that the soul yearns - 'yearns' is fundamentally a physical expression, just as one might yearn for ice cream. Is there a unique word to describe the yearning of a soul? There is none. A physical expression is borrowed to describe a spiritual reality. One is forced to use seemingly lowly expressions because no other words exist. The same is true of 'love' - it is an expression borrowed from the material love we know, and there is no other way to express spiritual love.
'Necessity therefore compels him to clothe his words in borrowed nouns and verbs, which fundamentally refer to matters of the lowly world, governed by the laws of motion, time, space, and the like. And so he was compelled, when wishing to recount the words of this song which speaks of spiritual matters, to borrow nouns and words, allegories, imagery, and garments from the tangible world: depicting the spiritual soul and its yearning for the hidden Beloved in the imagery of a maiden clinging to her beloved, and depicting the holy Beloved, Who watches over the soul of His pious ones in love, as a shepherd in the desert, yearning for a lovely doe and the like, as throughout the song. For there is no speech and there are no words in human language with which man, while alive and walking in a body, can speak directly of spiritual matters.' While it may sound as though it speaks of human romance and passion, there is simply no other way to describe the soul's communion with its Creator, because all our expressions are borrowed from physicality, since we exist in a physical world.
How the Malbim Diverged from All Other Commentators
'Based on these truths, I diverged from the path of all the commentators. For according to their approach, the peshat of the song is a love song between a beloved and his maiden, while its inner meaning is filled with love and dialogue between Hashem and His treasured nation, and the like.' All the classic commentators explain that the Beloved is the Holy One, blessed be He, and the maiden is Keneset Yisrael, and throughout the song we see the distance and closeness between them: 'The voice of my Beloved knocks' - the Holy One, blessed be He, calls to the Jewish people, yet they pull away and fail to serve Hashem. The Malbim departed from this approach, explaining that the Beloved is the Shepherd and the maiden is Shlomo's soul.
And why did he diverge? 'According to their approach, its inner meaning is filled with love by way of derash or remez, far removed from the realm of peshat, with a vast gulf between them - so that if someone were to ask what the literal peshat is, he would find no answer other than saying it is a love song.' That is to say, if you ask them what the peshat is, they would tell you: a love song. And what is the inner meaning? Hashem's love for Keneset Yisrael. Furthermore, in the explanation of the verses themselves, anyone who follows their commentary will see that they proceed along the path of derash rather than the path of peshat.
'Not so according to the path I have paved: the peshat is holy, the garment is pure' - for the peshat of the song is not a human love song, but a dialogue between the soul and its Beloved, God. The outer garment itself is holy and pure, 'and this, and nothing else, is the literal peshat.' Do not think that everything we have explained thus far under the heading of 'allegory' - concerning Shlomo's soul seeking to unite with the Ein Sof and receive prophecy - is derash or remez. It is the absolute literal peshat, as he will demonstrate shortly.
The Four Conditions of Peshat
Here the Malbim tells us an important principle worth noting: What is the definition of peshat? Sometimes we read an explanation and feel that it follows the path of derash or remez, and sometimes it is peshat. What are the criteria? The Malbim is the genius of geniuses in this regard, articulating for us the boundaries of peshat, remez, and derash. And he enumerates four conditions.
First condition: "That its subject matter aligns with the author of the book and the events of his life." If Shmuel writes a book, it stands to reason that he is recounting what occurred in his time and about himself. But if you offer an explanation of peshat that speaks of a different person in an entirely different era - that is no longer straightforward peshat.
Second condition: "That it accommodates the narrative's poetic expression according to the rules of the language, without forced interpretation." If you are forced to take words and stretch them, claiming they mean such and such - that is no longer peshat. Peshat means that one reads and immediately understands, and the plain meaning of the word describes what occurred.
To take an example: "Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son" - as explained when studying the Book of Yeshayahu. The Christians come and claim: "the young woman [almah]" is a virgin, and "shall bear a son" refers to that man. But first of all, the words themselves do not fit: almah refers to a young woman who has known a man, as in the phrase "the way of a man with a maiden [almah]," and does not mean a virgin. This is the requirement of "according to the rules of the language without forced interpretation" - you are distorting the word to fit your interpretation. Furthermore, "and she shall call his name Immanuel" - was he ever called Immanuel?
Third condition: "That the entire narrative is consistent with the progression of the text from beginning to end." Let us examine this: Yeshayahu is speaking in his own time, and you wish to claim he is speaking about what would occur a thousand years later? "Behold" - here and now - she is bearing a son. After all, he is giving them a sign and a wonder regarding what would happen to them in their own days, so how could he give them a sign from an event that would occur a thousand years later? This does not fit chronologically, and therefore it is not peshat. Incidentally, Christianity could have claimed that this is derash on the verse, and that would be intelligible; however, they do not accept the concepts of peshat and derash or the Oral Torah at all, maintaining that there is only the literal text. And if there is only what is written, let us read the verses and explain them according to your approach - and one sees that this is certainly not peshat.
Fourth condition: "That its premises are drawn from simple reason, not from far-flung places, for then it would be designated as derush or remez." If one reads, "And the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep," and someone comes and explains that darkness is not meant literally, presenting preliminary premises to do so: in this source it is explained one way, in another source another way, and combining them all yields that darkness is such and such a concept - how many premises were required just to understand one simple word? That is derash. That does not mean it is incorrect - it is correct - but it is not peshat. Peshat does not require premises: you read and you understand.
How the Malbim's Commentary Meets the Four Conditions
"And by this you can verify that the commentary termed internally 'melitzah' upholds these four conditions." The Malbim now demonstrates that what he called "melitzah" - the soul of Shlomo seeking to unite with the Holy One, blessed be He, in prophecy - is the plain peshat.
1. "It aligns with the life events of Shlomo from the aspect of his soul, which departed five times from his body and cleaved to the Life of the Worlds, her Beloved." This matches the events of Shlomo's own life and his explicit prophecies recorded in Scripture, and does not speak of anyone else.
2. "It runs consistently through the plain meaning of the verses without strangeness or strain." One is not forced to stretch the language: the soul of Shlomo seeks to unite with her Beloved, and the daughters of Jerusalem - the physical powers of the body - come to obstruct this love. All the verses can be understood in this way without awkwardness. And since it is impossible to write explicitly about the soul and the resistance of the bodily forces - these being non-physical realities - the text expresses them using terms familiar to us.
3. "It spans the entire book and the continuation of its discourse from beginning to end in a single cohesive path." This is one of the difficulties with other commentators on Shir HaShirim: in their commentaries, everything is broken into isolated subjects, without a single unified progression. The wonder of the Malbim's commentary is that he explains a complete developmental arc. The same is true in the Book of Iyov: someone reading without the Malbim reads a verse and an explanation, a verse and an explanation, with no connection between them. But one who reads the Malbim sees that from the start of a speech to its end - the speech of Elihu, of Elifaz, of Iyov - there is a continuous progression and a complete idea. The same applies here: from the initial revelation, through the stages in which Shlomo declined from his spiritual level, then "The voice of my beloved knocks," followed by his soul once again seeking to reconnect, until the ultimate union at the time of his passing. There is a progression spanning a lifetime here, rather than an isolated verse interpreted in a manner that does not fit chronologically with the verses before and after it.
4. "That its premises are not brought from afar, neither from homiletics, mystical secrets, nor philosophical inquiry, but are inherent in the intellect itself according to the simple meaning." Everything he brings follows the peshat, without premises and sources from far-off places, and anyone who studies these matters understands them naturally.
"And I Have Rolled Away the Reproach of Egypt"
The Malbim concludes: "And through this I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from these verses, when they said that it was a secular work, and that no peshat could be found for it along the pathway leading to the holy. Yet they failed to understand Hashem's counsel and His wisdom, for evil was before their eyes" - they took a matter that is entirely holy and explained it as a love song, never discerning the ultimate intent of the Supreme Wisdom that chose to dress the sacred in this precise garment.
In summary:
In his introduction to the "Melitzah," the Malbim teaches us a profound principle: any spiritual entity that descends into this world must clothe itself in a physical garment - the soul in the body, angels in human form, and the secrets of the Torah in earthly narratives. Shir HaShirim is unique in that its outer garment appears to be a secular song, and this very aspect is proof of its supreme holiness, for even its outer garment shines so brightly that it required an additional sheath. According to the Malbim, what we have referred to throughout the commentary as the "Melitzah" - the chronicle of Shelomo's soul and its struggle to cling to its Beloved in Heaven - is actually the true, literal peshat, satisfying the four conditions of peshat: consistency with the author and his life, a smooth and natural flow of the text without strain, a single unified trajectory from beginning to end, and premises grounded in sound reason. In contrast, the story of the shepherd and the maiden is merely an allegory upon an allegory, a garment upon a garment, for human language lacks words to describe matters of the soul and spirit except by borrowing terms from the tangible world. All of this is so that we may realize that beneath these garments lie hidden secrets, and that while all the songs are holy, Shir HaShirim is the Holy of Holies.