Introduction: Beyond the Parable and the Allegory
After having clarified the first two dimensions of Shir HaShirim - the parable of the shepherd and the maiden, and the poetic allegory that serves as its revealed meaning - the Malbim opens in the language of Iyov: "Wait for me a little, and I will show you, for there are still words on God's behalf" (Iyov 36:2), meaning: wait a moment and I will reveal even more to you. For having concluded that stage, it turns out that even this allegory is not the ultimate purpose; rather, it itself serves as a garment and a parable for the secrets concealed within the mysteries of the song. The Malbim advises anyone seeking to know the inner meaning to examine the words of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Zohar and the Tikkunim, the writings of the Kabbalists, and the commentary of the Ramban, for the entire song revolves around the dialogue of the supreme Maiden - Tzedek, the holy Malchut - with Tiferet Yisrael, her Beloved, the God of her lovingkindness, blessed be He. In order for these matters to be understood, let us first present several fundamental concepts.
Tzimtzum, the Vacated Space, and the Sefirot
The Holy One, blessed be He, is the Ein Sof (the Infinite). In order for Him to bestow influence downward and create a world, it was necessary to create a vacated space (challal panui), for without a vacated space, anything created by the Ein Sof would unite with and be nullified within the Ein Sof, and there would be no creations outside of Him. This is the secret of the Tzimtzum (the divine contraction). We have previously discussed the two perspectives on understanding Tzimtzum - whether it is literal or non-literal - and one who wishes may study this in Nefesh HaChaim. In any case, the Holy One, blessed be He, formed a circular vacated space, and into it He beamed a thin ray of light (kav) - a minute condensation of His blessed light, referred to in the sacred books as the reshimu (the remnant impression) - because created beings lack the capacity to receive His boundless light.
For this purpose, the Sefirot were emanated. The Sefirot are essentially screens that cascade from one another, screen upon screen, and only through all these screens are we able to receive from His blessed light and be sustained by His influence. To what may this be compared? To a person who asks for a cup of water: if the entire Kinneret were poured over him, not only would he fail to quench his thirst, but he would drown. Likewise, in an electrical grid, there are transformers that step down the voltage again and again, until you can safely connect to it in your home without harm. In the same way, the light of the Holy One, blessed be He, is so immense that it is impossible to connect to Him, blessed be He, except through the Sefirot.
Worlds, Sefirot, and Partzufim
First, we speak of the four worlds - ABYA: Atzilut (Emanation), which is the highest of them, Beriah (Creation), Yetzirah (Formation), and Asiyah (Action). All the influences that reach us in practice come through the world of Asiyah, the lowest of them all. Within each and every world, there is a configuration of ten Sefirot. The Sefirot are counted starting from Keter, the highest among them, followed by Chochmah and Binah. When the Sefirot are depicted, they are illustrated in the form of a human being (Adam); thus Keter, Chochmah, and Binah stand above at the head, and in the language of the Kabbalists they are called the Mochin (the mental faculties). At times Keter is counted and at times it is not, and sometimes Da'at is counted in place of one of them.
Below them are the Sefirot of the body, as we say in Patach Eliyahu: Chessed is the right arm (deroa yemina), Gevurah is the left arm (deroa semala), and Tiferet is the torso (gufa), namely the chest. Below them are Netzach and Hod, which are the two legs (t'rein shokin) - Netzach on the right side and Hod on the left side - Yesod is the holy covenant (brit kodesh), and Malchut is the crown of Yesod (ateret ha'yesod).
The Sefirot represent the individual elements, whereas when speaking of Partzufim (divine personae), the meaning is that each Partzuf comprises a full array of ten Sefirot. Partzuf Abba (Father) is Chochmah when it encompasses ten individual Sefirot, and Partzuf Imma (Mother) is Binah. "Ze'ir Anpin" - literally "the Small Face", as distinguished from Arich Anpin ("the Long Face") - consists of the six lower Sefirot, the VAK (vav ketzavot, the six extremities): Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. Standing opposite Ze'ir Anpin is the Nukva (the Female), which is the Sefirah of Malchut. We will deal extensively with the subject of the Nukva and Malchut, and it is therefore essential to understand the arrangement and posture of the Partzufim.
The Order of the Descent of Divine Emanation
Divine flow does not simply descend from above to below as through a single pipe, but rather by way of gradual transmission (hishtalshelut) and influence from one Partzuf to the next. In the language of Kabbalah, each such transmission is called a zivug (union). Abba bestows influence upon Imma, Imma bestows upon Ze'ir Anpin - for Ze'ir Anpin and the Nukva are, as it were, the offspring of Binah - and Ze'ir Anpin transmits to the Nukva by way of a zivug, and the Nukva channels it down to the world beneath it. So it is in every world: the Malchut of the world of Atzilut bestows upon Keter, which is the highest level of the world of Beriah, and there once again the flow descends from Abba to Imma, from Imma to Ze'ir Anpin, from Ze'ir Anpin to Nukva, and from Malchut to Yetzirah, and from Yetzirah to Asiyah, down to the Malchut tata'ah (the lower Malchut) at the lowest boundary of Asiyah, which influences this physical world. This is the manner in which divine abundance descends from the higher realms down to the lowest reality.
The Maiden: Tzedek, the Holy Malchut
Based on this, explains the Malbim, the bride (Ra'yah) in Shir HaShirim is Tzedek, the holy Malchut - for Malchut has many names, one of which is "Tzedek" - and the Beloved (Dod) is Tiferet Yisrael, Ze'eir Anpin. Malchut longs to stand with Ze'eir Anpin face-to-face in a state of union (zivug), at which point divine abundance flows downward. This is the ideal alignment within the order of the Sefirot.
The Rose and the Thorns
כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים כֵּן רַעְיָתִי בֵּין הַבָּנוֹת׃ (ב, ב) - Like a rose among the thorns, so is My beloved among the daughters (2:2).
The exalted, noble bride singing the song is the rose, for Malchut is called a rose. It is with this verse that the holy Zohar opens its teachings, stating that the rose has five sturdy leaves - actual leaves, not petals - corresponding to the five Gevurot within Malchut, which find expression in the final letters (Mantzeipach). From this comes our practice of beating the aravot on Hoshana Rabbah, to sweeten and nullify these five Gevurot. It also has thirteen petals, corresponding to the thirteen attributes of mercy (Yud-Gimmel Mechilin de-Rachamei) that channel divine flow into it. And the thorns are the forces of impurity that seek to harm the holy rose.
This is also the source for how one should hold the Kiddush cup. The Zohar teaches that one must hold the cup in the manner of a rose: raising the five fingers upward to grasp the base of the cup, rather than resting the cup flat upon the palm. This is the practice of the Mekubalim, holding the cup atop the tips of the five fingers in the form of a rose, because the cup corresponds to the Sefirah of Malchut. The same is done for Kiddush, Havdalah, Kiddushin under the chuppah, and anywhere a cup of blessing is held.
Bat-Sheva, David, and Shlomo - The Root of the Dimension of Malchut
The Malbim writes: It is known that Bat-Sheva is the mother of Shlomo, and King David inherited the holy kingdom (Malchut), and David was the fourth leg of the divine Chariot (Merkavah); "And David made a name for himself," and "Shlomo sat on the throne of the Lord as king," and the wisdom of Shlomo multiplied and donned a crown of glory (Ateret Tiferet); the sea and the moon were filled, and the moon stood in its full perfection (ve-kayma sahra be'ashlemuta). At first glance, these words seem esoteric, but in light of what we have introduced, they illuminate brightly.
All divine influence descending to the lower world flows through the seven lower Sefirot, which are the primary focus of the Kabbalists - ChaGaT NeHIM: Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Everything in this world is built upon seven: the seven days of the week, the seven years of the Shemitah cycle, the seven Shemitah cycles preceding the Yovel. It is not by chance that Shlomo's mother was Bat-Sheva: "Bat-Sheva" means the daughter of the seven, the youngest among them - Malchut. King David himself embodies Malchut, and as anyone who has participated in the Hakafot among Sephardim knows, King David corresponds to the Sefirah of Malchut. Thus, Shlomo drew from the power of Malchut from both sides - from his mother and from his father. He himself is the embodiment of Malchut and represents the fourth leg of the Merkavah, as the fourth leg corresponds to the Sefirah of Malchut.
The same pattern exists within the four-letter Name of Havayah: the tip of the Yud represents Keter, which is concealed; the Yud is Chochmah, as in the hymn, "Bar Yochai, the Yud of ancient wisdom," which is Partzuf Abba; the first Hei is Binah, which is Imma; the Vav represents the six extremities (Vav Ketzavot) - Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod; and the lower Hei, the final Hei, is Malchut. Thus, the final Hei, the fourth leg, is the aspect of Malchut.
"And Shlomo sat on the throne of the Lord as king" - meaning the Sefirah of Malchut stood firmly in its rightful place. "The sea and the moon were filled" - the moon represents Malchut, for "it has nothing of its own" (leit lah migarmeh kelum); Malchut possesses no light of its own, but rather receives from the higher Sefirot and channels it downward. Similarly, the physical moon has no light of its own, but receives from the sun, which corresponds to Ze'eir Anpin illuminating it and bestowing upon it. This is why it is said that in the days of Shlomo "the moon stood in its fullness" (kayma sahra be'ashlemuta) - without defect. This does not merely refer to the physical moon, but signifies that the alignment of the Sefirot and the upper worlds had reached ultimate perfection.
Branch and Root: What Occurred to Shlomo Occurred in the Root
It is known that the branch is bound up in the root, and whatever transpires with the branch also reflects what occurs in the root. Therefore, if Shlomo embodies Malchut, every dynamic we observe in Shlomo teaches us about what occurred in the root, in the holy Malchut above. Just as Shlomo's soul was originally planted and attached to the dwelling of the living God, and only later descended from its abode, became confined within a physical body, and assumed a mortal frame - so too its exalted root, the sovereign Malchut of Atzilut, was initially united with its Beloved face-to-face. "Face-to-face" means without separation, not in a state of back-to-back (panim be-achor) and not with Malchut descended below, but in its optimal state in its rightful place.
Let us preface with the key to the entire book: the soul of Shlomo and its desire to connect with the Holy One, blessed be He, in prophecy - these are an allegory for Malchut seeking to unite with Ze'eir Anpin in sublime emanations in the world of Atzilut. We already understand what constitutes the allegory and what constitutes the poetic metaphor, and from here we will see how the details unfold.
The Soul's Garment - An Allegory for the Sefirot
Let us first contemplate the human soul - and we are not speaking now of the division into nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, but of the soul as a collective term. When the soul is above, it is an abstract intellect, and no action or emotional dynamic applies to it: one cannot speak of love and hatred within it, of judgments and kindnesses, or of pride and humility. All these emerge only when it enters the corporeal body - where jealousy, hatred, love, and estrangement exist. And the Malbim asks: From where did the soul acquire all this, given that above it was completely detached from any of it?
Rather, this is what is written in the sacred texts and in the holy Zohar: when the soul descends below, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it a spiritual garment, "chazu degufa" (an ethereal form resembling the body), and through it the soul enters the physical body. In this spiritual garment, powers, character traits, natural inclinations, and intellectual capacities already exist - in potential. When the soul enters the body clothed in this garment, those very faculties manifest in actuality, and one sees love and hatred, vengeance, bearing a grudge, and pride. Yet when it was above, even the nature of its intellect was entirely different: it did not need to study and deliberate, but in a single instant knew everything.
From My Flesh I Behold God
From here, says the Malbim, comes the verse, "From my flesh I behold God." The Kabbalists consistently emphasize this principle: when we seek to understand the structure of the upper worlds and the emanations within them, an analogy is drawn from the human body. The correspondence is not one hundred percent identical, but it bears a deep resemblance to all that takes place Above. As Chazal have already stated, "Great is the power of the prophets, who compare the supernal Form of Might to the form of man," and in Bereishit Rabbah: "who compare the creation to its Creator."
And just as the soul cannot attach to the body except through the mantle of a spiritual garment, so too the connection of the Holy One, blessed be He, to His world cannot occur directly, but rather through a mantle - and these are the Sefirot. Through them, His blessed light radiates from the Ein Sof into the empty space, and through them we are able to receive. The Sefirot are the mantle, the spiritual garment of the Shechinah, akin to the garment of the soul as it enters the body.
Hence the concept of the "Great Man" (Adam HaGadol) and its relationship to man, who is the microcosm (the small world): it begins from the worlds of separation, the supernal realms that are like a garment and a body - the World of the Throne, the World of the Chayot, and the World of the Ofanim - and the Shechinah clothes Herself in all of them. The World of the Throne is the World of Beriah, the World of the Chayot is the World of Yetzirah, and the World of the Ofanim is the World of Asiyah, which refers to the heavenly spheres, the ofanim. And the Shechinah of His might operates in each world according to the capacity of that world and according to what it can receive, just like the soul operating within the vessels of the body.
For within His blessed Essence, it is impossible to speak of attributes or actions. Could anger, which is an emotional reaction of the soul, apply to Him, blessed be He? Could tranquility apply to Him, or receiving something from another? None of these apply to Him whatsoever. Where can one speak of them? In the Sefirot. There one can say: this is a Sefirah whose essence is Din (judgment), and this is a Sefirah whose essence is Rachamim (mercy) and Chassadim (kindnesses). But within His blessed Essence - no, just as these things do not apply to the soul when it is above, and only apply in the garment in which it clothes itself prior to its descent.
Therefore, when it arose in His simple will to bring forth the worlds and guide them, the Holy One, blessed be He, emanated from His glory a holy emanation (Atzilut), in which all forces would exist in potential, serving as the root for all the attributes that manifest in the world - exactly as we saw with the soul. And from the world of Atzilut, the Sefirot descend and cascade downward.
"I Am First and I Am Last" - The Preeminence of Malchut
Since the ultimate purpose is for the honor of His kingship to be revealed in the world, and "the end of action is first in thought," it emerges that the attribute of Malchut, which is the last, is the supernal Keter in the primordial Will, in the mystery of "I am first and I am last." The explanation of the matter is that when the Holy One, blessed be He, willed to create His world, everything emerged from Malchut of the Ein Sof - from the "lowest" dimension within it, as it were - and from it was generated Adam Kadmon (AK), the primordial realm from which all the Sefirot emerged, and from which everything began to cascade downward.
As already explained, the Malchut of a higher world always channels influence to the Keter of the world beneath it, and that higher Malchut is incomparably greater than the Keter below it. Even though Keter is the highest level, it is merely the Keter of Beriah; and while Malchut of Atzilut is the lowest rung of Atzilut, the holy books write that the Keter of Beriah is like a sesame seed compared to it. This reflects the principle of being "a tail to lions" rather than "a head to foxes." The same relationship holds between Beriah and Yetzirah, and between Yetzirah and Asiyah, down to the lowest Malchut that channels divine bounty to us.
Consider what emerges from this: everything began with the Malchut of Ein Sof - this is "I am first"; and everything concludes with the Malchut of Asiyah, from which bounty descends below - this is "I am last." For this was the entire design from the beginning: that everything should reach man living here below. It turns out that the sefirah of Malchut is central to everything that occurs in our realm, and it is called the Shechinah - the holy Shechinah is the sefirah of Malchut. As discussed previously, it is referred to in the feminine because it is the sefirah of Nukva, which receives from Ze'ir Anpin and channels the bounty downward to the world.
In summary:
We have now studied the gateway to the third level of Shir HaShirim. The poetic allegory is not the final destination, but a garment for the secrets hidden within the Song. We laid down the foundation of the Tzimtzum and the vacated space (Chalal HaPanui), the ladder of the worlds of ABYA, the ten Sefirot, the Partzufim of Abba, Imma, Ze'ir Anpin, and Nukva, and the order by which divine bounty descends through unifications and the chain-like progression of worlds. According to this, the Raya (the beloved maiden) is Tzedek, Malchuta Kadisha (the holy Malchut), the rose among the thorns; the Dod (the beloved groom) is Tiferet Yisrael, Ze'ir Anpin; and the yearning between them is the longing of Malchut to stand face to face with her Beloved and channel bounty to the worlds. King Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba, is a branch of this aspect of Malchut, and in his days "the moon stood in its fullness." Just as the soul connects to the body only through a spiritual garment, so too the light of the Blessed Creator connects to His world only through the garment of the Sefirot - and it is only within them, not in His Blessed Essence, that one can speak of judgments and lovingkindnesses. Everything opens with the Malchut of Ein Sof and concludes with the lowest Malchut - "I am first and I am last" - for the entire purpose is that the glory of His kingship be revealed here, through man below.