In this section, we complete Chapter 1 of Shir HaShirim, from verse 6 through its conclusion. The congregation - that is, Knesses Yisrael - offers an apology for her dark complexion, explaining that it is only temporary and originated from those who led her to sin. From there, she turns to the Shepherd, asking how she will graze among the wolves in exile, and receives the response to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors. Afterwards, the text describes the Holy One, Blessed be He's affection displayed at the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the spoils of the sea, the corruption at the Golden Calf, the atonement achieved through the donation of the Mishkan, and the praise of the Mishkan itself.
אַל־תִּרְאוּנִי שֶׁאֲנִי שְׁחַרְחֹרֶת שֶׁשְּׁזָפַתְנִי הַשָּׁמֶשׁ בְּנֵי אִמִּי נִחֲרוּ־בִי שָׂמֻנִי נֹטֵרָה אֶת־הַכְּרָמִים כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לֹא נָטָרְתִּי׃ - Do not look upon me [disdainfully] because I am swarthy, for the sun has tanned me; my mother's children were incensed with me, they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I did not keep.
Rashi explains: "Do not look upon me" - do not look at me with contempt. The looking here is a gaze of disdain and humiliation, as in: "And He struck the men of Beis Shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord" - for they looked at the Ark in a derogatory manner, like one saying: Who angered you that you departed, and who appeased you that you returned? To this, Knesses Yisrael says: Do not gaze at me with contempt because I am swarthy, for my darkness and unattractiveness are not from my mother's womb, but rather due to the tanning of the sun - and such darkness is easily whitened once one stands in the shade.
That is to say: Do not look at the flaw within me, for this flaw is fleeting. Once, people wished to appoint one of the great figures of the generation as the city rabbi, and some hesitated: He is still young, twenty-three or twenty-five years old; how can he serve as our rabbi? He answered them: The only flaw you found in me is that I am young, and one thing I promise you - this flaw is a passing blemish. And that is precisely what the beloved bride says here: My darkness is not a permanent defect; it is merely sun tanning, and it is enough to stand briefly in the shade to become white again.
"My mother's children were incensed with me" - these are the Egyptians among whom I was raised, and they are the ones who came up with me as the Mixed Multitude (Erev Rav), and they corrupted me with "These are your gods, O Israel." "Nicharu" (were incensed) is an expression of burning, as in "and let its copper burn" and "the rivers dried up (charvu)", as well as "charon af" (wrath), which is a heating and burning due to anger. Thus, it turns out that my mother's children are the ones who blackened me, burned me, and made me swarthy, when they incited and enticed me until "they made me a keeper of the vineyards" - there the sun tanned me and I grew dark, as they caused me to become an idolater.
What is "a keeper of the vineyards"? Rashi explains that we find leaders called "vineyards" in Scripture, as it says: "And I will give her her vineyards from there," which Targum translates as: "and I will appoint her leaders for her," and similarly: "he does not turn by the way of the vineyards." That is to say: they made me a keeper and worshipper of other powers, of appointed agents and rulers; "and my own vineyard I did not keep" - my own Sustainer, the One Who nourishes and sustains me, the Holy One, Blessed be He - Him I abandoned, and likewise the faith I received from my forefathers I forsook, adopting foreign beliefs instead. And again, the emphasis: the darkness is temporary, and its origin lies with those who caused me to sin.
הַגִּידָה לִּי שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי אֵיכָה תִרְעֶה אֵיכָה תַּרְבִּיץ בַּצׇּהֳרָיִם שַׁלָּמָה אֶהְיֶה כְּעֹטְיָה עַל עֶדְרֵי חֲבֵרֶיךָ׃ - Tell me, O you whom my soul loves: Where do you graze, where do you rest the flock at noon? For why should I be like one veiled beside the flocks of your companions?
Rashi: Now the Holy Spirit returns to compare her to a flock cherished by the shepherd. The Jewish people are called sheep, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the Shepherd - which is why we say, "Our Father, our Shepherd." The leaders of Israel are also referred to in prophecy as "the shepherds of Israel," and there are entire prophecies concerning how the Holy One, Blessed be He, handed His flock over to shepherds, yet the shepherds pasture themselves instead of pasturing the flock.
Knesses Yisrael - which is the community of Israel as a whole - says before Him like a wife to her husband: Tell me, You whom my soul loves, how will You pasture Your flock among these wolves, among the nations in whose midst we exist in perpetual danger; and how will You rest them at noon - in this exile which is a time of distress for them, just as midday is a time of distress for sheep. Noon is the most difficult time for sheep: they are out in the open field, the sun beats down on them, and they have no rest. Moreover, the Hebrew word for noon, "tzohorayim", shares its letters with "tzarah" (distress).
"For why should I be like one veiled" - and if You should ask, why do You care, when we brought exile upon ourselves? To this she replies: It is not fitting for Your honor that I should be like a mourner veiling her mustache and weeping over my sheep "beside the flocks of your companions" - among the other shepherds who herd sheep like You; that is to say, among the legions of the nations who rely on other gods, possessing kings and princes who lead them. This represents a disgrace and deficiency for the Shepherd Himself if He is unable to pasture His flock and they are handed over to other shepherds. And this is the aspect of Chillul Hashem (desecration of the Divine Name) that occurs when Israel does not fulfill His will, where they say, as it were, that the Lord lacks the power to save His people - they are struck down and afflicted with hardships, yet He does not deliver them.
"*Otiyah*" - like a mourner who covers his upper lip, from the verse "and he shall cover his upper lip" (*ve'al safam ya'teh*). A mourner would wrap a cloak over his head and cast its edge over his face until his upper lip was covered, and Chazal learned from here that a mourner must remain silent and accept the justice of the Divine decree. Nowadays this practice is hardly known, and only among Yemenite Jews is this wrapping still observed during times of mourning.
And "the shepherds" in the allegory - every nation has a heavenly prince. When we are in the Land of Israel, "a land which the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year," divine abundance flows directly from Him, blessed be He, and not through heavenly princes. But when we are among the nations, that bounty arrives through the guardian angel of that nation. This is the meaning of "by the flocks of your companions" - not, Heaven forbid, that they are peers of the Holy One, blessed be He, but rather deputies appointed on His behalf who also act as shepherds. And over this the cry rings out: How long will I be like a veiled mourner grazing among other shepherds? Why do You not lead me Yourself?
אִם־לֹא תֵדְעִי לָךְ הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים צְאִי־לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן וּרְעִי אֶת־גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ עַל מִשְׁכְּנוֹת הָרֹעִים׃ - If you do not know, O fairest among women, go forth in the footsteps of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the tents of the shepherds.
This is the Shepherd's answer: If you do not know where to go to pasture your flock, O fairest of women, now that the Shepherd has ceased leading them directly - that is, after the Holy One, blessed be He, sent them into exile - "go forth in the footsteps of the flock." Look at the tracks along the path where the flock once walked and where their footprints are evident (Old French *traces*), as found frequently in Scripture: "and Your footsteps were not known," "your heels entered," "and he shall press upon their heel," "he will turn back on his heels." A person who has lost his way looks for where the footprints and hoofprints are imprinted, knows that others traveled along this path, and walks along that same route. "And pasture your young goats beside the tents of the shepherds" - among the dwellings of the other shepherds among whom you reside.
And the allegory: If you do not know, My congregation and assembly, the fairest of women - the fairest among the nations, for the nations are the "daughters of Jerusalem" and the Community of Israel is the fairest among them - how to pasture and be saved from the hands of those who oppress you while living among them so that your children are not lost, look to the ways of your early forefathers who accepted My Torah and kept My charge and My commandments. Follow in their paths, for they left you footprints and milestones along the way. In that merit, you will graze your kids among the princes of the nations and maintain your existence among them, even though you are not in your own land.
Some also explain that "the tents of the shepherds" refers to the shepherds of Israel, the Torah leaders and transmitters of Torah, instructing us to walk in their ways. In every era and place where they did not pasture their kids beside the tents of the shepherds, we have seen the outcome: first assimilation, followed by horrific antisemitism, forced apostasy, murder, pogroms, and persecutions, as occurred during the exile of Spain and during the horrific Holocaust in Europe. Whenever the tents of the shepherds were forgotten, persecution, suffering, and distress inevitably followed.
So too did Jeremiah say: "Set up signposts for yourself, make yourself guideposts (*tamrurim*), set your heart to the highway." When someone wants to know the way back, he sets up markers; and *tamrurim* were palm trees planted as landmarks along the road. All of this is intended to preserve within us the memory that we are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that we must walk along that same path without veering from it, remaining cleaving to Him, blessed be He.
לְסֻסָתִי בְּרִכְבֵי פַרְעֹה דִּמִּיתִיךְ רַעְיָתִי׃ - To a mare in Pharaoh's chariots have I compared you, My beloved.
Rashi explains that the letter *lamed* here denotes a point in time, just as in the verse "at the sound of His giving a multitude of waters" (*lekol tito hamon mayim*), meaning at the time the sound comes forth, and like the *lamed* in "for the fragrance of your oils" (*lerei'ach shemanecha*) - at the time your oils give off good fragrance. Here too: at the time of My cavalry against the chariots of Pharaoh.
"*Lesusati*" - a large troop of horses that I gathered from My legions to charge forth against Pharaoh's chariots to deliver you, as it is said, "You tread the sea with Your horses" - many horses. Similarly, we find regarding Elisha that his attendant saw chariots of fire and horses of fire; so too the Holy One, blessed be He, came as it were with His chariots, His legions appearing like steeds. In Old French, Rashi cites *cavallice*, which means a troop of horses - the intent is not a single mare in the singular, but rather "My horses."
"I have silenced you, my beloved" - I quieted you from your crying out, related to the word demamah (silence) and silencing, as it is said, "Hashem will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Shemot 14:14); Rashi notes that he found this in books of Agaddah. Another explanation: "I made you appear as my beloved" - there I demonstrated to all that you are My beloved companion, for the Holy One, Blessed be He, came to save us, and through this, the bond and connection between us and Him was revealed. Yet another explanation: Dimaytikh (Old French aresmai) is similar to "they made me seem killed" (oti dimu laharog), appearing as one slain - meaning, there I adorned you with beautiful ornaments and fashioned you in the likeness of My beloved.
נָאווּ לְחָיַיִךְ בַּתֹּרִים צַוָּארֵךְ בַּחֲרוּזִים׃ - Your cheeks are comely with rows, your neck with strings of beads.
"With rows" (batorim) - rows of earrings and golden brow-bands, ornaments arranged in neat rows, including upon the forehead; and tor denotes a row, as in rosh tor, the head of a row. "Your neck with strings of beads" (bacharuzim) - golden necklaces and pearls strung on threads of gold from the spoils of the sea. There, at the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people were adorned with both the spoils of Egypt and the spoils of the sea.
תּוֹרֵי זָהָב נַעֲשֶׂה־לָּךְ עִם נְקֻדּוֹת הַכָּסֶף׃ - Rows of gold we will make for you, with studs of silver.
A difficulty arises: it should have said, "I made for you" in the past singular, so why is it phrased in the plural and in the future tense ("we will make")? Rashi explains: I and My Heavenly Court took counsel before Pharaoh arrived, deciding that I would entice him and harden his heart to pursue you with all the splendor of his treasure houses, so that we might make for you rows of golden ornaments. That is, even before Pharaoh set out in pursuit - for who would willingly embark on a suicide mission and pursue the Jewish people after everything he had suffered? - We took counsel in thought, and I hardened his heart so that he would go forth with all his treasures, in order that you would have rows of gold. Therefore, the verse speaks in the plural and in the future tense, recounting what was decreed in that heavenly consultation prior to the event, all to fulfill what was promised to Avraham Avinu: "And afterward they shall go out with great wealth" (Bereishit 15:14).
"With studs of silver" - in addition to what you already possessed from what you took out of Egypt, for the spoils of the sea were far greater than the spoils of Egypt. This does not mean that in Egypt they received only silver, for Scripture explicitly states: "vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments" (Shemot 12:35). Rather, silver and gold here serve as a metaphor: the spoils of Egypt were considered like mere silver compared to the spoils of the sea, which were like superior gold. The spoils of Egypt came from a woman borrowing from her neighbor and the tenant of her house - and how much can a neighbor possibly have? - whereas Pharaoh brought out all his royal treasures, wealth accumulated by Egyptian kings over hundreds of years, as well as what Yosef had gathered. "Studs of silver" - silver vessels engraved and decorated with speckles and varied designs, illustrating the immense richness and diversity of the plunder.
עַד־שֶׁהַמֶּלֶךְ בִּמְסִבּוֹ נִרְדִּי נָתַן רֵיחוֹ׃ - While the King was at His table, my spikenard gave off its fragrance.
Klal Yisrael responds and says: All this is true; You bestowed goodness upon me, yet I repaid You with evil. While the King was still at the banquet table of His wedding - while the mountain was still smoking from the Revelation at Mount Sinai, a mere forty days having passed - "my spikenard gave off its fragrance," which euphemistically means that it gave off a foul odor: while the Shechinah was still at Sinai, I corrupted my ways with the Golden Calf.
Why does Scripture say "gave off its fragrance" rather than "became foul" or "stank"? Rashi explains: Scripture phrased it as an expression of endearment, employing euphemistic, refined language (lashon nekiyah). See Rashi in Masechet Shabbat, chapter Rabbi Akiva, who notes that the affection is expressed in the fact that it did not explicitly say "became foul" or "stank." According to Tosafot there, however, the endearment lies in using the word "gave" (natan) rather than "lost" (azav), because words like "became foul" or "stank" would not have been used anyway due to refined language; yet it could still have written "my spikenard lost its scent." By using a term of giving, which carries a positive connotation, it shows that His affection for us still endures.
צְרוֹר הַמֹּר דּוֹדִי לִי בֵּין שָׁדַי יָלִין׃ - A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me; between my breasts he shall rest.
My Beloved became to me like one who holds a bundle of myrrh in his bosom, saying to me: Here is a bundle for you that will give off an even better fragrance than the first one you lost. In this way, the Holy One, blessed be He, was reconciled with Israel over the incident of the Golden Calf and provided atonement for their iniquity, saying: Bring donations for the Mishkan, and let the gold of the Mishkan come and atone for the gold of the Calf. Just as you ran eagerly to bring gold for the Calf - bring gold now for the Mishkan.
"Between my breasts he shall rest" - even though I acted unfaithfully toward Him, He chose to dwell there. In the literal sense, women would place a sachet of fragrant spices between their breasts; in the allegory, the dwelling place of the Shechinah is between the two poles of the Aron. The Gemara teaches that the poles of the Aron pressed against and protruded through the Parochet, appearing like the two breasts of a woman. Thus, out of the strong came forth sweetness: out of the blemish of the Golden Calf, we merited the Second Tablets and the resting of the Shechinah in our midst within the Mishkan.
אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר דּוֹדִי לִי בְּכַרְמֵי עֵין גֶּדִי׃ - A cluster of henna is my Beloved to me, in the vineyards of Ein Gedi.
"A cluster of henna [kopher]" - there is a fragrant spice named kopher, as in "henna with spikenard" (kefarim im neradim), which grows in grape-like clusters. "In the vineyards of Ein Gedi" - this is a place name, and that is where it is found. The vineyards were a place of affection and love: there were no greater festival days for Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, on which the daughters of Israel would go out and dance in the vineyards. We likewise find in the days of Shaul, after the tribe of Binyamin was nearly wiped out, that they went to the vineyards - showing that the vineyards were a place where matches were made.
In the allegory, Rashi cites from the Aggadah that those vineyards yield fruit four or five times a year, serving as an illustration of the numerous atonenments and pardons that the Holy One, blessed be He, granted them for the various trials with which they tested Him in the Wilderness. Time after time they sinned, and each time He forgave them anew, just like those vineyards of Ein Gedi that yield fruit many times a year.
הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים׃ - Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved; behold, you are beautiful, your eyes are like doves.
Kenesset Yisrael says: I was ashamed of my corruption, but He encouraged me with words of appeasement, saying, "I have forgiven according to your word," and behold, you are beautiful. And beautiful - because your eyes are like doves. If a bride has unattractive eyes, her entire body requires inspection; but if her eyes are beautiful, her body requires no inspection. In the realm of Mussar: an evil and grudging eye is a sign that all of one's character traits require scrutiny, whereas a good, generous eye (ayin tovah) is the finest trait in a person, and one who attains it is already a vessel fit for all good traits.
The meaning here is: I have forgiven you for your iniquity and behold, you are beautiful - beautiful in *Na'aseh* ("we will do") and beautiful in *Nishma* ("we will hear"), beautiful through the deeds of the Patriarchs and beautiful through your own deeds. This accounts for the repetition: "Behold, you are beautiful; behold, you are beautiful." And why? "Because your eyes are like doves" - there are righteous individuals among you who clung to Me like this dove, which, once it recognizes its mate, never leaves it to pair with another. The doves themselves are also a sign of righteous people: in places where righteous people reside, doves are found, whereas in other places, ravens are found. And when people say of a couple that they are like a pair of doves, it refers to the deep bond and connection between them.
So it was with the sons of Levi: "And all the sons of Levi gathered unto him" - they did not err with the Calf, nor did they allow others to corrupt the nation without consequence, but stood up and executed the sinners. Furthermore, you are beautiful through the work of the Mishkan, as it is stated, "And Moshe saw all the work, and behold, they had done it... and Moshe blessed them" - thus He praised her for this, because through the work of the Mishkan, Israel repaired the sin of the Golden Calf.
הִנְּךָ יָפֶה דוֹדִי אַף נָעִים אַף־עַרְשֵׂנוּ רַעֲנָנָה׃ - Behold, you are handsome, my Beloved, indeed pleasant; even our bed is verdant.
She responds: The beauty is not mine, but Yours; You are the handsome One. "Indeed pleasant" - that You overlooked my transgressions and caused Your Shechinah to dwell within me. This is the praise upon the descent of the heavenly fire, as it is said, "And all the people saw, and shouted for joy" (Vayikra 9:24). At first, Aharon was fearful: the fire was not descending; perhaps I erred and am unworthy? He said to Moshe, "Why did you bring me into this, only to be disgraced?" But when the fire descended, it became clear that the Holy One, blessed be He, had overlooked our transgression and caused His Shechinah to rest among us.
"Also our couch is verdant" - through Your pleasantness, our bed flourishes with our sons and daughters, as they all gather to You here, as it is said, "and the congregation was gathered" (Vayikra 8:4). The Mishkan is called "our couch," meaning a bed, as it is said, "Behold, the bed of Shlomo" (Shir HaShirim 3:7), which refers to the Beis HaMikdash; and similarly it is said regarding Yoash, "in the bedchamber in the House of Hashem" - so called because it is the source of Israel multiplying and being fruitful. Just as the bedchamber is the place of marital union, so too the Beis HaMikdash is the place where Knesses Yisrael unites with the Holy One, blessed be He.
The Midrash notes: Just as a bed is made for fruitfulness and multiplication, so before the Beis HaMikdash was built, "the whole congregation together was forty thousand" - as when they returned from the Babylonian exile in the days of Ezra and Nechemiah, numbering only forty to fifty thousand - but once the Beis HaMikdash was built, they multiplied abundantly, as the Gemara relates that from Gevat to Antipatris there were six hundred thousand towns, and each produced twice the number of those who left Egypt.
The simple explanation of this concept is that the site of the Beis HaMikdash is the conduit for all divine bounty, as all the abundance from the higher realms descends and filters down through the Beis HaMikdash. Our Sages said that if the nations had known how much bounty reaches them by virtue of the Beis HaMikdash's existence, not only would they not have destroyed it, but they would have stationed guards around it to ensure that no harm came to it. That is the source of all blessing, and that is also the source of Israel multiplying and flourishing. This is also the deeper meaning of the appellation "the bedchamber," which hints at the spiritual union of the upper Divine attributes, descending and bestowing bounty upon the lower realm, pouring forth abundance into all worlds.
קוֹרוֹת בָּתֵּינוּ אֲרָזִים רַהִיטֵנוּ בְּרוֹתִים׃ - The beams of our houses are cedars; our rafters are cypresses.
This is praise of the Mishkan. It is not speaking of our private homes - neither a villa nor a suburban cottage - but of the beams of the Beis HaMikdash and the Mishkan: "The beams of our houses are cedars," just as Shlomo built the Temple and brought expert artisans skilled in cedar construction.
"Our rafters [rahitenu]" - Rashi explains: I do not know whether this means planks or crossbars, but I know that in the language of the Mishna we learn, "A person's household furnishings [rahitei beito] testify against him," meaning the furnishings and planks. "Berotim" - the Targum translates this as "kisei gulmish," where "kisei" means beams and "gulmish" is the name of the wood; most commentators explain it as cypresses (beroshim), a distinct species of tree. According to the other view, "berotim" is related to "berichim" (crossbars), which would mean "rahitenu" refers to the doors - for the Gemara explains that "rahit" means a door, since people run (ratzim) to it when someone knocks, the root being related to running, as in "in the troughs [barehatim], in the watering runnels" (Bereishis 30:38), where the water runs. It thus refers to the doors that contain the crossbars. Rashi presents both of these explanations as possibilities in the verse, and with this, we conclude the first chapter of Shir HaShirim.
At the conclusion of Chapter 1, the entire progression of the relationship between the Holy One, blessed be He, and Knesses Yisrael comes to light: She offers her defense that her swarthiness is merely a passing blemish caused by her "mother's children" who led her into sin, and cries out asking how she can pasture in exile among the wolves and beneath the guardian princes of the nations. He responds that the way to be preserved is to follow the footsteps of the flock, the paths of the Forefathers who accepted the Torah and observed the mitzvos. From there, the text recalls the deep love revealed at the splitting of the Red Sea and the adornments from the spoils at the sea, the misstep of the Golden Calf conveyed in delicate and affectionate language, and the atonement achieved through the gold of the Mishkan, until the Beloved returns to declare, "Behold, you are beautiful, my companion," and causes His Shechinah to dwell among us. The chapter ends with the praise of the Mishkan and the Beis HaMikdash - "our couch is verdant" - the place of Israel's union with the Holy One, blessed be He, from which divine abundance and blessing flow to all the worlds.