Chapter 5 of Shir HaShirim opens at the peak of closeness and ends in crisis. It begins by describing the Holy One, blessed be He, entering His garden during the dedication of the Mishkan and willingly accepting the offerings of the Nesi'im (tribal leaders). Immediately afterward, the picture turns: the beloved bride falls asleep, the Beloved knocks at the door, and she tarries. Here is an elucidation of the pesukim according to Rashi, verse by verse.
בָּאתִי לְגַנִּי אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה אָרִיתִי מוֹרִי עִם בְּשָׂמִי אָכַלְתִּי יַעְרִי עִם דִּבְשִׁי שָׁתִיתִי יֵינִי עִם חֲלָבִי אִכְלוּ רֵעִים שְׁתוּ וְשִׁכְרוּ דּוֹדִים׃ - I have come into My garden, My sister, My bride; I have gathered My myrrh with My spice; I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey; I have drunk My wine with My milk. Eat, friends! Drink, and become intoxicated with love!
Rashi explains: "I have come into My garden" - during the days of the dedication of the sanctuary, when they inaugurated the Mishkan. "I have gathered (ariti) My myrrh" - ariti is an expression of gathering. And how do we know that ariti means gathering? Rashi brings proof from the language of the Mishna: "so that the gatherer (oreh) and his basket may be accommodated" - the oreh is the one who plucks figs. It is also found in biblical Hebrew: "All who pass by the way pluck her (ve'aruha)," meaning all passersby gather from her.
And why does it say, "I have gathered My myrrh with My spice"? In reference to the incense (ketoret), for the Nesi'im brought an individual incense offering on the outer altar, and it was accepted favorably before the Omnipresent. Yet this is something that does not apply for future generations. A profound insight lies here: sacrifices are entirely subject to what is explicitly written in the Torah. One cannot bring a sacrifice outside the parameters of the Torah, which is why there are no Rabbinic sacrifices - a korban is strictly what the Torah commanded and nothing else. Even so, during the dedication of the Mishkan, the Nesi'im offered things that were outside the standard rules. Who burns incense? Only the Kohen, twice daily in the Mishkan, and the incense of Yom Kippur. Where do we ever find an individual bringing incense? Yet here, twelve tribal leaders each brought his own incense offering. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I accepted it with favor.
Therefore it says, "I have eaten My honeycomb (ya'ari) with My honey." Rashi explains: there is honey that grows in canes - these are sugarcanes, which as children people would break into pieces and suck on. This is similar to what is said regarding the "honeycomb (ya'arat hadvash)" that Yonatan ate, which does not refer to bee honey but to honey growing in canes, for ya'arah denotes a reed or cane, as in "and she placed it among the reeds (ba-suf)" and "and I will dwell in the forests (baye'arah)" - river reeds are called ya'arah. In fact, sugarcane is very similar in appearance to the reeds growing by the river, so much so that an outside observer might think they are the same reeds.
And here lies the wonderful parable: it is customary for people to suck out the sweet nectar and discard the stalk. One chews, sucks out the sweetness, and what remains is a dry piece of wood - which is thrown away. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Yet out of My great love, "I have eaten My cane with My honey" - I consumed the cane along with the sweet juice, that which is unfit together with that which is fit. The moral is: I accepted the offering that was otherwise unfit, an individual's voluntary gift of incense, alongside the sacrifices that I had commanded.
Rashi cites another example: the male sin-offering goats (se'irei chatat) offered by the Nesi'im - whereas a sin-offering can never normally be brought as a voluntary offering, nevertheless, "I accepted them" on that very day. Here again we see, "I have eaten My cane with My honey."
"I have drunk My wine" - these are the libations. "With My milk" - it was sweeter and purer than milk; that is, the libation wine you offered was accepted favorably before Me, being sweeter and purer to Me than milk. One might question how the word "with" (im) is explained according to this, for by this interpretation it should have said "I drank My wine like My milk" (k'chalavi); to interpret "with" in the sense of a comparison, one would need to find a scriptural precedent for it.
"Eat, friends" - in the Tent of Meeting, this refers to Aharon and his sons; and in the permanent Temple, to all the Kohanim, who are the beloved friends of the Omnipresent and are constantly present in the Beit HaMikdash, consuming the sacrificial meat. "Drink, and become intoxicated with love" - this refers to the people of Israel, who eat the meat of the peace-offerings (shelamim) brought for the dedication of the altar, since the meat of the shelamim belongs to the owners.
אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר קוֹל דּוֹדִי דוֹפֵק פִּתְחִי לִי אֲחֹתִי רַעְיָתִי יוֹנָתִי תַמָּתִי שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי נִמְלָא טָל קְוֻצּוֹתַי רְסִיסֵי לָיְלָה׃ - "I sleep, but my heart is awake. Hark! The voice of my Beloved knocks: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled one, for my head is drenched with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.'"
"I sleep" - when I was tranquil and secure during the First Temple period, I grew weary of serving the Holy One, blessed be He, like a person overcome by deep slumber. "Yet my heart is awake" - this refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, as expounded in the Pesikta. At first glance, this seems to split the verse mid-sentence, for the literal meaning is "I sleep, but my own heart is awake"; yet there is no contradiction here, for the Holy One, blessed be He, is the heart of Israel. Therefore, "yet my heart is awake" means that the Holy One, blessed be He, who is "the rock of my heart and my portion", remains awake to guard me and bestow good upon me. Even though I was asleep with regard to the mitzvos, my heart - the Holy One, blessed be He - remained awake.
"The voice of my Beloved knocks" - He rests His Shechinah upon the prophets and warns through them, rising early and sending them time and again. It is as though He sends an emissary to knock on the door and say: Awaken! The prophets come and proclaim, "Hear the word of Hashem," and the Holy One, blessed be He, rebukes Israel. "Open to me" - do not cause Me to depart from you. This is the more accurate reading, for He is addressing His beloved here.
"For my head is filled with dew" - this is the plea of a man who arrives at night, knocks on the door of his beloved, and says: Out of love for you, I came in the dead of night, in the dew and the rain. That is to say, only because I am so deeply bound to you was I willing to come at such an unseasonable hour, through the cold and the wet, and yet I came. Thus far is the parable.
And in the nimshal: "For my head is filled with dew" - I am filled with favor and pleasure from Avraham your father, whose deeds were as sweet to Me as dew. Avraham Avinu, who was a man of chesed whose every act was benevolence, performed deeds pleasing as refreshing dew. Here I come to you laden with blessings and recompense for good deeds, if you will only return to Me. This is the meaning of "the voice of my Beloved knocks": the Holy One, blessed be He, asks that we return in teshuvah, telling us that He has immense reward to bestow - both from the merit of the Patriarchs and from your own deeds - and therefore He still seeks your closeness and still desires that you mend your ways.
"My locks with the drops of the night" - in My hand are also many groups (kevutzos) of tribulations to exact retribution from those who forsake Me and spurn Me. Dew connotes satisfaction and favor, whereas droplets (resisim) of the night are the opposite - something sprayed forcefully, an expression of vengeance and punishment. Thus we find here both the carrot and the stick: on the one hand, the Holy One, blessed be He, extends the reward, and on the other hand, He warns that if you do not listen, it will not be reward that you receive, but groups of splinters, groups of afflictions, Heaven forbid.
"Drops of the night" - nighttime rains, which bring trouble and weariness. But why would night rains be considered a burden? Do we not know that rains falling at night are actually the most praiseworthy, since they do not disrupt the rest of workers or those heading out to their daily labor and livelihood? This requires examination: Rashi's phrasing implies that the droplets themselves are trouble and weariness, not merely that they arrive at a time of trouble and weariness. Moreover, in their days people did not walk about at night as we do today when "the darkness is as the light"; rather, they slept at night. What could be better in winter than for rain to fall every night and the sun to shine every day? At night, rain disturbs no one: you are not running to the synagogue, you are not walking to the beis midrash, you are not setting out for work. Furthermore, the term "weariness" requires explanation. Perhaps it refers merely to the noise of the rain disturbing one's sleep, yet that explanation remains difficult.
"Drops [resisei]" - this is the Aramaic translation of revivim (showers), as in "and like showers upon the grass" (u-kh'rivivim alei esev) and "like the drops of the late rain" (k'virsisei malkosha), meaning raindrops of the late season. "Locks [kevutzos]" - these are clusters of head hair that cling together; when hair grows long and gathers together, it is termed kevutzos. And because Scripture employed the imagery of dew and rain, it also employed the imagery of the head and locks of hair, for it is the nature of dew and rain to cling to hair and locks and drench them.
Alternatively, both dew and the drops of the night can be interpreted positively, unlike the first explanation where the drops signify retribution: the reward for light mitzvos that are easy to perform is likened to dew, while the reward for weighty, demanding mitzvos is likened to the exertion of nighttime droplets. There are light mitzvos, such as eating hot cholent on Shabbos, reciting Kiddush, and other matters of Oneg Shabbos, from which people hardly suffer; and there are demanding mitzvos, into which a person must invest much time, exertion, and toil. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I have reward to give you for both of these.
פָּשַׁטְתִּי אֶת כֻּתׇּנְתִּי אֵיכָכָה אֶלְבָּשֶׁנָּה רָחַצְתִּי אֶת רַגְלַי אֵיכָכָה אֲטַנְּפֵם׃ - "I have taken off my tunic; how shall I put it back on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?"
"I have taken off my tunic" - meaning, I have already trained myself in other paths; I can no longer return to You. This is like what was said, "And since we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have lacked everything" (Yirmeyahu 44:18), for these ways seemed right in their eyes. The claim is: I have already become accustomed to idolatry; I have already become used to corrupted ways. And they even begin to believe that idolatry benefits them and is useful to them, and that through it goodness came to them.
And the phrasing "I have taken off my tunic, I have washed my feet" is the response of an unfaithful wife who does not want to open the door for her husband. Since the verse began with "I sleep, the voice of my Beloved knocks," it concludes with a reply that fits someone knocking at the door during nighttime sleep: I have already undressed, I have already prepared for bed, I cannot do so now. And in the nimshal (allegory): I am already worshiping idols, and it benefits me and is good for me, and it is hard for me to part from it.
This is also explained as an allegory for human desires. As long as a person has not entered into desires, he is king and master; once he enters into them, he becomes an enslaved servant. Drugs are always the most fitting parable for all these matters: before a person gets involved, he is in control - "once here, once there, just one cigarette, don't make a big deal out of it"; but after he has become addicted, who can pull him out of there? And so it is with illicit desires: a person who has become addicted to forbidden relationships, may Hashem have mercy; a person who has become addicted to a smartphone - Rav Shteinman said about this: "None that go unto her return" (Mishlei 2:19), from this there is no return. People who broke the device and ended it permanently - you will find only a rare few. It follows that the true wisdom is not to enter in the first place. And if you have already entered, this is precisely the woman's claim in the verse: I have already trained myself in other paths; I can no longer return to you - an addict.
And then she even begins to think that this is for the best: "In fact, lately I have had success. Ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven, ever since we listened to you, Yirmeyahu - only troubles! You see, things were good back then." Here, a person already convinces himself that his corruption is actually good. And this is always the second stage in sin: in the first stage, a person hurts over his situation and is distressed over where he finds himself, but what can he do, he is addicted. In the second stage, because it is difficult for a person to be addicted to sin and constantly feel pangs of conscience, he cleanses his conscience with the claim that this is how things are supposed to be and that there is no sin here at all. And this is the worst stage, for in the first stage there is still a chance for teshuvah, but "Because you say, 'I have not sinned,' behold, I will enter into judgment with you" (Yirmeyahu 2:35). As long as there is sin and a person admits, "I have sinned," there is hope that he will correct it; but when he says, "Nonsense, what sin is there here, what is wrong with this, there are various lifestyles" - and they purify the rodent with pseudo-scientific arguments - this essentially locks him into the transgression.
דּוֹדִי שָׁלַח יָדוֹ מִן הַחֹר וּמֵעַי הָמוּ עָלָיו׃ - My Beloved put forth His hand from the opening, and my heart was stirred for Him.
"My Beloved put forth His hand from the opening" - the hole beside the door, which is the keyhole, and the Beloved tries to open it with His hand. "And my heart was stirred for Him" - I saw His hand, and my innermost emotions were overturned to return to His love and open for Him. Yearnings were reawakened within me to return to Him.
קַמְתִּי אֲנִי לִפְתֹּחַ לְדוֹדִי וְיָדַי נָטְפוּ מוֹר וְאֶצְבְּעֹתַי מוֹר עֹבֵר עַל כַּפּוֹת הַמַּנְעוּל׃ - I rose to open for my Beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
"I rose to open for my Beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh" - that is, whole-heartedly and with a willing soul, like a woman adorning herself to endear herself to her husband with a pleasing fragrance. In our terms: I even perfumed myself. After seeing His hand through the opening and having my longing awakened, I come to Him willingly, with varieties of perfumes, so that her husband will love her because of her pleasant fragrance.
"Flowing myrrh" (mor oveir) - a scent that passes and spreads in every direction. There are textual variants where it is written "ru'ach" (wind/spirit), and this is an error. When a person wears perfume, you can smell it from a distance, and the fragrance wafts and continues to spread - this is "flowing myrrh."
The chapter opens with a wondrous acceptance of divine favor: at the dedication of the Mishkan, out of immense love, the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted even that which was "unfit along with the fit" - individual ketoret and sin-offering he-goats, which are ordinarily never brought as voluntary offerings - like a person eating the honeycomb together with the honey. From there, the narrative moves to the slumber of the First Temple era: Israel is asleep, while the Holy One, blessed be He - their heart - is awake, knocking through the prophets, arriving laden with blessings and reward for minor and major mitzvot alike. Yet the beloved tarries with the excuses of one who has already grown accustomed to other ways. From this emerges the great lesson: true wisdom lies in never entering the shackles of habit and desire in the first place, and certainly in never rationalizing sin, for justifying sin is precisely what locks a person inside it. Even so, the moment the Beloved reaches His hand through the opening - her heart is deeply stirred, and she rises to open for Him whole-heartedly and with a willing soul.