Chapter 8 is the eighth and concluding chapter of Shir HaShirim. As we have seen throughout the Megillah, Shir HaShirim portrays the Congregation of Israel (Kenesset Yisrael) as a beloved bride to her Beloved - a bride who at a certain point sinned, strayed, and was cast out, and ever since, her entire song has been one of longing for the good days and the profound closeness she once shared with her Beloved, pleading to return to those times. The opening of our chapter is likewise a plea for renewed closeness.
מִי יִתֶּנְךָ כְּאָח לִי יוֹנֵק שְׁדֵי אִמִּי אֶמְצָאֲךָ בַחוּץ אֶשָּׁקְךָ גַּם לֹא יָבֻזוּ לִי׃ - O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother's breasts! Should I find you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.
Rashi explains: "O that you were like a brother to me" - that You would come to comfort me, just as Yosef did for his brothers who had mistreated him, as it is written of him, "And he comforted them and spoke to their heart." One might ask: are there not closer relationships than that of a brother - a daughter, a mother - so why specifically a brother? To this Rashi answers that here the imagery is not about the intensity of the bond, but about its nature: Kenesset Yisrael compares herself to the brothers of Yosef, whom he forgave and comforted despite the wrong they had done him. Thus she pleads: Master of the Universe, forgive me for having angered You, and draw me close once again.
On the words "who nursed at my mother's breasts," the standard text of Rashi offers no commentary. However, in the Keter edition - where Rashi's text is exceptionally precise, and where one often finds the accurate reading that resolves difficulties in Rashi's phrasing - there is an addition: "'Who nursed at my mother's breasts' - meaning, like a brother from the same mother." That is to say, "O that you were like a brother to me" expresses absolute brotherhood, as if both had nursed from the same breasts, which is the expression of the deepest bond between siblings.
In the Metzudat David, we find a wonderful explanation of the plain meaning: "This too is spoken by the beloved maiden" - the bride directs her words to her beloved and says: I long to kiss you in the marketplace, in public, but I am ashamed lest I be disgraced. If only you were to me like a little brother still nursing at my mother's breasts, whom a sister feels no shame in kissing in the streets. For then, whenever I found you outside, I would kiss you and fulfill my desire, and no one would look down on me.
Apropos this theme: a rabbi once officiated at a wedding for a modern, lighthearted couple, and at the conclusion of the ceremony, the bride and groom kissed publicly. The rabbi showed clear disapproval on his face. The groom asked: "What is the problem, Rabbi? Isn't she already my wife?" The rabbi replied: "True, she is already your wife - but the Torah concludes with the words 'before the eyes of all Israel.' There are things that belong in private chambers, and not 'before the eyes of all Israel.'"
And the allegory, continues Metzudat David: would that the obstacles preventing me from wholehearted divine service were removed. Kenesset Yisrael hopes for her Beloved and says: if only I could serve You with complete devotion, for then I would engage in Torah and mitzvot wherever I walk, even in the marketplace, in public, without any shame. This is the meaning of "Should I find you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me."
And Rashi explains "Should I find you outside, I would kiss you": I will find Your prophets speaking in Your Name, and I will embrace them and kiss them. For when it comes to the Holy One, Blessed is He, who are His representatives in this world whom one can embrace and kiss? The prophets. And why "outside"? Because the prophets would prophesy in public squares, in the upper market and the lower market, in public venues where many could hear their voice. And when I embrace and kiss Your prophets, it is as though I am kissing the word of Hashem.
"And none would despise me" - Rashi writes: and I also knew that they would not despise me, for Your love is so precious that it is fitting for Your beloved to go about pursuing it. That is to say, my love for You is so immense that it warrants the beloved actively pursuing her loved one to kiss him - Kenesset Yisrael pursues the Holy One, Blessed is He, to forge a renewed bond with Him, that He may renew our days as of old.
אֶנְהָגְךָ אֲבִיאֲךָ אֶל בֵּית אִמִּי תְּלַמְּדֵנִי אַשְׁקְךָ מִיַּיִן הָרֶקַח מֵעֲסִיס רִמֹּנִי׃ - I would lead you, I would bring you into my mother's house, that you might teach me; I would give you spiced wine to drink, from the juice of my pomegranate.
"To the house of my mother" - Rashi explains: the Beit HaMikdash. We look forward to the rebuilding of the Temple, where the complete bond will take place. We have already mentioned that the Holy of Holies is called "the chamber of beds" (beit hamitot), because there, as it were, is the place of union between the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah, the place of complete union between the Congregation of Israel and the Creator, an aspect of "the moon in its fullness" - the most complete state of connection between us and Hashem, blessed be He. "You will teach me" - just as You were accustomed to teach me in the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Mo'ed), so shall You do in the Beit HaMikdash.
"I would give you to drink of spiced wine" - these are the libations, the wines poured upon the altar. "Of the juice of my pomegranate" - Rashi explains: sweet wine. Note his precise wording: this does not literally mean pomegranate juice, for no fruit or sweet substance was offered upon the altar - "for you shall not burn any leaven or any honey as a fire offering to Hashem" - and the entire concept of sweetness and fruit, representing worldly pleasures, was not offered there (aside from the Bikkurim, which were brought up and waved). Rather, it means that the wine is likened to the sweet juice of pomegranates, a particularly sweet wine. That is the intention of the verse.
שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת רֹאשִׁי וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי׃ - "His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me."
הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם מַה תָּעִירוּ וּמַה תְּעֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ׃ - "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem: Why should you awaken, and why should you stir up love, until it pleases?"
Notice: on verse 3, Rashi quotes the verse without commentary, which is Rashi's way of indicating that the verse serves as an introduction to what follows and must be read together with the next verse. Indeed, Rashi explains both verses as one: Knesset Yisrael directs her words to the nations and says - even though I lament and complain, saying "O that you were like a brother to me," longing to return to that former state, still "His left hand is under my head": my Beloved holds my hand and is my support in my exile. The Holy One, blessed be He, still supports me and accompanies me. Therefore, "I adjure you," daughters of Jerusalem, why do you seek to disrupt or challenge this love - for it will do you no good.
To recall the meaning of this oath, let us look back at Rashi's commentary where it first appears, in chapter 2, verse 7: "I adjure you" - you, the nations - "by the gazelles or by the hinds," that you will become ownerless prey like gazelles and deer, if you awaken or stir up the love between me and my Beloved to alter or replace it, seeking to entice me to follow you. "Until it pleases" - as long as He desires me and I desire Him; just as "while (ad) the king is at his table" means while the king is there, so "until (ad) it pleases" means as long as this desire exists. That is to say: as long as my love is firmly rooted in my heart and He desires me, do not try to sever me from my love for my Beloved.
Now for the main textual nuance: what is the meaning of "if you awaken or stir up" (im ta'iru ve'im te'oreru)? Rashi explains: "If you awaken" (ta'iru) - if you cause hatred or enmity, as in "and has become your enemy (ve'hayei arekha)" and "its interpretation to your enemies (le'arakha)." "And has become your enemy" - Shmuel said to Shaul, indicating that the Holy One, blessed be He, had already given the kingdom to another and had, as it were, joined his enemies. "May the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies" - Daniel said this to Nebuchadnezzar regarding the dream in which he was driven from his kingdom like a beast of the field: may the dream apply to those who hate you and its meaning to your foes. We have already explained that Daniel was actually addressing the Holy One, blessed be He, wishing this upon the enemies of Hashem, while Nebuchadnezzar assumed Daniel was wishing it upon his own enemies. "And if you stir up" (te'oreru) - an expression of contesting or undermining (arur), as in "one who contests (ha'o'rer) ownership of a field," not an expression of awakening. In other words: it will not avail you to incite hatred between me and the Omnipresent, nor will it avail you to contest the closeness and love between us.
מִי זֹאת עֹלָה מִן הַמִּדְבָּר מִתְרַפֶּקֶת עַל דּוֹדָהּ תַּחַת הַתַּפּוּחַ עוֹרַרְתִּיךָ שָׁמָּה חִבְּלַתְךָ אִמֶּךָ שָׁמָּה חִבְּלָה יְלָדַתְךָ׃ - "Who is this rising from the wilderness, clinging to her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother was in labor with you, there she who bore you was in travail."
"Who is this" - Rashi explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, and His heavenly court say of Knesset Yisrael: Who is this, how esteemed is she, who was elevated from the wilderness with every fine gift. "Rising" (olah) here does not mean ascending to the Land, but an expression of spiritual elevation: there she was exalted through the giving of the Torah and the cleaving of the Shechinah, and her belovedness is evident to all - yet she is still in her exile. There is a sense of wonder here: how can it be that the one who attained such heights in the wilderness is still subjected to exile?
"Clinging to her beloved" (mitrapeket al dodah) - attaching herself to her Beloved, acknowledging that she is His companion and clinging to Him. Rashi notes that in Arabic, rifqah means companionship or a company, and hence mitrapeket means attaching and bonding with her Beloved.
"Under the apple tree I aroused You" - so she says in her plea, out of affectionate love for her Beloved: Remember that at the foot of Mount Sinai, arched over my head like an apple - for He suspended the mountain over them like a vat - there I aroused You. This language is the affectionate expression of a wife of one's youth, who awakens her beloved at night as he slumbers upon his bed, embracing him and kissing him. That is to say: there my love for You was awakened, Master of the Universe; remember for my sake those merits when there was such intimacy between us.
"There your mother was in travail with you" - we have already noted that the Holy One, Blessed is He, called Knesses Yisrael "His mother"; there she became a mother to Him. Rashi refers us back to his commentary on chapter 3, verse 11: "Daughters of Zion" - sons distinguished (*metzuyanim*) for Him through circumcision, tefillin, and tzitzis; "with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him" - this refers to the Tent of Meeting, which was adorned with various colors: blue wool (*techeiles*), purple wool (*argaman*), and scarlet yarn (*tola'as shani*). And Rabbi Nechunya said: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked his teacher, Rabbi Elazar the son of Rabbi Yose: Is it possible you heard from your father what is meant by "wherewith His mother crowned Him"? He replied: A parable of a king who had an only daughter whom he loved dearly; he did not cease showing his love for her until he called her "my daughter," as it says, "Hear, daughter, and see"; he did not cease showing his love for her until he called her "my sister," as it says, "Open to me, my sister, my love"; and he did not cease showing his love for her until he called her "my mother," as it says, "Listen to Me, My people, and My nation (*ule'umi*) give ear to Me" - do not read *ule'umi* ("and My nation"), but rather *ul'immi* ("and to My mother"). Whereupon Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai stood up and kissed him on his head.
We have already explored these ideas based on the Nefesh HaChaim: How can it be said that we are in the aspect of a mother to the Holy One, Blessed is He? Rather, the metaphor is like a mother who directs her son, where the son listens to her voice and does as she says. In this way, in a certain sense, all the keys to the governance of the upper realms have been handed over to us: whatever is ruled down here is decreed in Heaven; an action we perform down here brings down divine flow (*shefa*) throughout all the worlds, as it were compelling the Holy One, Blessed is He, to act with beneficence. And God forbid, if we corrupt our ways, we as it were compel Him to act by withholding good, bringing harm, distress, and suffering. It turns out that we manage and direct all the worlds - and this is the aspect of "My mother."
Through this we have also explained the phrase, "Had He brought us close before Mount Sinai and not given us the Torah, it would have been enough for us" - regarding which the Maharam Banet and others ask: What benefit would a trip to Mount Sinai be to us without the Torah? Rather, the precise emphasis is on "to us": the Holy One, Blessed is He, would have given the Torah - but not *to us*, meaning we would have had no authority to determine anything within it. But now that He "gave *us* the Torah," we have become masters over the Torah: whatever the Sages elucidate down here is the halachah, and in Heaven they act in accordance with what is ruled down here. In Heaven they determine the leap years and the calendar months according to what is established down here. Whether a person incurs *kares* (spiritual excision) for eating chametz today or not depends on whether the month and the year were intercalated here below. Everything is determined according to the Sages here. This is the aspect of "your mother."
"Was in travail with you (*chiblascha*)" - Rashi explains that this is an expression of birth pangs (*chevlei yoleidah*). In the standard printed text before us, it reads "travail came to You from yourself," which is very difficult to understand; however, an examination of the Keter Chumash shows that the correct textual reading is "travail came to her on your account." That is to say, it was not that the travail was His, but rather the birth pangs were hers - for she is in the aspect of a mother who gave birth to Him, and on His account travail came upon her. Just as the verse says, "My children have gone out from me (*yetza'uni*)," meaning they departed from me, so too "was in travail with you (*chiblascha*)" means birth pangs came upon her on your account, following the exact same grammatical form.
שִׂימֵנִי כַחוֹתָם עַל לִבֶּךָ כַּחוֹתָם עַל זְרוֹעֶךָ כִּי עַזָּה כַמָּוֶת אַהֲבָה קָשָׁה כִשְׁאוֹל קִנְאָה רְשָׁפֶיהָ רִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָה׃ - "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as cruel as the grave; its flashes are flashes of fire, a flame of God."
"Set me as a seal" - Rashi explains: For the sake of that love, seal me upon Your heart so that You do not forget me. The seal upon the heart is a metaphorical expression for the memory of the heart and mind, similar to the tefillin placed opposite the heart, which a person constantly sees and is thereby reminded of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and the fulfillment of His mitzvos. So too we plead: Seal us upon Your heart, in a place that will never depart from Your thoughts, so that You will not forget us.
"And see that love is as strong as death" - the love with which I loved You is as powerful to me as my death, that I am slain for Your sake. My love is so strong that I am willing to die for it, as Chazal state: "'Why are you going out to be executed?' 'Because I circumcised my son.' 'Why are you going out to be executed?' 'Because I observed the Shabbos'"; and it says, "For Your sake we are killed all the day."
"Jealousy is as cruel as the grave" - Rashi explains: The provocation with which the nations envied me and provoked me for Your sake. Anyone who truly attempts to investigate the roots of anti-Semitism will find no rational or logical cause, no sensible reason why they speak morning, noon, and night about Israel. For anyone wishing to hear about atrocities happening in the world, there are endless atrocities in every corner of the globe. Anyone who looks at Africa could fill news broadcasts from morning until evening: murders, massacres, people being thrown alive into rivers and drowned, villages blown up, sometimes with a hundred or two hundred people dying at once - and no one cares. But if there was a terrorist headquarters inside a school, immediately an uproar erupts across the entire world. There is an "al-Durrah" affair, and the whole world talks about it; and it does not matter that later it becomes clear that it never happened at all, no one cares anymore; the headline has already run.
And this is an explicit prophecy in the Torah: "And among those nations you will find no repose, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot," "And you will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword (*sheninah*)" - and Rashi explains: they will speak repeatedly (*yeshanenu*) about you. Every news broadcast will lead only with you; all the universities, all the protests - Israel, Israel, Israel. And this is "jealousy is as cruel as the grave": the constant provocation and strife with the nations, "for the nations envied me and provoked me for Your sake." Hashem chose us; we are the chosen people, and even if they no longer remember what they are fighting over, this has been the cause of the struggle since time immemorial. And as Chazal state: Why was it called Sinai? Because hatred (*sin'ah*) descended to the nations of the world. Following the Giving of the Torah, "and Esau I hated," hatred descended to the nations; Hashem loves the Jewish people, and from this was born the nations' hatred toward us.
Regarding the word kinah (jealousy/zeal), Rashi adds that it denotes the gripping of the heart to take vengeance. Kinah is always an expression of someone acting out of fiery agitation and fervor, as we find with Pinchas, who was zealous with Hashem's zeal. It can be for the honor of Heaven, or it can be someone seeking revenge against one who injured his honor - but it is always a gripping of the heart, an action arising from deep emotion and from the heart to exact vengeance.
"Its flashes are flashes of fire, a mighty flame (shalhavetyah)" - Rashi explains: flashes of a powerful fire produced by the flame of Gehinnom. Rashi is concise here, but elsewhere he explains that whenever the suffix "Yah" is appended to a word, it serves to convey supreme greatness and intensity - such as ma'apelyah, a darkness of God. So too, shalhavetyah denotes a colossal flame, an exceedingly immense flame, the most powerful flame of all.
Rashi adds an insight based on the cantillation marks: the zakef gadol over the word rishpei teaches us that the word esh ("fire") is connected to shalhavetyah, meaning: a fire of shalhavetyah. That is, one should not read it as "flashes of fire, a mighty flame," but rather as "its flashes are - a fire of a mighty flame." For the zakef gadol is a disjunctive accent in all musical traditions - Yemenite, Sephardic, and Ashkenazic - which pauses on the word rishpei; consequently, esh shalhavetyah are words joined together in construct.
The opening of this final chapter is a petition for closeness: "O that you were like a brother to me" - that You comfort me and forgive me as Yosef did to his brothers, and that our love be open and unashamed, allowing me to engage in Torah and mitzvot wherever I walk. "I would lead you into the house of my mother" - the deep yearning for the Beit HaMikdash, the place of perfect union. "His left hand is under my head" - even in exile my Beloved sustains me, and therefore "I adjure you": it will be of no use for the nations to incite hatred and undermine our love. "Who is this ascending from the wilderness" - wonder at Knesset Yisrael, who was elevated at the Giving of the Torah and through cleaving to the Shechinah, yet remains steadfast in exile; she recalls the love of her youth beneath Mount Sinai and her role as a "mother" guiding the worlds. And finally, "Set me as a seal" - a love as fierce as death, for which we have given our lives and over which the nations provoke us, a love whose flashes are flashes of fire, a mighty flame.