Introduction: One Verse and Three Questions
We turn to the words of the Zera Shimshon on Shir HaShirim, in the sixth chapter of his work, commenting on the verse in chapter 1:
הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים׃ (א, טו) - "Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful, your eyes are doves." (1:15)
Three nuances require careful examination in this verse: First - what is the connection between the beginning of the verse and its end? What connects "Behold, you are beautiful, my love" to "your eyes are doves"? Second - why the repetition of "Behold, you are beautiful" twice? Third - why specifically did he compare her to doves by saying "your eyes are doves"?
An Additional Difficulty: Is Beauty Really a Praise?
The author here builds several tiers, and only after laying these foundations does he approach the explanation of the matter. The first tier addresses a difficulty at the beginning of the verse: The Holy One, blessed be He, praises the Congregation of Israel for being beautiful - "Behold, you are beautiful, my love" - yet is beauty truly such an unreserved praise? Beauty carries a pitfall, and that pitfall is the evil eye. Look at Hannah: in her prayer she said, "and You give Your maidservant a seed of men" (I Samuel 1:11), and in the fifth chapter of Berakhot (31b) the Sages explained: "offspring who blend in among people, neither tall nor short, neither pale nor ruddy" - not too tall and not too short, not overly fair and not overly red. What concerned her? In any manner in which a person stands out from others, there is room for scrutiny and the evil eye of onlookers. Therefore, she did not desire exceptional beauty or exceptional stature, but rather that he be unassuming and average. If so, why does the Holy One, blessed be He, praise the Congregation of Israel with something dominated by the evil eye, when through her beauty she is all the more vulnerable?
The Incident of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yochanan
This may be understood in light of what the Sages related in the first chapter of Berakhot (5b): Rabbi Elazar fell ill, and Rabbi Yochanan came to visit him. He saw that he was lying in a dark room. Rabbi Yochanan uncovered his arm, and light radiated throughout the room. He saw that Rabbi Elazar was weeping. He said to him: Why are you weeping? If it is on account of Torah, if it is on account of sustenance, if it is on account of children... Rabbi Elazar said to him: I am weeping over this beauty that will rot in the dust. Rabbi Yochanan said to him: For this you certainly ought to weep. And both of them wept.
Let us explain the narrative. Rabbi Elazar fell ill, and Rabbi Yochanan came in to visit him. He saw him lying in a dark room, a room without windows. Rabbi Yochanan uncovered his arm - and light filled the place, for Rabbi Yochanan was exceptionally handsome and his skin was radiant, so that when he uncovered his arm, the house was illuminated. Rabbi Yochanan saw that Rabbi Elazar was weeping, and said to him: Why are you weeping? He understood that his crying was due to suffering or a sense of lack, and began enumerating to him: If it is on account of Torah - if because you did not learn enough Torah, have we not learned: "One who increases and one who decreases, provided that one directs his heart to Heaven"? If it is on account of sustenance - if because your livelihood is meager, not every person merits two tables, and not everyone can be like Rebbe the Holy. And if it is on account of children - that your children did not survive, Rabbi Yochanan took a bone out of his pocket and said to him: "This is the bone of my tenth son" - for I buried ten sons, and even over this one must not despair, for a person must know that everything is from Him, blessed be He. With this, Rabbi Yochanan would comfort mourners.
Rabbi Elazar answered him: "I am weeping over this beauty that will rot in the dust" - I weep over this beauty that will decay in the ground. I see you now, exceptionally handsome, your skin shining so radiantly that the room filled with light, yet this beauty is destined to decay in the dust. Rabbi Yochanan said to him: "For this you certainly ought to weep" - if that is why you weep, for that it is indeed worthy to weep. And both of them wept.
The Puzzling Aspects of Their Weeping
All the commentators wonder about this weeping: What was its nature, and what was their intent? What is there to weep over - physical, corporeal beauty that decays in the ground? Furthermore, the wording "for this you certainly ought to weep" is difficult - what does "certainly" mean, and what is so certain here? And why did both of them weep? After all, the end of every person is to die, and this is the way of the world; what new realization dawned on them now? Those who are born are destined to die, something known from the day a person is born, and from that day onward he begins dying day after day - so why did this weeping awaken now? Additionally, the wording "that will rot in the dust" is difficult: if he meant after death, at the moment of death a person's countenance changes immediately and no longer possesses radiance, beauty, or splendor. That is, beauty deteriorates even before reaching the ground - at the very moment of death the radiance of his face is stripped away, without needing to wait until it reaches the dust.
The Six Things Taken from Adam HaRishon
It can be explained based on what the Midrash states on the verse, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth": all occurrences of toledot (generations) in the Torah are spelled deficiently, lacking a vav, except for two. And why? Corresponding to the six things that were taken from Adam HaRishon, which are: his radiance, his stature, etc., and they will not return until the son of Peretz comes. The explanation of the matter: wherever the word toledot appears in the Torah it lacks a vav, except for two places - "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created," and "And these are the generations of Peretz," who is the forefather of the Davidic dynasty. Why in these two places is it spelled fully with a vav? Because the vav hints at the six things taken from Adam HaRishon due to his sin: his radiance, his life, his stature, the fruit of the earth, the fruit of the tree, and the heavenly luminaries. At the time of Creation, when "the generations of the heavens and the earth" was written, it was still full; after the sin, all toledot are deficient, for those six things were diminished from the world, and they do not return until the son of Peretz comes - until the Mashiach arrives. And of all six, our only concern here is with two: "his radiance and his stature," where radiance means his beauty and splendor.
If So, From Where Did Rabbi Yochanan's Beauty Come?
And if radiance and beauty were taken from the world through the sin of Adam HaRishon, how could Rabbi Yochanan possess such wondrous beauty, beyond the natural order? It can be said that even though it was taken from the world, there are certain righteous individuals who partake of it, as written in the Minchat Shai quoting the Geulat HaGer at the end of Rut (and similarly later in Rut on the verse "These six measures of barley he gave me"). That is, there is a reality in which certain people possess that radiance and beauty even though it was removed from the world; he derives this from the double segol vowel in the name Peretz, hinting at the six things. We do not need to delve into all the details here, but rather focus on the principle: there are indeed individuals who merit the radiance of Adam HaRishon.
The proof of this is that the Sages said: "The beauty of Yaakov was a semblance of the beauty of Adam HaRishon." And so too, Moshe Rabbeinu merited the rays of majesty, so that his face shone and beamed to the point where no one could gaze upon him. Likewise, the radiance of Rabbi Yochanan, whose body shone and gleamed, was a small measure of that radiance of the World to Come.
The Question of the Yefeh To'ar: Why Is Radiance Not Mentioned in the Curses?
The Yefeh To'ar on Bereishit raised a difficulty regarding this Midrash: Why is the loss of radiance not mentioned in the curses of Adam? After all, the verse should have said to him: "By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread," "and thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you" - and the radiance of your face shall change, yet this is not explicitly mentioned there. He answered that it was unnecessary to state, because the radiance of his face would certainly change immediately from his sorrow upon being cursed, leaving him sullen and dejected in the sweat of his brow constantly. In other words, there is no need to state this explicitly, for by virtue of the curses themselves - the constant anxiety over sustenance, "By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread," and "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your pregnancy" - man becomes anxious, sullen, and dejected, and consequently the radiance of his countenance naturally changes. Just as there is no need to state regarding a deceased person that "his radiance will change," since once the soul departs decay begins and the person's appearance changes, so too there was no need to specify the loss of radiance in the curse, for it follows automatically as a result of sadness and worry.
Now the Weeping Is Understood
And now, it was specifically over this that Rabbi Elazar wept - over the degradation of man, that while still alive he is subject to the vicissitudes of time, which alter his face, his radiance, and his splendor. This fits precisely with the wording, "over this beauty that will wear away in the earth (be'ar'a)": it does not mean that it will rot in the ground after burial, for that is difficult, as a person's radiance alters from the very moment of death; rather, "be'ar'a" means while still on this earth, during his lifetime, he already steadily diminishes due to worries and the vicissitudes of life - all the shifting fortunes of time that bring a person pain and anxiety.
And Rabbi Yochanan told him, "For this it is certainly fitting to weep." That is to say: If you were weeping because beauty is lost at the time of death, I would not have concurred with you, for there is no reason to weep over that; on the contrary, the day of death is a day of rejoicing for the righteous, as cited in the Idra Zuta in Parashat Ha'azinu. But now that you weep over the beauty lost from the righteous on account of the anxieties of this world - you certainly have good cause to weep. For if they are so righteous as to merit this beauty which is a semblance of the World to Come, they ought to have merited to dwell in tranquility and live without any grief, and then worries would not have altered their beauty; it is unfitting that they should be subject and enslaved to the vicissitudes of the world. Because of this, both of them wept.
Rabbi Yochanan and the Evil Eye: From the Seed of Yosef
Now, Rabbi Yochanan would go and sit at the gates of the immersion pool, so that when the daughters of Israel emerged from their immersion they would look at him, and thereby have children as handsome as he. For his part, he harbored no inappropriate thoughts about them at all, for they appeared to him like white geese; he was at such a spiritual level that the matter aroused no illicit interest in him whatsoever. However, the Gemara asks: Did he not fear the evil eye? Surely he should have been concerned on account of the evil eye! The Gemara answers: "Because he came from the seed of Yosef" (Berachot 20a). Yosef, too, was handsome of form and handsome of appearance, and his father blessed him, "Yosef is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring (alei ayin, rising above the eye)," meaning that this beauty was a semblance of the World to Come, over which the evil eye has no power. And as the Sages of blessed memory said regarding the verse, "'May Hashem bless you' - with wealth; 'and safeguard you' - from harmful spirits": when a blessing comes from Above, from Him, blessed be He, there is no fear at all and one need not be afraid of anything. And since the blessing of Yosef was a blessing from Above, a semblance of the World to Come, the evil eye had no dominion over it; and so too with Rabbi Yochanan, whose blessing was a semblance of the World to Come, and therefore he had no fear.
Explanation of the Pasuk
And regarding this, Scripture says: "Behold, you are fair, my love." That is to say: even though through the sin of Adam HaRishon radiance and beauty were taken away from the world, nevertheless, they were not completely removed, for there are many tzaddikim who merit beauty - Yaakov, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Yochanan. But should you say: is not beauty something governed by the evil eye, just as Chanah did not want it, and if so, what praise is this? For this reason it answers that all of Israel's beauty comes from the Upper World and from Gan Eden, because Israel trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, and constantly hope for His blessing.
And this is the repetition of "Behold, you are fair," "Behold, you are fair": first, that she is not subject to astrological fate (mazal), for Israel is not bound by mazal - her beauty is the supernal beauty, akin to the beauty of Adam HaRishon, a beauty that is from Heaven; and further, that the evil eye will have no power over her, because since the blessing comes from the Upper World and from Him, blessed be He, just as we saw with "May Hashem bless you... and keep you from damaging forces," there is no reason to fear the influence of the evil eye.
"Your Eyes Are Like Doves" - An Answer to the Cares of Time
And should you ask: are not the cares of time and this-worldly life full of worries that ruin beauty? Just as we explained that "beauty that withers in the earth" occurs because of the worries and tribulations of this world, and as the Yefeh To'ar explained, there was no need for a special curse on one's radiance, for once it was said, "By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread" and anxieties were cast upon man, his beauty naturally wasted away. If so, of what benefit is this beauty to me, if even though the evil eye has no dominion over it, it is ultimately destined to fade away due to worries and tribulations?
To this he says: nevertheless, you must not grumble against the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He; rather, lift your eyes to the dove. For the dove in the days of Noach brought an olive leaf in its mouth, which it took from Gan Eden, hinting that it preferred its sustenance to be bitter as an olive from the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He. An olive, before it is sweetened with salt or pickled, is bitter and inedible, yet it said: "Better for me the bitterness of the olive from the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He." Just as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, so too the eyes of Israel are always lifted to the Omnipresent, and this is "your eyes are like doves."
And herein lies the answer to the question of what will become of the worries: you should not complain about the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, but rather be like the dove. This beauty is preserved on condition that "your eyes are like doves," that you look upon worldly matters the way the dove looks: even if it is bitter as an olive, it is from the Holy One, blessed be He, and I accept it, having no complaints or grievances. And when one looks at life this way, troubles do not disturb and worries do not cause anxiety; consequently, one's radiance does not change. You will remain "Behold, you are fair" without troubles harming you, and you will remain "Behold, you are fair" without an evil eye harming you, for you are among the righteous whom the evil eye cannot harm. By virtue of this, this beauty will remain an everlasting beauty, akin to the beauty of Adam HaRishon. Truly wonderful.
In summary:
We asked three questions regarding the pasuk: What is the connection between its beginning and its end, why is "Behold, you are fair" repeated, and what is the significance of the parable of doves? And we learned that radiance and beauty were taken from the world through the sin of Adam HaRishon, yet even so, there are tzaddikim - Yaakov, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Yochanan - who merit a beauty that is a taste of the World to Come. Over this, Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yochanan wept: not over the beauty that rots in the dust after death, for the day of death is a celebration for tzaddikim, but over the beauty that wastes away while still upon the earth, on account of worries and the vicissitudes of time. To address this, Scripture comes and says "Behold, you are fair" twice: fair, because your beauty is from the Upper World and you are not bound by astrological fate; and fair, because the evil eye has no power over a blessing that comes from Above, like Yosef, "a fruitful bough by a spring," and like Rabbi Yochanan who descended from him. And what of the worries? To this it says, "your eyes are like doves": just as the dove sought its sustenance bitter as an olive from the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He, so too the eyes of Israel are always lifted to the Omnipresent; and for one who does not complain against the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, worries do not diminish his radiance, and his beauty remains an everlasting beauty, akin to the beauty of Adam HaRishon.