Rabbi Hizkiyah opened, “It is written, as a rose among thorns.” (Song of Songs 2:2) What is the Rose? It is the Congregation of Israel. Because there is a rose, and there is a Rose. Just as the rose among the thorns is tinged with red and white, so is the Congregation of Israel affected by the qualities of Judgment and Mercy. Just as a rose has thirteen petals, the Assembly of Israel is surrounded on all sides by the thirteen attributes of Mercy. Thus, between the first mentions of the name Elohim, [in the Torah] these [thirteen] words surround and guard the Congregation of Israel.
(ט) מַה־דּוֹדֵ֣ךְ מִדּ֔וֹד הַיָּפָ֖ה בַּנָּשִׁ֑ים מַה־דּוֹדֵ֣ךְ מִדּ֔וֹד שֶׁכָּ֖כָה הִשְׁבַּעְתָּֽנוּ׃
(י) דּוֹדִ֥י צַח֙ וְאָד֔וֹם דָּג֖וּל מֵרְבָבָֽה׃
O fairest of women?
How is your beloved better than another
That you adjure us so?
(10) My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
מַה דּוֹדֵךְ מִדּוֹד הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים, אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם אוֹמְרִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, מַה דּוֹדֵךְ מִדּוֹד, מָה אֱלוֹקַּ הוּא מֵאֱלוֹהוּת, מַה פַּטְרוֹן הוּא מִפַּטְרוֹנִין.
יִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹמְרִים לָהֶם, דּוֹדִי צַח וְאָדוֹם.
צַח לִי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וגו', וְאָדוֹם לְמִצְרַיִם.
רַבִּי לֵוִי בַּר חַיְּתָא אֲמַר בָּהּ תְּלַת:
צַח לִי בְּשַׁבָּת, וְאָדוֹם לִי כָּל יְמֵי הַשַּׁבָּת.
צַח לִי בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, וְאָדוֹם לִי כָּל יְמוֹת הַשָּׁנָה.
צַח לִי בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, וְאָדוֹם לִי בָּעוֹלָם הַבָּא.
“How is your beloved more than another beloved, fairest of women?” – the nations of the world say to Israel: “How is your beloved more than another beloved?” In what way is He God more than other gods, in what way is He a protector more than other protectors? Israel says to them: “My beloved is clear and ruddy” – clear for me in the land of Egypt and red for the Egyptians....
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥaita said three [statements] about this:
It is clear for me on Shabbat, and it is red for me all the days of the week.
It is clear for me on Rosh HaShana, and it is red for me the rest of the year.
It is clear for me in this world, and it is red for me in the World to Come.
(ה) ה"ג בספר ישן צח לי בעולם הבא ואדום לי בעולם הזה:
In an ancient manuscript, I found the opposite version: clear for me in the world to come, and red for me in this world.
“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, on that day shall the Lord be one and His name one” (Zechariah 14:9). The Gemara asks: Is that to say that now He is not one? Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina said: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In this world, upon good tidings one recites: Blessed…Who is good and does good, and over bad tidings one recites: Blessed…the true Judge. In the World-to-Come one will always recite: Blessed…Who is good and does good.
His teeth are whiter than milk.