כָּל כִּתְבֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ מְטַמְּאִין אֶת הַיָּדַיִם. שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים וְקֹהֶלֶת מְטַמְּאִין אֶת הַיָּדַיִם. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים מְטַמֵּא אֶת הַיָּדַיִם, וְקֹהֶלֶת מַחֲלֹקֶת. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, קֹהֶלֶת אֵינוֹ מְטַמֵּא אֶת הַיָּדַיִם וְשִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים מַחֲלֹקֶת. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, קֹהֶלֶת מִקֻּלֵּי בֵית שַׁמַּאי וּמֵחֻמְרֵי בֵית הִלֵּל. אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן עַזַּאי, מְקֻבָּל אֲנִי מִפִּי שִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנַיִם זָקֵן, בַּיּוֹם שֶׁהוֹשִׁיבוּ אֶת רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה בַּיְשִׁיבָה, שֶׁשִּׁיר הַשִּׁירִים וְקֹהֶלֶת מְטַמְּאִים אֶת הַיָּדַיִם. אָמַר רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, לֹא נֶחֱלַק אָדָם מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל עַל שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים שֶׁלֹּא תְטַמֵּא אֶת הַיָּדַיִם, שֶׁאֵין כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ כְדַאי כַּיּוֹם שֶׁנִּתַּן בּוֹ שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁכָּל הַכְּתוּבִים קֹדֶשׁ, וְשִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים. וְאִם נֶחְלְקוּ, לֹא נֶחְלְקוּ אֶלָּא עַל קֹהֶלֶת. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן חָמִיו שֶׁל רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא, כְּדִבְרֵי בֶן עַזַּאי, כָּךְ נֶחְלְקוּ וְכָךְ גָּמְרוּ:
All the Holy Scriptures defile the hands. The Song of Songs and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) defile the hands. Rabbi Judah says: the Song of Songs defiles the hands, but there is a dispute about Kohelet. Rabbi Yose says: Kohelet does not defile the hands, but there is a dispute about the Song of Songs. Rabbi Shimon says: [the ruling about] Kohelet is one of the leniencies of Bet Shammai and one of the stringencies of Bet Hillel. Rabbi Shimon ben Azzai said: I have received a tradition from the seventy-two elders on the day when they appointed Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah head of the academy that the Song of Songs and Kohelet defile the hands. Rabbi Akiba said: Far be it! No man in Israel disputed that the Song of Songs [saying] that it does not defile the hands. For the whole world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the writings are holy but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies. If they had a dispute, they had a dispute only about Kohelet. Rabbi Yohanan ben Joshua the son of the father-in-law of Rabbi Akiva said in accordance with the words of Ben Azzai: so they disputed and so they reached a decision.
דָּבָר אַחֵר, שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים, זֶהוּ שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב (קהלת יב, ט): וְיֹתֵר שֶׁהָיָה קֹהֶלֶת חָכָם, אִלּוּ אָדָם אַחֵר אֲמָרָן הָיִיתָ צָרִיךְ לָכוֹף אָזְנֶיךָ וְלִשְׁמֹעַ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, וְיוֹתֵר שֶׁאֲמָרָן שְׁלֹמֹה. וְאִלּוּ מִדַּעְתּוֹ אֲמָרָן, הָיִיתָ צָרִיךְ לָכוֹף אָזְנֶיךָ וּלְשָׁמְעָם, וְיוֹתֵר שֶׁאֲמָרָן בְּרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְיֹתֵר שֶׁהָיָה קֹהֶלֶת חָכָם עוֹד לִמַּד דַּעַת אֶת הָעָם וְאִזֵּן וְחִקֵּר תִּקֵּן מְשָׁלִים הַרְבֵּה, וְאִזֵּן דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, וְחִקֵּר דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, עָשָׂה אָזְנַיִם לַתּוֹרָה. וְאַתְּ מוֹצֵא שֶׁעַד שֶׁלֹא עָמַד שְׁלֹמֹה לֹא הָיְתָה דּוּגְמָא. רַב נַחְמָן [אמר תרתין], רַב נַחְמָן אָמַר לְפָלָטִין גְּדוֹלָה שֶׁהָיוּ בָהּ פְּתָחִים הַרְבֵּה, וְכָל שֶׁהָיָה נִכְנַס בְּתוֹכָהּ הָיָה טוֹעֶה מִדֶּרֶךְ הַפֶּתַח, בָּא פִּקֵחַ אֶחָד וְנָטַל הַפְּקַעַת וּתְלָאָהּ דֶּרֶךְ הַפֶּתַח, הָיוּ הַכֹּל נִכְנָסִים וְיוֹצְאִין דֶּרֶךְ הַפְּקַעַת. כָּךְ עַד שֶׁלֹא עָמַד שְׁלֹמֹה לֹא הָיָה אָדָם יָכוֹל לְהַשְׂכִּיל דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, וְכֵיוָן שֶׁעָמַד שְׁלֹמֹה הִתְחִילוּ הַכֹּל סוֹבְרִין תּוֹרָה... אָמַר רַבִּי יוּדָן לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁכָּל מִי שֶׁהוּא אוֹמֵר דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה בָּרַבִּים זוֹכֶה שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ עָלָיו, וּמִמִּי אַתָּה לָמֵד, מִשְּׁלֹמֹה, שֶׁעַל יְדֵי שֶׁאָמַר דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה בָּרַבִּים, זָכָה שֶׁשָּׁרְתָה עָלָיו רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְאָמַר שְׁלשָׁה סְפָרִים: מִשְׁלֵי, קֹהֶלֶת, וְשִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים.
This is like that which is said in Ecclesiastes "A further word: Because Koheleth was a sage, he continued to instruct the people. He listened to and tested the soundness of many maxims. If another person had done what Shlomo did, you would've had to really strain to understand things. More than he said them with the holy spirit and more his wisdom taught the people through his parables, he gave openings to the Torah. Until Shlomo came, that wasn't the case. It's like the case of a great castle that has many openings. Anybody who went into the castle would always get lost. Then, a wise person came and made ornaments that he hung over each door. So too it was that until Shlomo came, a person never really understood the words of Torah and then afterwards, they did. Rabbi Yudan said this is all to teach anyone who teaches Torah in public merits the resting of the divine presence on her and we learn this from Shlomo. Since he taught this all in person, the holy spirit rested upon him and he wrote Proverbs, Kohelet, and Shir Hashirim.
Rabbi Eli Mansour
The Midrash Talpiyot, based on the Zohar in Parashat Noah, writes that the souls of the wicked condemned to suffering in Gehinam are given a reprieve from their suffering during the times when we are praying here in this world. Each of the three daily prayer services, the Midrash Talpiyot writes, lasts for an hour-and-a-half. (It seems that in the olden days the Sadikim spent a full 90 minutes on each prayer, even Minha and Arbit!) This means that the wicked enjoy 4.5 hours of relief a day (three 90-minute periods), or 27 hours a week (4.5 X 6), excluding Shabbat, throughout which the wicked are in any event given a reprieve. It thus emerges that out of the 144 hours in the workweek (24 X 6), the souls of the wicked spend 117 hours (144 – 27) suffering in Gehinam.
The Book of Shir Hashirim was composed by King Shelomo and contains 117 verses, corresponding to the 117 hours of suffering endured by the souls of the wicked each week. And thus as we end the week, we read this book in case, G-d forbid, we had done something during the week for which we deserve being condemned to Gehinam. Our reading of this book at the end of the week serves as a Tikkun (rectification) for anything we might have done to earn this kind of harsh sentence. King Shelomo wrote this book to atone for the three sins that he committed, violating the Torah’s restrictions on the amount of wives, wealth and horses a king is allowed to have. Each violation is punishable by 39 lashes, and so he composed the 117 Pesukim of Shir Hashirim (39 X 3) to atone for these transgressions
§ The Sages taught: One who reads a verse from Song of Songs and renders it a form of secular song, and not a sacred text, and one who reads any biblical verse at a banquet house, not at its appropriate time, but merely as a song, introduces evil to the world, as the Torah girds itself with sackcloth and stands before the Holy One, and says before God: Master of the Universe, Your children have rendered me like a harp on which clowns play.
Rav Kook
A soul that is insensitive to feelings of romance cannot relate to the tender sensibilities expressed in songs of love. Such a person will pervert those poetic yearnings, reducing them to the level of his own base desires. Similarly, one who has never ascended the heights of holy contemplation, one who has never experienced the uplifting surge of love for the Rock of all worlds – such a person will fail to grasp how the sublime yearnings of Shir Ha-Shirim truly reflect the highest aspirations of the Jewish People. But an insightful person will recognize that the body of literature of this holy nation, whose long history is replete with extraordinary displays of self-sacrifice and martyrdom to sanctify God’s Name, would be incomplete without a suitable expression of their boundless love for God. As he was cruelly put to death at the hands of the Romans, R. Akiva told his students, “All my life I have been troubled by this verse, ‘You will love God... with all your soul’ – even if he takes your soul. When will I have the opportunity to fulfill this?” R. Akiva then recited the Shema, and his soul departed when he reached the word echad, declaring God’s unity (Berakhot 61b).
בשיר השירים קורין אותו בלילי ימים טובים של גליות האחרונים חציו בלילה אחד וחציו בלילה השני.
In the case of the Song of Songs, it is read on the last [two] nights of the [Passover] Festival, half of it on the first night and the other half on the second night.
8th century
: הגה...ונוהגין לומר שיר השירים בשבת של חול המועד ואם שבת בי"ט האחרון אומרים אותו באותו שבת וכן הדין בסוכות עם קהלת ונוהגין לומר רות בשבועות (אבודרהם) והעם נהגו שלא לברך עליהם על מקרא מגילה ולא על מקרא כתובים:
We have the custom to say Song of Songs on Shabbat of Chol Hamoed and if it's the last festival day, we read it then...
16th century
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נרצה (טז) חייב אדם לספר ביציאת מצרים עד שתחטפנו שינה ולכן יש קוראים אחר הסדר שיר השירים.
A person is obligated to tell the story of Exodus until they actually fall asleep. Therefore, there are those who read Song of Songs after the seder.
Rav Avraham Danzig(18th/19th century)
(ו) ומגילת שיר השירים אומ' אותה בשבת שחלה להיות בחולו המועד. ת'. ואם אין שבת בחולו המועד או' אותה יום שביעי של פסח. ת': ולכך אנו אומרי' אותה בפסח על שם ששיר השירים מדבר מגאולת מצרים. שנא' לסוסתי ברכבי פרעה. וגו'. וכל העניין מדבר מארבע גליות למבין:
On Pesach, we say Sos on Chol Hamoed Shabbat and if that happens on the last day, we do it then. The reason is that SoS speaks about the exodus from Egypt as it says "I have likened you, my darling, to a mare in Pharaoh’s chariots" This whole matter speaks to the 4 exiles to the one who understands.
France 11/12 Centuries
To a mare in Pharaoh’s chariots:
(ד) דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי פַּפִּיס לְסֻסָתִי בְּרִכְבֵי פַרְעֹה, לְסִסָּתִי כְתִיב, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כְּשֵׁם שֶׁשַֹּׂשְׂתִּי עַל הַמִּצְרִיִּים לְאַבְּדָן בַּיָּם, כָּךְ שַׂשְׂתִּי לְאַבֵּד שׂוֹנְאֵיהֶם שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל, וּמִי גָּרַם לָהֶם לְהִנָּצֵל, מִימִינָם וּמִשְׂמֹאלָם, בִּזְכוּת הַתּוֹרָה שֶׁעֲתִידִין לְקַבֵּל מִימִינוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים לג, ב): מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ. וּמִשְֹּׂמֹאלָם, זוֹ מְזוּזָה. דָּבָר אַחֵר, מִימִינָם, זוֹ קְרִיאַת שְׁמַע. וּמִשְׂמֹאלָם, זוֹ תְּפִלָּה.
Rabbi Pappis expounded on this verse that while it's written, Susati, my mare, it's actually, "sisati" akin to God saying, just as a exulted on the Egyptians to destroy them at the sea, so too I find joy at destroying all enemies of the people of Israel. Who caused them to be saved? From their "right and left". From the Torah that is the right hand of God as we learn in Deut: 33:2 and from the left of the Mezuza.
There he comes,
Leaping over mountains,
Bounding over hills.
Vilna Gaon on 2:8
This speaks to an immediacy and it is referencing Moses who said he was coming immediately.
The rains are over and gone. (12) The blossoms have appeared in the land,
The time of pruning has come;
The song of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
Otzar Dinim U'minhagim
just as Pesach is called the Spring Holiday, Shir Ha-Shirim similarly invokes the verdant change of seasons in connection with the evolving relationship between the dod and ra’aya:
(שם)
The time has come for the Kutim to be cut down, for the wicked to be broken, for the Babylonians to be destroyed, for the wicked kingdom to be finished...or, the time for song has come, the time has come for the 3 year sapling to be cute, the time has come for the Beit Hamikdash to be rebuilt, the time for Israel to be redeemed, the time for God's Kingdom to be revealed, the time for the Sea to split, the time to sing to God, as it is said, "my strength is in the song of God," and the time for Israel to be apportioned.
Summation of the Netziv on Shir Hashirim
Kohelet and Shir Ha-Shirim are to be seen as inversely related. Kohelet was originally delivered as oratory on Sukkot before a large gathering of Jews and gentiles. Accordingly, its message, as a generic book of wisdom, was universal in scope. This is consistent with the themes of Sukkot, which is in many ways a universal holiday. By contrast, Shir Ha-Shirim was taught on Pesach in front of a Jewish crowd. Reading Shir Ha-Shirim according to the classic midrashic interpretation that it is an allegory for the love between God and the Jewish People, it was appropriate for Shlomo to teach Shir Ha-Shirim to an exclusively Jewish audience on Pesach, a holiday whose themes are far more particularistic than those of Sukkot. This is the reason that we continue to read Kohelet publicly on Sukkot and Shir Ha-Shirim on Pesach.
Picking up on his theory that Shir Ha-Shirim was originally recited by Shlomo Ha-Melech on Pesach in celebration of the completion of the First Temple, Netziv seeks to understand Shlomo’s precise intention in composing and reciting this song in public. He explains by pointing to an anomaly with regard to Pesach: Since the major event of the holiday is the Exodus, which is celebrated on the 15th of Nissan, why does the holiday continue for another six days? (Apparently, he does not believe that the Splitting of the Sea merited a holiday in its own right, perhaps because it was merely the completion of the events, whose crux has already transpired on the 15th.)
Netziv answers that the final six days of Pesach are intended to inspire the Jews in their loving connection and devotion to God. Moreover, the final day is termed “Atzeret” by the Torah to indicate that the day’s goal is to retain the lessons and inspiration of the previous days and take them forward into the year to come. Shir Ha-Shirim was delivered on Atzeret by Shlomo to inspire the Jews toward increased loving devotion to God.
Furthermore, Shlomo recognized that with the completion of the Temple, many pious individuals would now be subject to the new stricture against offering sacrifices on bamot, private altars. This significantly increased the risk that such inspired individuals might struggle with their diminished opportunities to serve God and be tempted to offer private sacrifices. Accordingly, Shlomo taught Shir Ha-Shirim to exhort the nation to continue their dedication to worship God lovingly, particularly through the Temple sacrifices and Torah study.
Machzor of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
The message of Hosea, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah is that the Exodus was more than a theological drama about the defeat of false gods by the true One, or a political narrative about slavery and freedom. It is a love story — troubled and tense, to be sure — yet an elopement by bride and groom to the desert where they can be alone together, far out of sight of prying eyes and the distractions of civilization.
That is the theme of the Song of Songs. Like God summoning His people out of Egypt, the lover in the song calls on his beloved, “Come… let us leave” (2:10). The beloved herself says: “Come, draw me after you, let us run!” (1:4). Then, in an image of extraordinary poignancy, we see the two of them emerging together from the wilderness: “Who is this, rising from the desert, leaning on her beloved?” (Song. 8:5).
Israel, leaning on God, emerging, flushed with love, from the wilderness: that is the Exodus as seen by the great prophets. Nor were they the first to develop this idea. It appears, fully fledged, in the book of Deuteronomy, where the word “love” appears twenty-three times as a description of the relationship between God and the people. When we read the Song of Songs on Pesach as a commentary to the Exodus, it spells out Jeremiah’s message. God chose Israel because Israel was willing to follow Him into the desert, leaving Egypt and all its glory behind for the insecurity of freedom, relying instead on the security of faith.
Ah, you are fair.
Your eyes are like doves
Behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
Streaming down Mount Gilead. (2) Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
Climbing up from the washing pool;
All of them bear twins,
And not one loses her young. (3) Your lips are like a crimson thread,
Your mouth is lovely.
Your brow behind your veil
[Gleams] like a pomegranate split open. (4) Your neck is like the Tower of David,
Built to hold weapons,-b
Hung with a thousand shields—
All the quivers of warriors. (5) Your breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
Browsing among the lilies. (6) When the day blows gently
And the shadows flee,
I will betake me to the mount of myrrh,
To the hill of frankincense. (7) Every part of you is fair, my darling,
There is no blemish in you.
From Lebanon, my bride, with me!
Trip down from Amana’s peak,
From the peak of Senir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions,
From the hills of leopards.
(9) You have captured my heart,
My own, my bride,
You have captured my heart
With one [glance] of your eyes,
With one coil of your necklace. (10) How sweet is your love,
My own, my bride!
How much more delightful your love than wine,
Your ointments more fragrant
Than any spice! (11) Sweetness drops
From your lips, O bride;
Honey and milk
Are under your tongue;
And the scent of your robes
Is like the scent of Lebanon.
(12) A garden locked
Is my own, my bride,
A fountain locked,
A sealed-up spring. (13) Your limbs are an orchard of pomegranates
And of all luscious fruits,
Of henna and of nard— (14) Nard and saffron,
Fragrant reed and cinnamon,
With all aromatic woods,
Myrrh and aloes—
All the choice perfumes. (15) [You are] a garden spring,
A well of fresh water,-g
A rill of Lebanon.
(16) Awake, O north wind,
Come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden,
That its perfume may spread.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And enjoy its luscious fruits!
שיניך. אלו הכשרים שבישראל. כשם שהשינים מחזקים את כל הגוף כך כשרים שבישראל מחזקים אותם ליראת בוראם כענין כעדר הקצובות אלו הרחלות שהם מעוברות הרועה הקציבן מכלל כל העדרים לפי שהם מעוברות. כך השם מפריד הצדיקים מן הרשעים.
These are the pure ones in Israel. Just like the teeth strengthen the body so too do the best of Israelite strengthen the rest of the Israelites to awe of God. Like a flock of sheep where the shepherd separates out the pregnant ones so to God distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked.
How wonderful is your endearment toward to me? How much greater is your goodness than the wine you drink and the oils you anoint with? It is a smell more potent than any other. The parable here is to say that the faith you have in me and the making great of my name is very well received in my eyes.
גן נעול. עתה יביט על הנפש כי בתולה היא ולא הוטמאה מאלהי נכר שהם כח היצר המתעורר והמתאוה אשר יזנו הנפשות אחריהן ויחללו קדושתן, אמר שהיא כגן נעול שלא בא זר בתוכו, והגל שבו יקרבו אל המעין נעול, והמעין והמקור בעצמו חתום, ר"ל שלא קרבו אליה הזרים האלה לא במחשבה ולא במעשה, כי מקורה חתום בחותם האלהות והקדושה כמו שהיתה בהיותה במעון קדשה:
Now he speaks to the purity of the soul and how no foreign deity has ever penetrated it as they have an ability to sway and deceive the soul. The fountain within gets close to the inner spring which is also locked and that spring is the source of one's essence. That is to say, no foreign entity has ever been present, not in thought or deed for her source is sealed with a divine and holy seal.
A spring that feeds the gardens is like a well that is surrounded by walls. It is not open such that dust and muck can get in. Also, the water is like that which is expelled from Mt. Lebanon. Therefore, it is the sweetest type of water. For this, it is fitting that it's likened to an orchard of pomegranates. For its children will be full of wisdom and good deeds for you are the source of their essence. Since the roots of the people Israel come from the patriarchs and matriarchs, their progeny will match their goodness.