What is Shir HaShirim (The Song of Songs) About, Anyway?
At face value, this is a love poem that describes the love between a man and a woman using lots of (potentially highly suggestive) nature imagery.
However, according to our tradition, as revealed in numerous talmudic passages, in the Targum (Aramaic translation of the Torah) and in the midrash, this biblical book is interpreted as referring to God's love for Israel.
(יד) יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵגָה הַרְאִינִי אֶת מַרְאַיִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִינִי אֶת קוֹלֵךְ כִּי קוֹלֵךְ עָרֵב וּמַרְאֵיךְ נָאוֶה.
(14) O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.’
Use your imagination to come up with connections between this verse and Passover:
(א) יונתי בחגוי הסלע מהו יונתי בחגוי הסלע? אמר ר' יוחנן: אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: קורא אני לישראל יונה, ....
Rabbi Yochanan said that G-d says I call Israel a dove.... {then come a lot of different verses and ways to prove this}
(14) And when wicked Pharaoh pursued the people of Israel, the Assembly of Israel was compared to a dove trapped in the clefts of a rock–a snake threatening it from within and a hawk threatening it from without. In the same way, the Assembly of Israel was trapped in all four directions: in front of them was the sea, behind them the enemy pursued, and on either side were wildernesses full of fiery serpents which wound and kill people with their sting. Then immediately the Assembly opened her mouth in prayer before God and an echo came from the heaven above and this is what it said, “You, O Assembly of Israel, who resemble a dove, pure and hiding in the hiding-place of the clefts of the rocks or in the hidden places of the stairs: show me your face and your worthy deeds and let me hear your voice. For your voice is sweet when it prays in the small Temple and your face is beautiful when you perform good deeds.”
How might this understanding of the relationship between God and Israel influence your experience of Passover this year?