Megillot II. Class 7. Song of Songs 2

(1) I am a rose [or “crocus” ] of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.

(2) Like a lily among thorns,
So is my darling among the maidens.

(3) Like an apple tree among trees of the forest,
So is my beloved among the youths.
I delight to sit in his shade,
And his fruit is sweet to my mouth.

(4) He brought me to the banquet room
And his banner of love was over me.

(5) “Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am faint with love.”

(6) His left hand was under my head,
His right arm embraced me.

(7) I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
By gazelles or by hinds of the field:
Do not wake or rouse
Love until it please!

(8) Hark! My beloved!
There he comes,
Leaping over mountains,
Bounding over hills.

(9) My beloved is like a gazelle
Or like a young stag.
There he stands behind our wall,
Gazing through the window,
Peering through the lattice.

(10) My beloved spoke thus to me,
“Arise, my darling;
My fair one, come away!

(11) For now the winter is past,
The rains are over and gone.

(12) The blossoms have appeared in the land,
The time of pruning [or “singing”] has come;
The song of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.

(13) The green figs form on the fig tree,
The vines in blossom give off fragrance.
Arise, my darling;
My fair one, come away!

(14) “O my dove, in the cranny of the rocks,
Hidden by the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet
And your face is comely.”

(15) Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes
That ruin the vineyards—
For our vineyard is in blossom.

(16)

Dodi li va'ani lo

My beloved is mine
And I am his

Ha-ro`eh ba-shoshanim
Who browses among the lilies.

(17) When the day blows gently
And the shadows flee,
Set out, my beloved,
Swift as a gazelle
Or a young stag,
For the hills of spices!

... Rabbi Yoḥanan says: With regard to anyone who blesses the new month in its proper time, it is as if he greets the Face of the Divine Presence.

Alluding to this, it is written here concerning the sanctification of the new month: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months” (Exodus 12:2), and it is written there, where the Jewish people encountered the Divine Presence at the splitting of the sea: “This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Exodus 15:2). ...

David, king of Israel, lives and endures.

Translation from Koren Sacks Siddur p. 716

[Siman Tov uMazal Tov ye'hei lanu u-le-chol Yisrael. Amen

May it be a good sign and a good omen for us and all Israel. Amen.]

Translation from Koren Sacks Siddur p. 716

These verses are often recited immediately following 'Siman Tov uMazal Tov" in the Kiddush Levanah ceremony.

(8) Hark! My beloved!
There he comes,
Leaping over mountains,
Bounding over hills. (9) My beloved is like a gazelle
Or like a young stag.
There he stands behind our wall,
Gazing through the window,
Peering through the lattice.

(1) Upon my couch at night
I sought the one I love—
I sought, but found him not.

(2) “I must rise and roam the town,
Through the streets and through the squares;
I must seek the one I love.”
I sought but found him not.

(3) I met the watchmen
Who patrol the town.
“Have you seen the one I love?”

(4) Scarcely had I passed them
When I found the one I love.
I held him fast, I would not let him go
Till I brought him to my mother’s house,
To the chamber of her who conceived me

(5) I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
By gazelles or by hinds of the field:
Do not wake or rouse
Love until it please!

(6) Who is she that comes up from the desert
Like columns of smoke,
In clouds of myrrh and frankincense,
Of all the powders of the merchant?

(7) There is Solomon’s couch,
Encircled by sixty warriors
Of the warriors of Israel,

(8) All of them trained in warfare,
Skilled in battle,
Each with sword on thigh
Because of terror by night.

(9) King Solomon made him a palanquin
Of wood from Lebanon.

(10) He made its posts of silver,
Its back of gold,
Its seat of purple wool.
Within, it was decked with love
By the maidens of Jerusalem.

(11) O maidens of Zion, go forth
And gaze upon King Solomon
Wearing the crown that his mother
Gave him on his wedding day,
On his day of bliss.

The rabbinic tractate Ta'anit (Fast Day) teaches about fasts in response to drought or in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple. The final teaching in the rabbinic tractate suddenly shifts to discussing love and...Song of Songs!

(8) Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on them the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white clothes, which each woman borrowed from another. Why were they borrowed? They did this so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments. ...

And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. ...

And similarly, it says in another verse: “Go forth, daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, upon the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Songs 3:11). This verse is explained as an allusion to special days: “On the day of his wedding”; this is the giving of the Torah through the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur. The name King Solomon in this context, which also means king of peace, is interpreted as a reference to God. “And on the day of the gladness of his heart”; this is the building of the Temple, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days.

“At the crown with which his mother crowned him,” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai asked Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Yosei, he said to him: ‘Have you possibly heard from your father what is: “At the crown with which his mother crowned him”?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘What?’ He said to him: ‘[It is analogous] to a king who had an only daughter and he loved her exceedingly much and would call her: My daughter. He did not stop loving her until he called her: My sister. He did not stop loving her until he called her: My mother. So too, the Holy One blessed be He loved Israel exceedingly much, and called them My daughter; that is what is written: “Hear, My daughter, and see” (Psalms 45:11); He did not stop loving them until He called them My sister, as it is stated: “Open for me, my sister, my lover” (Song of Songs 5:2); He did not stop loving them until he called them My mother, as it is stated: “Heed Me My people, listen to Me My nation [uleumi]” (Isaiah 51:4), My mother [ule’imi] is written.’ ...