SONG OF SONGS:
13. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved
to me; between my breasts he shall
lie.
14. A cluster of henna-flowers is my
beloved to me, in the vineyards of
Ein-Gedi."
15. "Behold, you are comely, my
beloved; behold, you are comely; your eyes are like
doves."
70 SOULS THAT DESCENDED TO EGYPT: Carmi
TALMUD SHEVUOTH Daf 5: Getting
involved in the world
BOOK OF JEREMIAH: Chapter 5
Week 5 in the Jewish calendar is the
week of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan. Cheshvan is the month of the
Flood as well as of the construction of the Third Temple. It is also connected
to involvement in the world. The verses for this week appear connected to boh
these themes.
The first two verses are said by the
Jewish people, and they speak of Hashem resting in our midst. This is the idea
of the Temple, the very reason for Creation. Rashi’s comments also
reference Hashem’s resting among us, as he connects it to Hashem forgiving us
and dwelling in the Mishkan. Kofer (a reference to henna-flowers
in the Song of Songs, although it can also mean "pitch") is also
used in the description of how Noah was to build the Ark: (Genesis, 6:14)
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark
with compartments, and you shall caulk it both inside and outside with pitch.
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי גֹפֶר קִנִּים תַּעֲשֶׂה אֶת הַתֵּבָה וְכָפַרְתָּ אֹתָהּ מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ בַּכֹּפֶר:
The third verse also speaks of
forgiveness and cleansing, yet this time appears more related to the Flood. It
is the dove that announces that there is dry land, that the Flood itself is
over. (Kofer and Gofer of the Ark may be connected; Noah
also planted vineyards)
Of the seventy souls of the Jewish
people that descended to Egypt, the fifth mentioned is Carmi. Kerem means
vineyard in Hebrew, as in the above verse of the Song of Songs. Carmi can be
understood as Kerem-Yud, the vineyard of Hashem, a reference to the
Temple. Cheshvan is also the time to get involved in the world, and
cultivate our fields and vineyards. One of the first actions performed by
Noah is to plant a vineyard. (Genesis 9:20)
Daf Heh (Folio 5) of Shvuot discusses
various technical issues and interpretive methodology, such as deriving laws
from general statements followed by particular ones. It discusses the idea of
“forgetting after knowing” when it comes to Temple sacrifices, the two primary
legal examples of taking things out of a private domain into a public one, and
the signs of the appearance of the spiritual impurity known as Tzara’as. Overall,
although there are also several referecences to the Temple, the main theme
appears to be similar to what takes place once we re-enter the world of the
physical, leaving our “private domain,” and risking “forgetting after knowing”
about spirituality and sacrifice, and getting involved in the technicalities
and minutiae of behaving ethically in a world still suffering of
impurity.
The beginning of Chapter 5 of the
Book of Jeremiah contains a similar theme to that of the above ones in Shir
HaShirim:
1. Stroll in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know,
and seek in its squares, whether you will find a man, whether there is one who
performs justice, who seeks faith, and I will forgive her.
2. And if they say, "As the Lord lives," they,
nevertheless, will swear falsely.
The verses speak of impurity of the
public domain, even in Jerusalem, the place of the Temple. Hashem wants to
forgive, and He searches for someone within whom He can dwell. Someone that
performs justice and seeks faith, like Noah at the time of the Flood. The
entire theme of the chapter also relates to the great destruction to come, also
like that of the Flood.
