Category Archives: Song of Songs

Ki Tisa as a Song of Longing and Danger

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Parashat Ki Tisa is a Song of both longing and danger.  To understand the longing, we need to look back.  Previous to our parsha, the people had been witness to the awesome presence of God on Har Sinai, to thunder, smoke,  lightening, and shofar blasts when God revealed God’s commandments (Ex. 19:16-20:18).  This had followed on the miraculous parting of the Sea of Reeds to permit the Israelites to escape from their former slave-masters in Egypt (Ex. 14-15).

When Moses arrives at the top of Mt Sinai to accept the stone tablets, entering the cloud of God’s presence (Ex 24:18), God gives instructions for Moses to pass to the people regarding the building of the sanctuary and the priestly vestments and consecrations.  The instruction lasts for 40 days, while the children of Israel wait expectantly at the foot of Mount Sinai for Moses to return.   They do not yet know that Moses will bring them a blueprint for building a Mikdash where God’s Shekhina שְׁכִינָה can dwell amongst them שכנתי.  Ex 25:8  Let them make me a sanctuary  וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתֹוכָֽם Ve-asu li mikdash, Ve-shachanti be-tocham.  But as the period of time is coming to an end, the people are restless and bewildered.  They can remember how God appeared at the Sea of Reeds and on the mountain top, and we can readily imagine the sense of loss and of longing for God to return.

In their loneliness, they crave a holy presence, “for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” (Ex 32.1 Everett Fox translation).  They go to Aaron, brother of Moses, and say to him, “Make us a god who will go before us!” (Fox).   There follows the well-known story of the creation of the golden calf from the gold rings of the people, and of the people eating, drinking, and dancing wildly around their creation.   We may reasonably understand that the people are yearning, and that perhaps it is a quest for holy presence that leads them to create the golden calf, not the desire to blaspheme, to worship idols, or to turn against their God.

But herein lies the danger in Ki Tisa.   When Moses discovers that the Israelites have created their own form of worship in his absence, he initially pleads with God to spare their lives and God does so. (Ex 32:7-14).  However, when he descends among the people,  Moses orders the Levites to assassinate 3,000 of the Israelites. (Ex. 32:26-28).  Furthermore, although Moses successfully pleads with God not to destroy the people entirely (Ex. 32:31-34), nevertheless God sends a plague upon the people (Ex. 32:35). If the people were expressing longing for God, how do we understand a world in which they can be punished for doing so?

I would like to read the creation of the golden calf as the story of people who are yearning for God’s presence, and who do the best they can in their circumstances to fill that longing.  Amichai Lau-Lavie in Torah Queeries   sees their dancing around the calf as a “the shattering of the law,” as a  triumph of human spirit and sexuality over the “yoke of silencing law.”  But there is a real problem with either of these readings, and that is the punishment meted out by both Moses and God.

I propose to illuminate the sometimes sparse text by following the rabbinic tradition of reading the Song of Songs intertextually with the Torah.  But fair warning, the Song illuminates the danger as well as the longing.

When God reveals God’s commandments, the people bear witness to the awesome and physical presence of God on Mt. Sinai, to thunder, smoke, lightening, and shofar blasts (Ex. 19:16-20:18).  Aviva Zornberg comments “At the moment when God spoke at Sinai, a whole nation lost consciousness and regained it.” (The Murmuring Deep, pg 246).  She quotes from Shemot Rabbah 29:3, which provides a good illustration of how the rabbis read Song of Songs with the Torah.

Levi said: Israel asked of God two things – that they should see His glory and hear His voice; and they did see His Glory and hear His voice, for it says, “And you said: Behold, God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 5.21). But they had no strength to endure it, for when they came to Sinai and God revealed Himself to them, their souls took wing because He spoke with them, as it says, “My soul left me when he spoke” (Songs 5:6).

Zornberg suggests that the people are destabilized by “the shock of God’s voice.”   Their souls have left them.  And in this destabilized condition, it now appears to them that Moses has left them for good.  Moses has learned from God that it will be possible (and necessary) for the Israelites to build a sanctuary, so that God may dwell amongst them.  But the people do not yet know about this.  Their souls have left them, and Moses has left them.  They erect the golden calf.

When Moses descends from Sinai, the the Israelites are dancing around the calf.   Joshua tells Moses that he hears the cry of war (kol milchamah).   However, Moses hears the following:

Not the sound of crying out in triumph,
and not the sound of crying out in defeat.
A sound of crying out I hear. (Ex 32:18, translation Robert Alter)

Moses hears the people simply crying out, neither triumphant nor defeated.  I read this as the people crying out from their souls, crying out for fulfillment, crying out for God’s presence.  This may remind us of Hannah’s prayer where she pours out her bitter soul, her empty and longing soul, before God:  I pour my soul out before YHWH וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ אֶת-נַפְשִׁי, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה. .  (1 Sam 1:15).

Like R. Levi, we can read Song of Songs, but here we read a little further in the verse and find how the singer felt when her soul left her, how she sought but could not find her lover, and begged for help to find him, as the Israelites sought and could not find Moses or God.  In Chapter 5, the singer is called to the door by her beloved, but hesitates, and then

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me [left me] when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.  (Song 5:6) I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? that I am love-sick. (Song 5:8)

As the lover called out, so too the Israelites call out with “the sound of crying out.”  They don’t yet know about building a Mikdash, so they gravitate to the one thing which they know about that might bring God’s presence – the golden calf.   In this reading, they do not have intent to blaspheme, to worship idols, or to turn against their God.  Yet, if they are expressing their longing for God in creating the golden calf, it seems harsh that they must be punished.   Is it for lack of faith?  It still seems harsh, yet very much like a reflection of the real world.

Listen to the Song in conjunction with the punishment of people at Sinai:

And he [Moses] said unto them: ‘Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. (Ex. 32:26-28).

And YHWH smote the people [with a plague], because they made the calf, which Aaron made (Ex. 32:35).

Immediately after the singer of the Song laments over not finding her lover, she says:

The watchmen that go about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. (Song 5:7)

Who are these watchmen?  It is surely dangerous to walk about the city when the very guardians of public safety are liable to beat the walker.  Is the walker in a dream?  Is she beaten because she is dreaming?  Because she is yearning?  Because the search she conducts for her lover does not fit with the societal norms [in this case, of male pursuing female]?  The moment when the singer of the Song is beaten by the watchman, and the moment when the children of Israel are punished by God (and by Moses), are awful/awe-full moments.  Their hearts were full of longing, and then, wham!  There are other, and plentiful, times of joy, of success in finding.  But punishments are troubling and remind us that the world, then and now, is not always a safe place in which to be out and to follow one’s heart.

Here is the text of Song 5:2-8

(2) I was asleep,
But my heart was wakeful.
Hark, my beloved knocks!
“Let me in, my own,
My darling, my faultless dove!
For my head is drenched with dew,
My locks with the damp of night.” (3) I had taken off my robe—
Was I to don it again?
I had bathed my feet—
Was I to soil them again? (4) My beloved took his hand off the latch,
And my heart was stirred for him. (5) I rose to let in my beloved;
My hands dripped myrrh—
My fingers, flowing myrrh—
Upon the handles of the bolt. (6) I opened the door for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned and gone.
I was faint because of what he said.
I sought, but found him not;
I called, but he did not answer. (7) I met the watchmen
Who patrol the town;
They struck me, they bruised me.
The guards of the walls
Stripped me of my mantle. (8) I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem!
If you meet my beloved, tell him this:
that I am faint with love.

About the banner:

On the left you can see the longing inherent in building the tabernacle in the desert. And when they are delayed, the people reach out for alternate worship, the golden calf on the right.
Picture on left: Building the Tabernacle http://www.rjews.net/gazeta/Photo/hram.php3?id=1
Picture on right: Carrying the Golden Calf. Fresco Hall of the Saints Borgia Apartments – Appartamento Borgia, Palazzi Vaticani Rome by PINTURICCHIO 1454 -1513 Vatican Italy Frescoes

And the Fire Flashed all Around: Song of Songs (April 23, 2020)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg via Zoom – April 23, 2020

  • 6:45pm – 7:15pm meeting will be open for logging in and schmoozing.
  • Study begins at 7:15.
  • Zoom information here

[Image:Shir Hashirim (Mandatory Palestine, ca. 1930) Decorated scroll is a product of the circle of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, dated to circa 1930. From JTS Library]

Penina Weinberg will lead this interactive discovery of Song of Songs through text study, discussion, pictures, and music [if technology cooperates]. Like Ben Azzai, we will link up the words of the Torah with the Writings, until the fire flashes all around. Sunglasses are recommended.

Penina Weinberg is an independent Hebrew bible scholar whose study and teaching focus on the intersection of power, politics and gender in the Hebrew Bible. She has run workshops for Nehirim and Keshet and has been teaching Hebrew bible for 10 years. She has written in Tikkun and HBI blog, and is the leader and founder of Ruach HaYam.

*** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ruach.HaYam/ study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, and are welcoming to LGBTQ+ and allies, to any learning or faith background, to all bodies, and friendly to beginners***

Ki Tisa as a Song of Longing – Ex 30:11 – 34:35

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Parasha Ki Tisa is a Song of both longing and danger. First, the longing. Previous to our parsha, Moses has gone up to the top of Mount Sinai, entering the cloud of God’s presence, to remain with God for 40 days (Ex 24:18). While Moses is up on Mount Sinai encountering the Divine, the children of Israel wait expectantly at the foot of Mount Sinai for Moses to return with God’s prescription for a holy life.

Now the period of time is coming to an end and the people are restless, “for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” (Ex 32.1 Everett Fox translation). They go to Aaron, brother of Moses, and say to him, “Make us a god who will go before us!” (Ex 32.1 Everett Fox translation).   There follows the well-known story of the creation of the golden calf from the gold rings of the people, and of the people eating, drinking, and dancing wildly around their creation.

I would like to read the creation of the golden calf as the story of people who are yearning for God’s presence, and who do the best they can in their circumstances to fill that longing. But there is a problem with this reading, and that is where the danger comes it.   Although Moses successfully pleads with God not to destroy the people entirely (Ex. 32:31-34), nevertheless God sends a plague upon the people (Ex. 32:35). Moses himself orders the Levites to assassinate 3,000 of the Israelites. (Ex. 32:26-28). If the people were expressing longing for God, how do we understand a world in which they can be punished for doing so?

We can illuminate the Exodus text by following the ancient rabbinic tradition of reading Torah intertextually with Song of Songs.  But fair warning, the Song illuminates the danger as well as the longing.

Exodus shows us that the people bear witness to the awesome and physical presence of God on Mt. Sinai, to thunder, smoke, lightening, and shofar blasts when God reveals God’s commandments (Ex. 19:16-20:18). Aviva Zornberg says “At the moment when God spoke at Sinai, a whole nation lost consciousness and regained it.” (The Murmering Deep, pg 246). She quotes from Shemot Rabbah 29:3, which incidentally provides a good illustration of how the rabbis read Song of Songs with the Torah.

Levi said: Israel asked of God two things – that they should see His glory and hear His voice; and they did see His Glory and hear His voice, for it says, “And you said: Behold, God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 5.21). But they had no strength to endure it, for when they came to Sinai and God revealed Himself to them, their souls took wing because He spoke with them, as it says, “My soul left me when he spoke” (Songs 5:6).

Zornberg suggests that the people are destabilized by “the shock of God’s voice.”  Their souls have left them. And in this destabilized condition, it appears to them that Moses has left them too. Moses has learned from God that it will be possible (and necessary) for the Israelites to build a sanctuary, so that God may dwell amongst them.   Ve-asu li mikdash, Ve-shachanti be-tocham. (Ex. 25.8). But the people do not yet know about a Mikdash where God’s Shekhina שְׁכִינָה can dwell amongst them shachanti שכנתי. Their souls have left them, and Moses has left them. They erect the golden calf.

When Moses descends from Sinai, the the Israelites are dancing around the calf. Joshua tells Moses that he hears the cry of war (kol milchamah).   However, Moses hears (Ex 32:18, translation Robert Alter)

Not the sound of crying out in triumph,
and not the sound of crying out in defeat.
A sound of crying out I hear.

Moses hears the people simply crying out, neither triumphant nor defeated. I read this as the people crying out from their souls, for God’s presence. This may remind us of Hannah’s prayer:

I pour my soul out before YHWH וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ אֶת-נַפְשִׁי, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה.  Sam 1:15).

Like R. Levi, we can read Song of Songs with the Torah, but we read a little further in the verse and discover how the singer felt when her soul left her, how she sought but could not find her lover, as the Israelites sought and could not find Moses or God. In Chapter 5, the singer is called to the door by her beloved, but hesitates, and then:

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me [left me] when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. (Song 5:6)

As the lover called out, so too the Israelites call out with “the sound of crying out.” They don’t yet know about building a Mikdash, so they gravitate to the one thing which they know about that might bring God’s presence – the golden calf.   In this reading, they do not have intent to blaspheme, to worship idols, or to turn against their God. Yet, if they are expressing their longing for God in creating the golden calf, it seems harsh that they must be punished.   Is it for lack of faith? It still seems harsh, yet very much like a reflection of the real world.

Listen to the Song in conjunction with the punishment of people at Sinai:

And he [Moses] said unto them: ‘Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. (Ex. 32:26-28).

And YHWH smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made (Ex. 32:35).

Immediately after the singer of the Song laments over not finding her lover, the next verse says:

The watchmen that go about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. (Song 5:7)

Who are these watchmen? It is surely dangerous to walk about the city when the very guardians of public safety are liable to beat the walker. Is the walker in a dream? Is she beaten because she is dreaming? Because she is yearning? Because the search she conducts for her lover does not fit with the societal norms of male pursuing female? The moment when the singer of the Song is beaten by the watchman, and the moment when the children of Israel are punished by God (and by Moses), are awe-full moments. Their hearts were full of longing, and then, wham! There are other, and plentiful, times of joy, of success in finding. But punishments are troubling and remind us that the world, then and now, is not always a safe place in which to be out and to follow one’s heart.

Here is the text of Song 5:2-8 in its entirety.

 אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה, וְלִבִּי עֵר; קוֹל דּוֹדִי דוֹפֵק, פִּתְחִי-לִי אֲחֹתִי רַעְיָתִי יוֹנָתִי תַמָּתִי–שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי נִמְלָא-טָל, קְוֻצּוֹתַי רְסִיסֵי לָיְלָה. 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh; Hark! my beloved knocketh: ‘Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.’
ג  פָּשַׁטְתִּי, אֶת-כֻּתָּנְתִּי–אֵיכָכָה, אֶלְבָּשֶׁנָּה; רָחַצְתִּי אֶת-רַגְלַי, אֵיכָכָה אֲטַנְּפֵם. 3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
ד  דּוֹדִי, שָׁלַח יָדוֹ מִן-הַחֹר, וּמֵעַי, הָמוּ עָלָיו. 4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him.
ה  קַמְתִּי אֲנִי, לִפְתֹּחַ לְדוֹדִי; וְיָדַי נָטְפוּ-מוֹר, וְאֶצְבְּעֹתַי מוֹר עֹבֵר, עַל, כַּפּוֹת הַמַּנְעוּל. 5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the bar.
ו  פָּתַחְתִּי אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי, וְדוֹדִי חָמַק עָבָר; נַפְשִׁי, יָצְאָה בְדַבְּרוֹ–בִּקַּשְׁתִּיהוּ וְלֹא מְצָאתִיהוּ, קְרָאתִיו וְלֹא עָנָנִי. 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
ז  מְצָאֻנִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַסֹּבְבִים בָּעִיר, הִכּוּנִי פְצָעוּנִי; נָשְׂאוּ אֶת-רְדִידִי מֵעָלַי, שֹׁמְרֵי הַחֹמוֹת. 7 The watchmen that go about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.
ח  הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם, בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם:  אִם-תִּמְצְאוּ, אֶת-דּוֹדִי–מַה-תַּגִּידוּ לוֹ, שֶׁחוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי. 8 ‘I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? that I am love-sick.’

 

 

And the Fire Flashed all Around: Introduction to Song of Songs (January 28, 2016)

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Ruach HaYam Workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim, Cambridge, MA
Join us for an interactive text study of the Song of Songs. Study will be led by Penina Weinberg. 6:45 pm for shmooze. Bring veggie snacks if you wish.
Study will begin promptly at 7:15pm.
Congregation Eitz Chayim 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA
January 28, 2016
RSVP here
 
“And the fire flashed all around.”
>> What does flashing fire have to do with Song of Songs? <<
 
“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
>> How did this sensual love poem find its way into the Hebrew Bible? <<
 
“For love is fierce as death…a blazing flame”
>> On a cold winter’s night, you do not want to miss this opportunity to ignite the fires of your souls with Song of Songs. <<
Join us as we discover Song of Songs through text study, discussion, pictures, and music. Like Ben Azzai, we will link up the words of the Torah with the Writings, until the fire flashes all around. Sunglasses are recommended. Knowledge of Hebrew and prior text study experience are not required.
Penina Weinberg has been teaching Hebrew Bible for over 10 years and is determined for people to claim and own the text for themselves. She holds a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College. 

THE MAKING OF MEANING (Winter 2009-10)

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Classes at Congregation Eitz Chayim

How Do Jews Make Meaning?  Three part series looking at the meaning of biblical texts, rabbinic interpretations, and how we as modern Jews make meaning.
Study of Hannah Narrative, Bathsheba/David, and Song of Songs.

Penina will guide participants in wrestling with the meaning of a biblical text counterpoised with a complementary rabbinic text. How do the Rabbis subtly or not so subtly interpose their own meanings on the biblical text? What can we learn about how we interpose our meanings and about how we make meaning for ourselves as modern Jews?

Date: October 25, 2009
Title: Part 1: The Hannah Narrative: “I Am a Woman of Stubborn Spirit”
Description: Hannah, the mother of Samuel, is held up in Jewish tradition as a model of prayer. But who is she? How and why is she a model?  The biblical text highlights her bitter and afflicted soul. Using texts from Samuel and various midrashim, Penina will guide us in a study of Hannah’s struggle to reveal her stubborn spirit to herself and to learn to pour out her soul in prayer.
Date: November 15, 2009
Title: Part 2: Bathsheba and David
Description: The relationship between Batsheva and David is fraught with ambiguity. Was Batsheva a victim or a victor? Was David a hero or a heel? If Batsheva was not barren, could their son Solomon have been a rightful hero-king? Why does the story in Samuel and Kings differ from the story in Chronicles? Through storytelling and a close reading of the few short texts where Batsheva appears in Samuel and Kings (and where she doesn’t appear in Chronicles) Penina will present the story of Batsheva and David and will encourage all present to come to their own conclusions about these two monarchs.
Date: January 10, 2010
Title: Part 3: The Song of Songs: “And Fire Flashed all Around”
Description: According to Song of Songs Rabbah, when the Rabbis linked up the words of the Torah with those of the Prophets and the Prophets with the Writings, “the fire flashed around them.” Why is this statement in the Midrash about Song of Songs?   How do the Rabbis link up Song of Songs with the Torah, to produce a reading that flashes with fire?   We will explore the meaning of “Love is stronger than death” (SoS 8:6). Texts will be taken from Song of Songs, SoS Rabbah and Genesis.