Chasidut zu Tehillim 48:15
כִּ֤י זֶ֨ה ׀ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֱ֭לֹהֵינוּ עוֹלָ֣ם וָעֶ֑ד ה֖וּא יְנַהֲגֵ֣נוּ עַל־מֽוּת׃
Dass dieser Gott ist unser Gott immer und ewig, er wird uns führen bis zum Tode!
Kedushat Levi
In light of the foregoing it is appropriate to explain the words in Song of Songs 1,3 (page 297) in accordance with the words of the Baal Shem Tov of sainted memory. He first explains psalms 48,15 הוא ינהגנו על מות, “He will lead us beyond mortality,” by using a parable. A father teaches a very young son how to walk two or three steps at a time. When the little boy has walked a few steps toward his father, his father distances himself from him a little farther in order to encourage his son to “walk the extra mile.” The father repeats this maneuver every time his son is about to catch up with him. G’d encourages us to “catch up with Him” in a similar fashion, by appearing to be more and more out of our reach. The message we (the tzaddikim) are to receive from this maneuver is that we have not yet attained perfection. This is what David meant when he said הוא ינהגנו על מות, “in order for G’d to lead us into immortality.” He has to encourage us to “catch up with Him,” step by step.
[You the reader, may have noticed that the word: עלמות contains the same letters in the same sequence as the two words על מות in psalms 48,15. Ed.]
To get back to Song of Songs 1,3 לריח שמניך טובים, “for your oils are good as fragrance;” the Hebrew word שמן, oil, is used allegorically to describe a person’s good deeds. When Solomon in Kohelet 9,8 warns that ושמן על ראשך אל יחסר, “may your head never lack oil (ointment),” he does not refer to perfumed oils, but to the fragrance emanating from a person who has many good deeds to his credit. Under what circumstances are such fragrances compared to שמן תורק שמך, “Your name being poured forth like oil?,” when the tzaddik has the feeling again and again after having scaled a rung on the ladder of spiritual ascent, that he is empty and needs to replenish spiritual energies possession of which would bring him closer to perfection. When this is what the tzaddik worries about constantly, his head gives forth the fragrance of the oils mentioned by Solomon in Song of Songs.
[You the reader, may have noticed that the word: עלמות contains the same letters in the same sequence as the two words על מות in psalms 48,15. Ed.]
To get back to Song of Songs 1,3 לריח שמניך טובים, “for your oils are good as fragrance;” the Hebrew word שמן, oil, is used allegorically to describe a person’s good deeds. When Solomon in Kohelet 9,8 warns that ושמן על ראשך אל יחסר, “may your head never lack oil (ointment),” he does not refer to perfumed oils, but to the fragrance emanating from a person who has many good deeds to his credit. Under what circumstances are such fragrances compared to שמן תורק שמך, “Your name being poured forth like oil?,” when the tzaddik has the feeling again and again after having scaled a rung on the ladder of spiritual ascent, that he is empty and needs to replenish spiritual energies possession of which would bring him closer to perfection. When this is what the tzaddik worries about constantly, his head gives forth the fragrance of the oils mentioned by Solomon in Song of Songs.
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