Kommentar zu Schir haSchirim 6:13

Where has your beloved gone. The nations taunt and provoke Yisroel, “Where has your Beloved gone?” Why has He left you abandoned like a widow?¹Alternatively, where has He gone? (Gra)

Where has your beloved turned. When He returned and rested His Spirit upon Coresh, and he granted permission to build the Beis Hamikdosh, and they began to build, they [the nations] came and said to them, “Where has your Beloved turned?”²Alternatively, what does He occupy Himself with now? (Gra) If He is returning to you, we will seek Him with you, as the matter is stated, “Now the adversaries of Yehudah and Binyamin heard that the people of the exile were building a Temple, etc. And they approached Zerubavel, etc., ‘Let us build with you, for, like you, we seek your God, etc.”³Ezra 4:1-2. But their intention was sinister, [and] in order to stop them from the work. And they replied—

My beloved has gone down to his garden. He commanded us to build His Temple, and He will be there with us.⁴Alternatively, He has gone to the “Garden” of Eden. (Gra)

My beloved has gone down to his garden: An all-encompassing entity does not differentiate between such distinctions as “above” and “below.” Descent is equivalent to ascent; ascent to descent. Because exile has caused it to be occulted amidst its sefirotic manifestations, Scripture refers to it as engaging in an act of “descent.”¹⁵⁵A radically different and ironic reading. At the time of exile, the omnipresent divine “descends” as it were back into its recesses—the source of creative manifestation—divine Wisdom, from whence it must be reinvoked through prayer and the performance of the commandments. Whence has it [descended] to the garden?

To the beds of spices. The place where the incense is burned.

To the beds of spices: That is to say, [from] transcendent Wisdom, the locus from which this aroma and emanative energy spread forth.

To graze in the gardens. And further, He has gone to graze His sheep in the gardens where they were scattered, [i.e.,] those who did not come up from the exile, He rests His Divine Presence upon them in the synagogues and in the study halls.⁵He occupies Himself by delighting in the presence of the righteous. (Gra)

To browse in the gardens: To provide nurturance for itself and to pour forth its luminescence to the gardens and the shekhinah.¹⁵⁶Tiferet, the Beloved, “descends” from ḥokhmah, bringing sustenance for Himself and shekhinah, His garden.

And to gather roses. He listens and hearkens to those who speak His Torah, to collect their merits and to inscribe them in a memorial book before Him, as the matter is stated, “Then the men who fear Adonoy spoke, etc.”⁶Malachi 3:16. And concerning your request to seek Him with us, and to build with us, “I am my Beloved’s,” but you are not His, and you shall not build with us, as the matter is stated, “It is not for you and for us to build a House for our God ,”⁷Ezra 4:3. and it states [further], “and you have no portion or right or memorial in Yerusholayim.”⁸Nechemyah 2:20.

And to gather the lilies: This is Thought, the luminescence of Wisdom flowing forth to the six cosmic boundaries [ketzavot]. All this takes place during the period of exile, a time bereft of festal offerings, sacrifices of thanksgiving and the meal offerings. The spiritual entities ascend and are drawn to that place from which they nurse. This is the meaning of: “on evil’s account, the righteous one dies” [Isa. 57:1].¹⁵⁷Because of this cosmic exile, the sefirot turn “upward” and tzaddik, the righteous one [yesod] is not nourished by them. For this reason, one must strive to invoke and emanate an outflow of blessing to the Fathers,¹⁵⁸Ḥesed, gevurah, tiferet, symbolized by the Patriarchs. so that the sons too be imbued with emanative energy. In this verse this process of emanation and outpouring is referred to as “gathering.”

Our sages have likewise referred to the emanation of the sefirot and their revelation as an act of displacement [‘akirah]. It states in Genesis Rabbah [15:1]: “‘The Lord God planted a garden in Eden’ [Gen. 2:8]. As it is written: ‘Let the trees of the Lord be sated, the cedars of Lebanon, his own planting’ [Ps. 104:16]. R. Hanina said: ‘They were like the antennae of locusts [karnei hagavim]. The Holy One uprooted them and replanted them in the Garden of Eden.’” Comprehend this wondrous statement. The planter must have in his hands a plantling. Similarly, the emanation and manifestation of the divine entities [havayot] was like an act of “displacement” while their creation and nurturance in their respective places was an act of planting. Those who plant “seedlings lovingly attended”¹⁵⁹Neta sha ‘ashuim, after Isa. 5:7. need to water them regularly. This is the meaning of R. Haninah’s statement. It states further in the Midrash: “Let the trees of the Lord drink and be sated” [Ps. 104:16]: “May their lives be sated; may their waters be sated; may their planting be sated.” The meaning here is that each sefirotic power receives its energy from the power above it, life drawing from the source of life, water from life, and the plantlings drawing from water. All this is intimated here. And it is also germane to the next verse which states:

Who grazes among the roses. Who grazes his sheep in a calm and goodly pasture.

אני לדודי ודודי לי "Ani L'Dodi Ve'Dodi Li" - the first letter of each word (Roshei Teivot) forms the acronym E.L.U.L. - because in the month of ELUL, G-d reconciles with Israel, and becomes a Beloved to them, to draw them near in teshuva (repentance). He is close to those who call upon Him this month. 

The meaning is that I receive from my beloved and my beloved, who browses among the lilies, receives [its energy] from transcendent Wisdom. Each and every sefirotic power ascends and “gazes” upon the power surmounting it, each attribute drawing forth from attribute, that which is carved out from that which is engraved, that which is engraved from that which is traced, that which is traced from that which is concealed. All are within each other, all derive from each other, all are connected to each other and bound to one another.

??? and others, the Rishonim, hint (early rabbinic scholars 11th-16th c) in expounding on the verse (Deut 30:6) 

 ומל ה"א את לבבך ואת לבב -- "and G-d will circumcise your heart and the heart (of your children)"- that it connects with the Roshei Teivot for E.L.U.L.

But I, your poor [servant] say that אלול ELUL is Gematria for  חיים HAYYIM (life) - using the Inclusion Counting Method*. ELUL is also Gematria for חלל KHALAL (a slain person).

And if you use the last letters (Sofei Teivot) of each word in  את לבבך ואת לבב it yields "TIKATEV" (will be written [into the Book of Life] ) - which is to say, that if a person doesn't make teshuva, he will be "written for death" - and indeed, in gematria value, "ELUL" = "KHALAL" (G-d forbid that this should occur).

But if a person makes teshuva, he will be "written for life" - and indeed, in gematria value, "ELUL" = "HAYYIM."

And I have expanded on this explanation in "Hints of Musar Reproof."

And if you take the last letter (Sofei Teivot) of אני לדודי ודודי לי  Ani L'Dodi v'Dodi Li, you get 4 yuds, which signifies that [teshuva] is not only for Elul at the end of the year, but also during the Ten Days of Teshuva which are at the beginning of the year. It might occur to you that it's not effective to atone for past years, but even so, [those who do] are granted atonement. And hinting at this are the four yuds, (4 x 10) corresponding to 40 days = 30 days of Elul + 10 Days of Teshuva.

And one more hint given by the four yuds is from the 72-letter Name (of G-d). Seventy-two is the gematria value of  CHESED - merciful kindness. [Note - 72 = 4 x 18, where 18 stands for LIFE. So perhaps the four yuds are pointing to G-d's mercy in sustaining us in life].

*Inclusion Counting Method means that you add ONE for the word itself to the sum of the numerical values of all its letters.

You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirtzah. And the Holy One, Blessed Is He, praises her for this [reply, and says], “You are beautiful, My beloved,” when you are desirable⁹I.e., where you perform deeds that please me, interpreting כתרצה as כרצויה. Alternatively, תרצה is a city in Eretz Yisroel that was captured by Yehoshua [see Yehoshua 12:24]. It is renowned for its beauty. to Me. So it is expounded in Sifrei.

You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. This entire verse constitutes a parable concerning Wisdom, and is to be read in accord with the principle which we enunciated at the book’s beginning.

Comely. Are you now as at first in Yerusholayim.¹⁰Which is described as “perfect in beauty’ in Tehillim 50:2.

Awesome as the hosts [of angels]. Legions of angels. I will cast your awe upon them so that they should not wage war and stop you from the work, as it is stated in Ezra.¹¹5:5.

Turn your eyes away from me. Like a young man whose betrothed is dear and pleasing to him, and her eyes are comely, and he says to her, “Turn away your eyes from me, for when I see you, my heart becomes haughty and proud, and my spirit becomes arrogant, and I cannot resist.”

Your hair is like a flock of goats. The text begins to relate the praises of the shekhinah, her hair, eyes, and brow: “Your brow behind your veil [gleams] like a pomegranate split open” [Cant. 6:6]. “Hedged around with lilies” [Cant. 7:3]: She encompasses the six cosmic boundaries and is sealed by them all. Thus the verse states “There are sixty queens …” [Cant. 6:8].¹⁶⁰“Lilies” [shoshanim] is derived from “six” [shesh]. Each of the six intermediate or “directional” sefirot, multiplied by ten for the fact that the sefirot all contain one another, gives us the “sixty queens.”

Made me haughty. They made my heart haughty, as in, “And their pride וְרָהְבָּם is toil and pain,”¹²Tehillim 90:10. [and as in,] “They are haughty רַהַב but idle,”¹³Yeshayahu 30:7. asoajier in O.F. The allegorical meaning is as follows: The Holy One, Blessed Is He, said, “In this Beis Hamikdosh, it is impossible to restore to you the Ark, the Ark cover, and the cherubim, which excessively endeared you to Me in the first Beis Hamikdosh, to show you great affection, until you betrayed Me.”

[Here begins an excursus on Ps. 104. The commentary on the Song of Songs resumes on p. 129 below.]
I have decided at this point to relate the tale of creation in order to apprize you of the truth concerning this verse: “There are sixty queens.” And I will expound: “O Lord my God, you are very great; You are clothed with glory and majesty” [Ps. 104], which propounds the entire issue of creation from its beginning until its end. This is the gist of the psalm.

Your hair is like a flock of goats. The young, tender, and insignificant ones among you, are praiseworthy.

[Ps. 104:2]: “You … are wrapped in a robe of light” corresponds to the light created on the first day of creation. That is, the emanation of that light from Nothing.

[Ps. 104:3]: “He sets His rafters in the waters” corresponds to the command “Let there be a firmament” created on the second day to “separate water from water” [Gen. 1:6]. The verse from Psalms clarifies that that separation encompassed many matters.¹⁶¹I.e., water is separated from cloud and wind, the entire verse reading: “He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind.”

[Ps. 104:5]: “He established the earth on its foundations so that it shall never totter” parallels “Let the waters be gathered into one place and let dry land appear” [Gen. 1:9] and designates the length of time established for its existence.

[Ps. 104:14]: “You make the grass grow for the cattle” parallels “Let the earth bring forth herbs …” [Gen. 1:11].

[Ps. 104:19]: “He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set” corresponds to the command “Let there be luminaries …” [Gen. 1:14].

[Ps. 104:22–3]: “When the sun rises [the lions] come home and couch in their dens. Man then goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening” corresponds to “God made the two great luminaries” [Gen. 1:16].

[Ps. 104:25]: “There is the sea vast and wide, with its creatures without number” corresponds to “Let the waters teem with living creatures” [Gen. 1:20].

[Ps. 104:31]: Paralleling the sixth day, on which it is said: “And God created the human being” [Gen. 1:27], it states: “May the glory of God endure forever.”

[Ps. 104:32]: Corresponding to the seventh day of creation which points towards the seventh millennium when the world will be annihilated, it states: “He gazes upon the earth and it trembles.”

[Ps. 104:33]: The joy experienced by the souls of the righteous during that time finds its intimation in “I will sing to the Lord with all my life force.”

[Ps. 104:35]: Allusion to the nullification of the evil inclination during that period appears in “Sinners will disappear from the earth and the wicked will be no more.”

I will now proceed to explicate this psalm as well as expound upon the narrative of creation. And the enlightened will understand.
[Ps. 104:1] “O Lord my God, You are very great”: The psalm alludes to the illumination of Wisdom, extending in every direction. From that flow, each Cause and attribute nurses like an infant.

“Enclothed in glory and majesty”: So is Wisdom bounded. Never will we find Her in Your absence. Thus it was prior to the world’s creation, when the Holy One was alone in His world, when the primal existences [havayot] were still deeply hidden within Wisdom.

The text then explicates the manner of the creation of the two worlds, above and below.
[Ps. 104:2]: “Wrapped in a robe of light; You spread the heavens like a tent cloth”: This denotes the invocation of Wisdom’s emanation enveloping the entirety of being. “Enwrapment” means that it receives illumination from that flow. Its amplification sparked a light which was among the ten entities emanated upon that first day, all as one, without differentiation. These are: heaven and earth; primeval chaos—formless and void, darkness and light, water and wind, the quality of day and the quality of night.¹⁶²The author is linking the ten sefirot of the upper world to these ten attributes which, according to the Talmud [Ḥagigah 12a], underlay the creation of this world. They are heaven, earth, formlessness, void, darkness, light, water, wind, day, and night. This is one of several such lists of primordial entities to be found in rabbinic sources.
And thus [Gen. 1:2 states]: “The world was chaotic, empty”: Chaos is an entity lacking all form; but primal Emptiness enclothed that chaos, until it traced a tracing finer than spirit. “Darkness was upon the face of the deep”: The depth of the supernal heights, the depth below.¹⁶³The depth above: omek rom = keter; omek tahat = malkhut. See the Commentary of R. Azriel to Sefer Yetzirah 1:5. “And the spirit of God hovered over the waters”: The Messiah’s spirit, the spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, hovered over the waters, covering all. This is all that was emanated upon that first day.
The essence of all things was emanated upon the first day, just as our Sages taught concerning the primordial human: “In the first hour of the day the dust from which he was created was gathered together.”¹⁶⁴b. Sanhedrin 38b. When Scripture states: “Let there be light” [Gen. 1:3] its meaning is that Divinity enwrapped Itself in that light as we have explained, meaning that through the amplification of that luminescence, the light entered into a state of actualization.
In this first passage we find the word “light” five times, just as the phrase “it was good” appears five times. In the second passage the term “water” is repeated five times. Five were the drops of water, five were the drops of light in their midst. These were the five voices uttered at Torah’s revelation.¹⁶⁵See comments to Canticles 1:8. It is for this reason that Scripture states, “it was good,” for the light was kindled candle from candle, granting the primal essences the power to expand and flow forth.
“God separated the light from the darkness” [Gen. 1:4]: God set a boundary to the effluence and expansion of each and every one. This is the intent of “Let there be light and there was light” [Gen. 1:3], meaning “the speculum that shines.” “And there was darkness” [Gen. 1:2]: “the speculum that does not shine.”
Concerning both of them it said: “It was good.” This is the meaning of: “God called the light day, the darkness He called night” [Gen. 1:5]. He drew forth the effluence of the attribute of Day to daytime, the attribute of Night to nighttime. “And there was one day” [Gen. 1:5] all remained unified, in all of this the primal essence came to manifestation. Another interpretation: “There was evening”: the speculum that does not shine. “There was morning”: the speculum which does shine. “One day”: unique and unified in His names.

[Ps. 104:3]: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” [Gen. 1:6] parallels: “Who lays the beams of Your Upper chambers in the waters.”
“Let there be a firmament”: let the firmament expand into the midst of the waters, like the expansion of the soul into form. On the second day, God created the boundaries of space. For this reason, Scripture did not state “it was good” on the second day. For the work of the divine attribute of goodness remained incomplete. Such is the meaning of: “Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters.” The basic act of separation is this division into two: the upper waters and the lower waters. The upper waters are allegorically designated as male: the lower waters as female. This division works out in multifarious details. Consequently, Scripture states: “He builds His upper chambers in the heaven” [Amos 9:6]. For they are constructed as rungs upon rungs, as it is written: “For one higher above the higher, watches” [Eccles. 5:7]. All of these entities are traced, one within the other, each encompassing the other. Thus half of the waters are on high, half are below. So it is said: “Just as the shekhinah is above, is the shekhinah below.”¹⁶⁶This quotation is not found in the extant rabbinic sources.
Corresponding to this matter there are eighteen thousand worlds.¹⁶⁷b. Avodah Zarah 3b. As David the King states: “God’s chariots are myriads, even thousands upon thousands” [Ps. 68:18]. Having stipulated that God’s chariots are myriads, that is twenty thousand worlds, corresponding to ten sefirot above and ten below, he subtracts two thousand from their number, for they are the nought. All of the above is true. The worlds number twenty thousand. But two thousand are not included in the count, for they are Nought. Each and every world consists of a thousand generations. There are consequently eighteen thousand worlds. The primal essences originate in the mystery of Wisdom and its Cause. For this reason, it is fitting that the phrase “God said” appears but nine times in the narrative of Creation. The tenth is an allusion to the Nought. It appears in the phrase “In the beginning.” It is proper that it not be enunciated.
“Who makes the clouds His riding-mount”: The total of divisions wrought in the upper waters is seventy, excepting that at the center, which makes them seventy-one. Facing them are the lower waters, stamped in their image yet considered but one, leading to a total of seventy-two. This is the meaning of “clouds,”¹⁶⁸“Cloud [‘av] is numerically 72. as in “Behold the Lord rides upon a light cloud” [Isa. 19:1] or “Behold I come unto you in a dense cloud” [Exod. 19:9].
The seventy divisions are the five “voices” divided into seven directions, excepting the central one that gives stability to them all and is not one of them. Actually there are six directions, each of them multiplied by ten. That is why “it was good” is said six times in the chapter on creation. This too is why Scripture speaks of “sixty queens” [Cant. 6:1] and “sixty warriors surround it” [Cant. 3:7]. All of this refers to a single matter, as we are to explain. Counting the seventh [central] direction also as ten, they make up seventy. Adding the innermost spiritual direction they are seventy-one. This is the totality of distinctions made on the second day.
Each setting of limits is in fact a division of space. Thus it says of man’s creation that in the second hour He “limited” him. This is like a person who is building up a ruined place; he needs to trace out where he will put the upper stories and the chambers. The building is completed by means of these divisions. That is why division exists.
“He walks upon the wings of the winds”: The blessed Holy One is revealed in and is raised up through the world. His footsteps are known through those attributes, just as the soul’s action is revealed through the body. This is the meaning of “God called the firmament heaven” [Gen. 1:5]. All the names are included in the word “heaven.” Thus Scripture says: “And you hear, O heaven” [II Chron. 6:27], “the Lord, God of heaven” [Neh. 1:8], “He who rides in heaven” [Deut. 33:26].

[Ps. 104:4]: “He makes the winds His messengers”: This alludes to the fact that the angels were created on the second day. These are His hosts on whose account He is designated the “God of hosts.” For they are neither replaced nor annihilated as are the other angels created on the fifth day, as we shall explain.

[Ps. 104:10]: “You make springs gush forth in torrents, they make their way between the hills” corresponds to “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, so that dry land may appear” [Gen. 1:9].¹⁶⁹The gathering of the waters and the appearance of dry land occurs on the third day of creation. This is the preparation of the channels leading into the sea of Wisdom.¹⁷⁰Malkhut.

[Ps. 104:5]: “He established the earth upon its foundations” indicates that the separation became truly distinct and visible. Therefore, it is in this place that the verse repeats “God saw that it was good” instead of on the second day. Just as our sages said concerning the creation of the primordial human, “God shaped his limbs in the third hour,”¹⁷¹b. Sanhedrin 38b. similarly, it was on the third day “that dry land was seen” [Gen. 1:9]. For when the world existed as undifferentiated water¹⁷²Lit. mayim be-mayim, water within water. the land could not become visible. Paralleling the Genesis text is “He established the world on its foundations, so that it should never totter” [Ps. 104:5]. That is the time allotted it, one thousand generations. That is fifty thousand years, fifty years for a generation.¹⁷³This alludes to the doctrine of shemitot, or cosmic sabbaths, claiming that the world goes through a series of seven-thousand year cycles and then returns to its source.

[Ps. 104:6]: “You made the deep cover it as a garment”: The deep coexists with the world like a pot and its lid. Thus [the verse continues] “the waters stood above the mountains.” How were the waters gathered to one side? For you rebuked them “and they fled from your rebuke” [Ps. 104:7], as in: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over the mighty waters” [Ps. 29:3]. That is why it repeats the word: “Water, water.”¹⁷⁴The repetition in Ps. 29:3 is not direct. There may be an allusion here to the tale of R. Akiva’s ascent to the pardes, as described in b. Ḥagigah 14b.

[Ps. 104:8]: “They rise up to the mountains, flow down to the valleys, to that place You have assigned to them”: This refers to the ocean, as in “Let the waters be gathered to one place” [Gen. 1:9]. “God called the dry place ‘land’” [Gen 1:10] means that He drew forth the Will, which is the [upper] end of Thought, to the “dry place,” “dry” refers to that which does not bear fruit.¹⁷⁵He derives ‘erets from r-ts-h, meaning “will.” Keter is extended to meet malkhut. The circle of the sefirot is thus closed. He drew to her this end of Thought, which is the totality of all the entities. Thus Scripture says: “Let the land bring forth grass” [Gen 1:11] and “Let the waters be gathered,” making channels through which the river then proceeds from Eden, flowing on the fifth day to water the garden. But for now those channels appeared as raw form [golem]; there was as yet no drawing forth. The channels were only preparations for the flowing springs.¹⁷⁶The sefirot as kelim, or the ordering of the sefirotic structure, “precedes” (better “underlies”) the actual flow of divine energy into these channels. Therefore it says:

[Ps. 104:10–11]: “He sends forth springs in the river-beds; they run between the mountains, giving drink to all the beasts of the field”: This refers to the well-known “beast,” the one who is also called “garden,” of which it says: “A river flows forth from Eden to water the garden” [Gen. 2:10].

[Ps. 104:11]: “The wild beasts quench their thirst”: The angels are thus called, those appointed to serve over matters of this world, as it is conducted. These are also “the young lions roar for prey” [Ps. 104:21]. And thus: “the gathering of waters He called seas” [Gen. 1:10]. He drew forth the central line, the one that nurses from the Source, like a spinal column drawing sustenance from the brain, into an attribute of day, passing through the cosmic Foundation, as in “all the rivers flow into the sea” [Eccles.1:6]. All the channels flow from the attribute of day to that of night by means of the cosmic Foundation.¹⁷⁷Tiferet, the male energy of the central column, reaches into the heights of keter, the Will that is above the upper reaches of Mind, and flows down through yesod, its sexual manifestation, into malkhut, the “garden” or female.

[Ps. 104:12]: “Upon them dwell the birds of heaven”: Upon these two attributes; because of them, the ministering angels exist. “From amid the branches they give forth their voice”: The voices proceed from the seventy names, all of them deriving from the primal and innermost soft voice, the singular nation, parallel to the power of Israel, making seventy-one.

[Ps. 104:13]: “He gives the mountains drink from His upper chambers”: Because grasses and plants do not grow until the rain falls, it says: “He gives the mountains drink.” Right after this it says: “He causes grass to grow for the cattle; earth is sated by the fruit of Your deeds” [Ps. 104:14–15]. And where do they all come from? The “upper chambers,” which is to say “the fruit of Your deeds.” From the upper chambers, the glorious palaces which are the primal spiritual elements, come the forces that bring about rain for the world. This is the fruit of those “deeds,” for they are the cause of all being and non-being in the world, the cause of light and darkness. Of them are born the clouds¹⁷⁸Hebrew term obscure. over the earth, from which the rain comes. The Land of Israel drinks of the innermost and purest of these, since it is parallel to the central column, the innermost, while the rest of the world drinks of them in diluted form. Of this Scripture says: “He builds His upper chambers in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth; He calls to the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth” [Amos 9:6]. After mentioning the upper chambers, he speaks of the rain that comes about through them. Job too mentions first the primal causes and then the rain that comes about because of them: “He looks to the ends of the earth and sees beneath all of heaven, making a weight for the wind and measuring out the waters. He makes a decree for the rain and a way for the thunderstorm” [Job 28:24–26]. The rain is sent forth as a result of those primal causes. Of this Scripture says: “Depth calls unto depth by the sound of Your channels” [Ps. 42:8]. Understand this. The drops of rain are the drops of sexual coupling, coming from that which is without end [eyn sof].

Parallel to “Let the earth bring forth grasses” [Gen. 1:11], which sets out the pattern of all generation, it says here: “He causes grass to grow for the cattle” [Ps. 104:14–15]. After telling us that rain is sent forth as a result of those primal forces, he says that grasses and plants grow because of forces attached to those same primal entities, for there is no blade of grass below that does not have a power attached to it above by which it comes to be and grows, and for the sake of which it exists. The Psalm goes on to say:

[Ps. 104:15]: “Grass for man’s labors … wine to make man’s heart glad, and food to satisfy the heart”: The rain and the grasses that grow because of it are human food, and drinks bring us joy. So too: “May the trees of the Lord be sated, the cedars of Lebanon He has planted, there where the birds make their nests” [Ps. 104:16–17]. The mountain goats and rabbits up on the boulders and the high mountains, all sensate beings, need those primal entities which are the first source of the entire birth process. How “may the trees of the Lord¹⁷⁹Here “trees” and “cedars” are taken as symbols of the sefirot. be sated”? They are sated first from the Source of Life, giving of the overflow of their water to living creatures, both feeling and unfeeling. “The cedars of Lebanon that He planted” [Ps. 104:16] are those delicate entities, as we have explained. This is the meaning of “where the birds make their nests” [Ps. 104:17]. “The high mountains are for the mountain-goats; the boulders are hiding-places for rabbits” [Ps. 104:18]. Here it has been explained that everything draws life from those primal entities, nursing from those that emerged and appeared on the third day.¹⁸⁰The seven lower sefirot are born of binah, the third sefirah, or possibly referring to tiferet, the third of the seven upper “days.” This was fixed in their nature as a primal and eternal desire. He placed their rule over the earth, that all creatures be attached to them and sustained by them, and in the end that all return to them. Of this it says here [on the third day] “And it was good.”

[Ps. 104:19]: Parallel to “Let there be lights” [Gen. 1:14], the Psalmist says: “He made the moon for fixed seasons.” The word “Let there be” indicates a drawing forth from Wisdom; therefore it is used in the account of creation only when referring to inward things:¹⁸¹Sefirot. light, firmament, luminaries. But of whatever was formless it says “Let there appear,” so that potential form or soul might appear in them.¹⁸²Hebrew obscure; translation conjectural. So it is said of Adam, that in his fourth hour the soul-breath was cast into him. [The following line, having to do with the hiding of the light after seven days, and quoting Ps. 97:11, is quite garbled in the manuscript as well as the printed edition, and must be considered untranslatable. It may refer to the light of the seven sefirotic “days” transferred to the shekhinah.]

[Ps. 104:20]: “God made the two great lights, the greater light …” [Gen. 1:16]. He gave it dominion over those servants appointed to rule the night. Thus it says “You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest stir.” This refers to the well-known “beast” who rules at night and the servants appointed over the night, who seek from her their appropriate role and tasks. These are “the young lions roar for prey, asking of God their food” [Ps. 104:21]. This means to draw it forth to them and lead them, so that which they are appointed over might exist. Of this it is also said: “She rises while it is yet night, giving food to her household and portions to her maidservants” [Prov. 31:15].

[Ps. 104:22]: “When the sun shines they return home, crouching in their dens”: This refers both to those who serve at night and to the one who rules over them.

[Ps. 104:23]: “Man goes forth to his work”: the attribute of day; “and to his work unto evening”: serving the attribute of night. That is why it says here “and it was good” [Gen. 1:18], for the lights were kindled to receive the power of the soul. Thus far the completion of the fourth day, including the attributes of day and night. It is said that all creatures are attached and bound to these, the source of all that they bring forth. These rule, as master rules over servant, one over the day and the other over the night. Thus the passage concludes: “How many are Your works, O Lord, You have made them all in wisdom,¹⁸³Both tiferet, the sun or power of day, and shekhinah, the moon or power of night, rule by the power of hokhmah, source of the flow that animates them. the earth is filled with Your creations” [Ps. 104:24].

Now the Psalm begins to speak of how the divine will flows into all the secondary beings who were created in the sea of wisdom, of the completion of the structure through them, and of the further extension of those well-springs that had begun to flow into the sea of wisdom on the fifth day.

[Ps. 104:25]: Parallel to “Let the waters bring forth creeping things” [Gen. 1:20] it says: “There is the sea, vast and wide, its creatures beyond number, beings both small and great.” “The face of the cherub is like that of a man,”¹⁸⁴b. Hagigah 13b. the cherub being in the form of a little child. When it says “birds shall fly” [Gen. 1:20], it refers to the two cherubim which draw blessing forth, the attributes of south and north. Of these Scripture says: “Awake, O north, and come forth, O south. blow your winds in my garden” [Cant. 4:16], as we have explained it. Once heaven and earth are doing their work, the power of these other two attributes is drawn toward them and added to them.

[Ps. 104:26]: “There go the ships”: those channels created on the third day. Of this it says: “She is like a merchant ship, she brings her food from afar” [Prov. 31:14]. She brings them through those channels, well-springs, and streams, and they flow into this sea and appear there.

“God created the great sea-monsters” [Gen. 1:21]: These are the four camps outside the shekhinah of the blessed Holy One, glorifying and exalting Him with words of song and praise. Of this it says “You created him to delight in him” [Ps. 104:26].
“And all the living creatures who creep” [Gen. 1:21]: This is the being with four faces, those of man, lion, ox, and cherub. Each of those faces itself has four faces and four wings, the wings spread out above the faces. Their appearance and their deeds have the appearance of fire. Within the red fire there is a black fire. This is the one spoken of in the [prophetic] tradition, where it says: “That is the being I saw beneath the God of Israel on the River Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubs” [Ezek. 10:22]. That is why the verse says: “which the waters caused to swarm forth after their kind” [Gen. 1:21]: They are [collectively] called “beast” [or “being”], for their bodies are joined but the faces are separate.¹⁸⁵The author plays on the inconsistency of number in these texts. Therefore it says: “which the waters caused to swarm forth after their kind.”
“And each winged bird after its kind”:This refers to those angels created on the fifth day, for there are various rungs, some lower than others and some higher than others. There is a fire that pushes out fire and a fire that consumes fire. Some of them are from water, still others from air. The mission of each is in accord with its essence: the one sent on an errand of mercy is from water; the one who goes as an emissary of justice is derived from fire. Therefore no one angel is sent for both justice and mercy.
“God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, filling the land and the waters of the seas’” [Gen. 1:22]. As Scripture says, “Like entities in the full belly” [Eccles. 11:5], since water did not flow forth from wisdom until the sixth day, of which Scripture says “Let earth bring forth a living being after its kind” [Gen. 1:24]. The angels that were created on the fifth day are negated, just as the spark is reabsorbed into the coal, once they have sung their song. The reason [for their existence] is external to them and they are not sufficiently strong to stand before their Creator. They are incarnated a second time, sing their song, and then they disappear. Of this matter it has been said: “New each morning, great is Your faith!” [Lam. 3:23]. Here our Psalm continues: “All of them look to You to give them their food in its due time” [Ps. 104:27]. This refers to their flowing forth.

[Ps. 104:28–30]: “You give to them and they gather … when You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take their breath, they die. Send Your breath and they are created….” All I have created is for your sake; that is why it says here: “it was good” [Gen. 1:21]. Thus it says of Adam, that in the fifth hour he stood up on his feet.

Of the sixth day Scripture says: “Let earth bring forth” [Gen. 1:24]. Let it bring forth all the generations, and with them the spirit of the first human came forth. Parallel to “God created man in His image” [Gen. 1:27], the completion of the structure, replete with its future implications and potentials, conducting it in such a way that each part is joined to the others, the Psalm says: “May the glory of YHVH be forever!” [Ps. 104:31]. For the name was not complete until Adam was created in God’s image. Only then was the seal complete, about which the prophet said to the prince of Tyre: “you are the seal of the account” [Ezek. 28:12]. He meant to say that you are on the rung of Adam, who completed the ten sefirot. The word tokhnit here means “account,” as in “a full account of the bricks” [Exod. 5:18]. Of this it says: “May the glory of YHVH be forever!”: a complete name spoken over a complete world.

“May YHVH rejoice in His creatures,” He caused the holy spirit to lie upon him, for he was crowned and adorned with the ten sefirot. So too it says of Adam that in the sixth hour he gave the creatures names. Here He concludes His words regarding the sixth day, sealing them with “it was good,” the name of God. Here the phrase is repeated a second time in the verse “God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good” [Gen. 1:31]. The word “very” refers to attachment to the Nothing, which is [the primal] good, that which brings about the renewal of generations. Thus it said in the Torah scroll of Rabbi Meir: “and behold, death was good.”¹⁸⁶Bereshit Rabbah 9:5. For this reason too they established the blessing “who is good and does good”¹⁸⁷b. Berakhot 46b. to be recited in the house of mourning, for if one generation did not pass, no new one could come in its place.
The six extensions parallel the six days of the week and the six thousand times 365, the years of the world. The river that flows from Eden never ceases, and souls return and are reincarnated.

From here on the Psalmist is speaking of the seventh extension, which is something like the backbone in the human body, providing a basis for each of the six extensions. It is the blessed Holy One’s chamber of strength.¹⁸⁸The seventh extension or direction is mysterious, beyond the six directions of space. It seems here to be the direction called “inward” or “innermost.” the center from which all the others radiate. Of it Sefer Yesirah says: “The extensions have a holy place prepared in His place. The holy palace is placed at the center and it maintains them all.”¹⁸⁹Sefer Yetsirah 4:2. It is parallel to the Sabbath and to the seventh millennium, which is entirely Sabbath rest, life eternal. All souls cleave and are joined to the Throne of Glory: “there is no breaching and none goes out” [Ps. 144:14].

This is the meaning of “Heaven and earth were completed, and all their hosts” [Gen. 2:1]. They were perfected and made into lovely and perfect vessels,¹⁹⁰A play on words, reading ve-yekhulu, “were completed,” as derived from keli, “vessel.” perfect in physical form, in structure, and in type.
“On the seventh day God completed the work that He had made” [Gen. 2:2]. He included within that central column all that he had wrought in the six extensions, indicating that the seventh day is the end of the flow which is the world’s existence, and thus that the world will be destroyed. “And He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had made” [Gen. 2:2]: Sabbath, the Holy Spirit amid the six extensions.
“God blessed the seventh day” [Gen. 2:3]: He blessed it above the other entities by an infusion of the Holy Spirit. This indicates also that in the seventh millennium all souls will be in the Bond of Life, delighting in it.
“And He called it holy, for on it He rested” [Gen. 2:3]: The power of soul was added to it, distinguishing it from all the other entities.
“That God had made” [Gen. 2:3]: Actions, including the calling forth of future generations. It further indicates that the entire seventh millennium, which parallels the seventh extension, is holy, without Satan and without the evil urge, as it says: “He called it holy.”

Thus there are three allusions to the seventh millennium: the destruction of the world, the delight of souls, and the negation of the evil urge. Parallel to the world’s destruction, David says in our Psalm: “He looks to earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke” [Ps. 104:32]. Of the delight of souls he says: “I will sing to the Lord as I live!” [Ps. 104:33]. “In [that millennium] there will only be the righteous seated and crowned….”¹⁹¹b. Berakhot 17a. There will be haloes about them of the clear light that hovers over the soul’s light. Of that great delight, the taste of which is unequaled, he says “as I live,” referring to life eternal, about which he further says: “I shall rejoice in the Lord” [Ps. 104:34]. This joy is the added Holy Spirit, basking in the light of shekhinah as it cleaves to the soul. Of the negation of the evil urge and the passing away of the spirit of defilement, he says: “Sins will vanish from the earth” [Ps. 104:35]. Of this the sages said: “David composed one hundred and three Psalms, but he did not say ‘Hallelujah’ until he saw the fall of the wicked,¹⁹²b. Berakhot 9b. meaning the negation of the evil urge. When David foresaw in the holy spirit the soul’s delight and its rest, he cried out ‘Praise the Lord. O my soul, Hallelujah!’”

Your teeth. The officers and the mighty that are among you are entirely good.

Like a counted flock. The ewe can entirely be utilized for holy purposes: its wool is for blue thread, its flesh for sacrifice, its horns for shofars, its thighs for flutes, its intestines for harp [strings], its hide for a drum. But the wicked [i.e., nations] were likened to dogs, for they are entirely unuseable for holy purposes.

There are sixty queens. [Referring to] Avrohom and his descendants. The sons of Keturah are sixteen. Yishmael and his sons are thirteen. Yitzchok and his sons are three. The sons of Yaakov are twelve. The sons of Eisav are sixteen. [All of the above are listed] in Divrei Hayomim¹⁴Chapter 1. , and total sixty. And if you should say that Timna¹⁵Eisav’s granddaughter. should be excluded because she is a woman, then count Avrohom in the number [of sixty].

[Here resumes the commentary on the Song of Songs:] Sixty are the queens: It is known that the emanation of both worlds took place at once. They are parallel to one another, facing one another. The World to Come has seven spatial extensions, of which Solomon in his wisdom said: “Wisdom has built her house, hewn out her seven pillars” [Prov. 9:1]. Of those the seventh is holy, the six being the six extensions, as we have explained. From these derive seventy names, standing within the twelve cosmic “arms.”¹⁹³Sefer Yesirah 5:1 uses this term (based on Deut. 33:27) for twelve directions, a refinement of the original six.
So too is this world sevenfold, divided into seventy nations which stand within those twelve directions. Below too, the central column is drawn forth as the holy one. It is Zion, as Scripture says: “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God appears” [Ps. 50:2]. This is what the sages meant when they said: “Whoever lives outside the land is like one who has no God.”¹⁹⁴Ketubut 110b. Each people derives its power from the extension to which it is parallel, from which it has been drawn forth. Thus it must be that there are seventy nations. Deduct from these ten those that belong to the spiritual central line, the Land of Israel, of which it will not be said in the future: “they did not utterly destroy them” [Josh. 13:13]. All of them as one will be wiped away and will cease to exist, both from the world and from the Throne of Glory. They are the Kenite, the Kenizite, the Kadmonite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, the Girgashite, the Jebusite, and the Perizite. There thus remain sixty, of whom it says: “Sixty are the queens.”

And eighty concubines. [If you count] Noach and his sons until Avrohom, [i.e.,] all the generations of those who left the Ark, you will find them to be eighty. And just as the queens, who are the kings’ wives, are superior in greatness over the concubines, so were Avrohom and his offspring deemed greater and superior to all, as you will see. Hagar was the daughter of kings. Timna was the daughter of rulers and became Eisav’s concubine, and it states, “to the Valley of Shaveh, etc.”¹⁶Bereishis 14:17. [meaning,] they all unanimously resolved הֻשְׁווּ=שָׁוֵה and crowned Avrohom as king over them.

And eighty concubines: These are the chieftains of Esau, the princes of Ishmael, and the children of Keturah. They make up eighty.

And young maidens without number. All these were divided into many families.

And maidens beyond number: These are the countries and cities.
This is why the sages of Israel composed six orders [of Mishnah], parallel to the six extentions, comprising sixty tractates, parallel to the sixty queens. In the order called “Women” there are seven tractates, comprising seventy-one chapters. The Sanhedrin number seventy-one, since they are in charge of justice.¹⁹⁵The text may be assuming the special relationship, well known in later Kabbalah, between the female and din or “justice.” The rabbis said in the tractate Kiddushin:¹⁹⁶Kiddushin 76a. “You do not check [for impurities in the family tree] beyond membership in the Sanhedrin. Why? Because it is taught that just as the court is pure with regard to its judgment, so is it pure of any other defect. Said Amemar: ‘What is the basis in Scripture? “You are entirely beautiful, my love; there is no defect in you” [Cant. 4:7].’” This means to say that they are like the shekhinah, which comprises seventy-one, and they have to be as free of any defect as She is.
The sages also said, regarding the verse “I have said, ‘How shall I place you among the sons and give you a land of delight?’” [Jer. 3:19], that this is like the tale of a king who had concubines and many children born of them. He also had a single son from the queen, his wife, whom he loved very greatly. The king gave fields and vineyards to all the sons of the concubines. Then he gave his son but a single orchard, saying to him: “By your life! All my treasuries are filled only by this orchard! Because I love you so much more than your brothers I have given it to you.”¹⁹⁷Midrash Tanḥuma, Kedoshim 12. Thus the blessed Holy One created the nations of the world, as it says: “Sixty are the queens and eighty concubines, maidens without number.” These are the nations.

But she is unique my dove. And of all of them,¹⁷All the nations mentioned in the previous verse. she¹⁸I.e., Yisroel. is My chosen one, like a perfect dove, who is wholehearted with her mate.

One is my dove, my perfect one [This] refers to the community of Israel. God divided the world among the nations, giving them fields and vineyards, as Scripture says: “When the Most High caused the nations to inherit” [Deut. 32:8]. But to Israel He gave the Land of Israel, God’s own treasury. From it come the sacrifices, the shewbread, the first fruits, and all good things. Why so much? Because he distinguished between the son of the queen and the sons of the concubines. “I have said, ‘How shall I place you among the sons?’” [Jer. 3:19].

She is unique to her mother. To her assembly.¹⁹I.e., allegorically the word לאמה is understood to mean לאומה [=nation]. Many arguments take place in the study halls, all of them stem from the desire to understand Torah in its fundamentals and according to its true meaning.

She is pure to her who begot her. Yaakov saw that his bed [i.e., progeny] was perfect without any disqualification, and he thanked and praised the Omnipresent, as it is stated, “And Yisroel bowed down at the head of the of the bed.”²⁰Bereishis 47:31. He bowed in gratitude that all his children were righteous.

Daughters saw her. [Other nations saw] Yisroel in her greatness.

And acclaimed her. And what is their praise?

Who is this that gazes down. Upon us, [looking] from a high place to a low place is called “הַשְׁקָפָה.” So is the Beis Hamikdosh higher than all lands.²¹See Maseches Kiddushin 69a.

Who is this who appears [ha-nishkafah]? A reference to shekhinah, as Scripture says: “The Lord looked forth [hishkif] from heaven at the children of man” [Ps. 14:2];¹⁹⁸Shekhinah is the power of providence, coming forth from “heaven” or tiferet. “Look forth [hashkifah] from Your holy dwelling” [Deut. 26:15].

Like the [breaking] dawn. Which gradually illuminates little by little; so were the [Bnei] Yisroel during the second Beis Hamikdosh. In the beginning, Zerubavel was the governor of Yehudah, but not a king, and they were subjugated to Persia and to Greece, but afterwards, the house of Chashmonai defeated them and they became kings.

Awesome as the hosts [of angels]. Awesome with her mighty men like the bannered legions of kings. All this the Holy One, Blessed Is He, praises the congregation of Yisroel, [beginning with] “You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirtzah,”²²Above, verse 4. and the entire section until here.

I went down to the garden of nuts. This too is the words of the Divine Presence, “Behold, I have come to this second Beis Hamikdosh, to you.”

I went down into the garden of nuts: Shekhinah says: “My eyes and heart are toward Israel, to see among them an enlightened person who seeks God.” This refers to the Second Temple period. Israel are compared to a nut because they are all responsible for one another.¹⁹⁹Nuts grow in clusters that cannot easily be separated. Of this Scripture says: “They stumble, each over his brother” [Lev. 26:15]. Thus it was during the Second Temple: there were righteous and pious among them, but they were punished because of the audacious. Israel replied: “I do not know what my soul has done to me;” I myself caused “my people’s chariots to be given freely” [Cant. 6:12]. Those who behaved toward me with abusive power, the kings of Greece.²⁰⁰The text is somewhat obscure, but seems to mean that Israel, because of the way they related to one another, brought upon themselves the Seleucid oppressor.

To see the moist plants of the valley. What moisture, [i.e.,] good deeds I would see in you.

Whether the vine has blossomed. Whether you would blossom before Me [into] Torah scholars, scribes, and teachers.

If the pomegranates had sprouted. Those who fulfill the commandments are full of merits. Why are [Bnei] Yisroel compared to a nut? Just as this nut, you see it entirely of wood [shell], and what is inside is not discernible, and you crack it and find it full of compartments of edible food, so are the [Bnei] Yisroel modest and humble in their deeds, and the students among them are not discernible, and they do not boast by announcing their own praise. But if you examine him, you find him full of wisdom. There are many additional Midrashic interpretations of this matter. Just as if this nut falls into mud, its inside does not become sullied, so are the [Bnei] Yisroel exiled among the nations and they suffer many blows, but their deeds do not become sullied.

I did not know. The congregation of Yisroel laments, “I did not know how to be aware of sin, that I should retain my glory and my greatness, and I erred over groundless hatred and controversy, which intensified during the reign of the Chashmonai kings, Horkenus and Aristoblus,²³They were brothers who battled one another for the throne. until one of them brought in the Roman Empire and received the kingship from its hand and became its vassal. Since then, “my soul set me” to be “like chariots,” to let the nobility of other nations ride upon me.

A noble people. עַמִּי נָדִיב means] the same as עַם נָדִיב[=a noble people]. The yud is superfluous like the yud of, “the One Who took up His abode שֹׁכֵן=שֹׁכְנִי in the thornbush,”²⁴Devarim 33:16. [and as in,] “stolen גְּנֻבַת=גְּנֻבְתִי by day,”²⁵Bereishis 31:39. [and as in,] “populous רַבַּת=רַבָּתִי.”²⁶Eichah 1:1.

My soul set me. I myself appointed them over me, as the matter is stated, “and you accustomed them to be officers in charge over you.”²⁷Yeirmiyahu 13:21.