Commentary for Song of Songs 1:6
אַל־תִּרְא֙וּנִי֙ שֶׁאֲנִ֣י שְׁחַרְחֹ֔רֶת שֶׁשֱּׁזָפַ֖תְנִי הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ בְּנֵ֧י אִמִּ֣י נִֽחֲרוּ־בִ֗י שָׂמֻ֙נִי֙ נֹטֵרָ֣ה אֶת־הַכְּרָמִ֔ים כַּרְמִ֥י שֶׁלִּ֖י לֹ֥א נָטָֽרְתִּי׃
Look not upon me, that I am swarthy, That the sun hath tanned me; My mother’s sons were incensed against me, They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept.’
Rashi on Song of Songs
Do not look upon me. Do not look upon me disrespectfully, as in, “for they had gazed [disrespectfully] upon the Ark of Adonoy.”23I Shmuel 6:19.
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Ezra ben Solomon on Song of Songs
Do not stare at me: Do not despise me because I am swarthy, because the sun has gazed upon me, because I am situated amongst my children who are enslaved, at hard labor, performing all of their work in the field. My mother’s sons: The similitude refers to the holy spirit, from which all things are emanated; that is to say the remaining angelic princes appointed as custodians over each and every nation.
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Rashi on Song of Songs
That I am so black. For my blackness24שחרחרת is a combination of two words, שחר and חרת, the latter is the blackest of black. (Gra) and my ugliness are not from my mother’s womb, but from the sun’s tanning, for that blackness can easily be whitened by staying in the shade.
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Ezra ben Solomon on Song of Songs
Quarreled with me: They raged against me and banished me from my place, as our sages say: “No nation falls until his angelic prince is first cast down. As it says: ‘On that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on the earth’ [Isa. 24:21]; and: ‘How are you fallen from heaven, O Shining One, son of Dawn! How are you felled to earth, O vanquisher of nations!’ [Isa. 14:12]; and says further: ‘For My sword shall be seen in the sky; Lo, it shall come down upon Edom’ [Isa. 34:5].”50Cf. Mekhilta Shirta 2.
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Rashi on Song of Songs
My mother’s sons were incensed against me. These are the Egyptians among whom I grew up, and they went up with me in the mixed multitude. They were incensed against me with their enticement and their persuasion until they made me—
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Ezra ben Solomon on Song of Songs
They made me guard the vineyards: I am belabored in fulfilling the needs of the nations and ensuring their preservation. I have no leisure to watch over My people, for they are not in their land and I accompany them in their exile. The nation is designated a vineyard, for just as a vineyard requires labor, pruning, and watering, so too does a people. Everything existing within the world is in need of the primary forces for their growth and blossoming.
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Rashi on Song of Songs
keeper of the vineyards. And there the sun tanned me and I became black; i.e., they made me a worshiper of other gods, but my own vineyard [i.e., my God], which was mine from my forefathers, I did not keep. We find in Scripture that leaders are called with the expression of ‘vineyards,’ as it is stated, “And I will give to her her vineyards כְּרָמֶיהָ from there,”25Hosheia 2:17. which the Targum renders as, “And I will appoint for her her leaders.” And similarly, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.”26Iyov 24:18.
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