Talmud for Song of Songs 1:6

¹⁹⁰Midrash Cant. rabba 1(43), Pesiqta dRav Cahana Šimˋu (ed. Buber p. 118a). Rebbi Abba, Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan¹⁹¹Cant. 1:6.: My mother’s sons bore ill-will against me, (etc.) [they made me a guard of the vineyards; my vineyard I did not guard.]¹⁹²Addition from G. What caused me to guard the vineyards? Because my vineyard I did not guard. What caused me to keep two days in Syria¹⁹³Those parts of the kingdom of David and Salomon which were not part of the Second Commonwealth; its status was intermediary between that of the Land and the diaspora but holidays were kept there for two days as in the diaspora; cf. Peah 7:6 Note 119.? Because I did not keep one day in the Land. I was thinking that I would be rewarded for both, but I am rewarded only for one. What caused me to separate two ḥallot in Syria¹⁹⁴Biblical law prescribes ḥallah only for produce of the Land (Num. 15:18–19). Rabbinic practice extends the obligation to the rest of the world but, since the soil outside the Land is intrinsically impure, any ḥallah outside the Land is impure and must be burned. In Syria, some dough has to be given to the Cohen to be consumed in imitation of the obligation in the Land; cf. Ḥallah 4:7.? Because I did not separate one ḥallah in the Land. I was thinking that I would be rewarded for both, but I am rewarded only for one. Rebbi Joḥanan read for them, but I Gave them prescriptions which are not Good[and laws by which they cannot live]¹⁹⁵Ez. 20:25. He considers the second day of a holiday in the diaspora as a kind of punishment.. Rebbi Abbahu went to Alexandria and made them carry lulavim on the Sabbath¹⁹⁶In a year in which the first day of Sukkot was a Sabbath he told the Jews of Alexandria to keep only one day of the holiday since he knew the (as yet unpublished) rules of calendar computation. Since the obligation to take the “four kinds” essentially is restricted to the first day (Lev. 23:40) he permitted the ceremony on a Sabbath against the rule that in the diaspora the “four kinds” may not be taken on the Sabbath. (Cf. Sukkah 3:13).. Rebbi Immi heard it and said, who (feeds them) [brings them]¹⁹⁷The text of G [in brackets] is preferable over that of L (in parentheses). Rebbi Abbahu every year¹⁹⁸In the absence of a published calendar, the exact computation of the date of the holiday depends on the presence of a competent scholar, which is rare outside the Land.? Rebbi Yose sent and wrote to them: even though we wrote you the order of holidays, do not change the usage of your departed ancestors¹⁹⁹The action of R. Abbahu is officially disapproved of with the publication of the calendar rules. While today anybody who knows how to add and subtract can compute the Jewish calendar and there is no longer any ambiguity in fixing the holidays, the calendar rules were published by the Academy of R. Yose (the talmudic sources do not mention any participation of the Patriarch) with the explicit stipulation that they may be used only if the second day of holidays be observed outside the Land (Babli Besah 4b). {Quoted by R. Ḥananel ad40b, Roqeaḥ §198, Maˋase Roqeaḥ §93, Or zaruaˋ §140 (vol. 2 p. 211a in the edition Jerusalem 2010).}.

Rabbi Hananya, deputy of the priests, would say: Anyone who takes words of Torah to heart is no longer troubled by thoughts of destruction, thoughts of hunger, foolish thoughts, lustful thoughts, thoughts of temptation, thoughts of another man’s wife, thoughts of meaningless things, or thoughts of human burden. So it was written in the book of Psalms by King David (Psalms 19:9), “The precepts of the Eternal are true, bringing joy to the heart. The commandments of the Eternal are clear, illuminating the eyes.” But anyone who does not take words of Torah to heart is troubled by thoughts of destruction, thoughts of hunger, foolish thoughts, lustful thoughts, thoughts of temptation, thoughts of another man’s wife, thoughts of meaningless things, and thoughts of human burden. So it was written in Deuteronomy (28:46–48) by Moses our teacher, “They will be a sign and a proof against you and your offspring for all time. Because you would not serve the Eternal your God with joy and gladness over the abundance of everything. You will have to serve, in hunger and in thirst, naked and lacking everything.” “In hunger.” How so? (When a person wishes) to eat even barley bread, but has nothing, and then his enemies come and ask him for wheat bread and fatty meat. “In thirst.” How so? When a person wishes he could drink just a drop of vinegar, or beer, but has nothing, and then his enemies come and ask him for the finest wine in the land. “Naked.” How so? When a person wants to wear a wool or linen shirt, but has nothing, and then his enemies come and ask him for the finest silk in the land. “Lacking everything.” Without a candle, without a knife, and without a table. Another interpretation of “lacking everything”: Without vinegar and without salt. For this is a curse that people often give: May there be no vinegar or salt in your house!
He would also say (with regard to Song of Songs 1:6): “Do not look at me, for I am blackened, scorched by the sun.” These are all the Jewish girls who cast off the yolk of the Holy Blessed One, and accepted human kingship upon themselves.
[The verse continues:] “My mother’s children were angry with me.” This is Moses, who killed the Egyptian, as it says (Exodus 2:11–12), “Sometime after that, when Moses had grown older, he went out among his brothers and saw what they were enduring…and he turned this way and that, and saw that there was no one there.” What do we learn from “there was no one there”? This teaches that Moses brought the question before the council of angels who serve God, and asked them: Shall I kill this man? They said to him: Yes, kill him. And did Moses kill him with a sword? No, he killed him with words, as it says (Exodus 2:14), “Are you saying you will kill me, just as you killed the Egyptian?” This teaches that Moses killed him by saying the [Ineffable] Name of God.
(Another interpretation of) “My mother’s children are angry with me”: this is Moses, who fled to Midian, as it says (Exodus 2:15,17), “Pharaoh heard what happened, and sought to kill Moses, and Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well…And some shepherds came and tried to drive [Jethro’s daughters] away. And Moses got up and saved them, and gave water to their flocks.” Then Moses came and sat among them to render judgment. He said: The general practice in the world is for men to fill the buckets and women to give water to the animals. Here, women draw the water and men give the water to the animals. There is a perversion of justice in this place! (They are guilty by law, and have become guilty through this incident.) Some say that the whole time Moses was standing near the mouth of the well, the water was bubbling up to meet him, and when he left, the water went back down. Then Moses said: Woe is me! For I have left my people and come to live among these heathens.
Another interpretation of “My mother’s children are angry with me”: This is Israel, who made the Golden Calf. At first, they said (Exodus 24:7), “Everything the Eternal has said, we will do and we will understand.” And then they went back and said (Exodus 32:4), “These are your gods, Israel!”
Another interpretation of “My mother’s children are angry with me”: These are the spies, who slandered the land and caused Israel to die in the desert, as it says (Numbers 14:29), “In this desert your carcasses will fall.”
“They made me guard the vineyards” (Song of Songs 1:6). The Holy Blessed One said: Who is it that caused Me to favor the heathens? Israel! (For while) the heathens live well, [Israel] are oppressed, scorned, and scattered about.
Another interpretation of “They made me guard the vineyards”: This is Israel, who were exiled to Babylon. And prophets rose among them and told them to separate their donations and tithes. The people said to them: We were exiled because we did not separate our donations and tithes, and now you tell us we should separate them? [And that is why it says, “They made me guard the vineyards.”]