פירוש על שיר השירים 5:11

His head. Shines like the finest gold. ‘כֶּתֶם’³⁹‘ם‘ת‘כ is an acronym representing the three crowns: תורה [=Torah], כהונה [=priesthood], and מלכות [=kingship], mentioned in Avos 4:13. (Gra) is a term referring to the treasures of kings which they store in their treasure houses, and similarly, “the finest gold כֶּתֶם has changed,”⁴⁰Eichah 4:1. and similarly, “and fine gold וְלַכֶּתֶם I called my security,”⁴¹Iyov 31:24. and similarly, “and an ornament of fine gold כֶּתֶם.”⁴²Mishlei 25:12.

His head is finest gold: All inclusive, crowned and endiademed.¹⁵¹The following lines may be read as a progression through the sefirot, beginning here with keter, but the individual referents are kept somewhat murky.

His locks hang. תַּלְתַּלִּים is] is an expression of hanging תְּלוּיִים, pendelojes in O.F.

His locks are black curls: As the verse states: “He made darkness His screen; dark thunder heads, dense clouds of the sky were His pavilion round about Him” [Ps. 18:12]. For they constitute the beginning of the generation of water. This is as the sages said in Exodus Rabbah [15:22]: “The waters engendered and birthed darkness.”

They are raven-black. All these are handsomeness for a young man.