Tafsiran Kidung Agung 2:3: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi & Ezra ben Solomon

“Like an apple tree” [2:3]. He compares Israel to an apple tree in the forest which flowers in the month of Sivan, just like Israel that accepted the Torah in the month of Sivan.

“Sweet” [2:3]. The manna was sweet to my palate and the manna had five hundred and forty-six tastes, equal to the numerical value of the word sweet [matoq].¹⁶Yalkut Shimoni, Song of Songs, Remez, 986.

As an apple tree. When an apple tree is among trees that do not bear fruit, it is more precious than all of them, for its fruit is good both in taste and in fragrance.⁵Alternatively, Targum renders תפוח as an Esrog tree.

So is my beloved among the sons. Among the young men. The allegory is: So is the Holy One, Blessed Is He, superior to all the gods. Therefore, “in His shade I delighted and sat.” The Midrash Aggadah [explains], this apple tree, all flee from it because it provides no shade; so did all the nations flee from the Holy One, Blessed Is He, at the giving of the Torah, but I,⁶Although the other nations fled, Bnei Yisroel perceived the eternal benefit of sitting in His shadow, by accepting the Torah. “in His shade I delighted and sat.”