Cantico dei cantici 1:2 Commento: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi & Ezra ben Solomon

“Let him give me kisses” [1:2]. The Yalkut writes: Rabbi Johanan said that an angel ascended Mount Sinai when the Torah was given and the Holy One said, “I am the Lord your God” [Exodus, 20:2]. The same angel went to every Israelite person and said: receive what the Holy One said, and this means that God said, “I am the Lord your God.” You must understand what God wants to have with this speech. The Israelite then answered, I gladly want to understand and receive everything that God will command. The angel immediately kissed the Israelite. From then on, when Israel heard “I am the Lord your God” from the Holy One; they remembered it well and did not forget it. However, later they heard everything else, the other Statements [dibrot] from Moses Our Teacher, and they forgot all of it. They said to Moses: we would like that the Holy One should appear again and speak to us himself so that we should not forget what we learned. This is the meaning of the verse “Give me the kisses of your mouth” [1:2]. Moses Our Teacher responded to the Israelites: you may desire that the Holy One should appear to you and teach you Torah Himself, but this cannot be at Mount Sinai. When the Messiah will come, the Holy One will appear and personally teach Torah to Israel. The verse says, “I will put My Teachings into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts” [Jeremiah, 31:33]. This means, I have given my Torah in their hearts, as if it were inscribed on their hearts and they would not forget their learning.

“More delightful” [1:2]. The Torah is better than wine. Therefore, he compares the Torah to wine. Just as wine must be kept in earthen vessels and goes bad in golden and silver vessels, similarly, the one who studies Torah should keep himself humble and if he studies Torah with arrogance, his Torah will leave him.³Yalkut Shimoni, Song of Songs, Remez, 981.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. She recites this song with her mouth in her exile and in her widowhood, “If only King Shlomo would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth as of yore,”⁷“With the kisses of his mouth” is obviously superfluous, therefore Rashi explains that it refers to the days of yore. (Sifsei Chachomim) because in some places they kiss on the back of the hand or on the shoulder, “but I desire and wish that he behave with me as his original behavior, like a bridegroom with a bride, mouth to mouth.”⁸If it were not mouth to mouth the verb נשק [=kiss] would be followed with a lamed as in Bereishis 27:26 and Ibid. 29:11, and in many other places. (Sifsei Chachomim)

For ... is dearer. Your love [is dearer] to me than any banquet of wine or than any pleasure and joy. In the Hebrew language, every feast of pleasure and joy is called after the wine, as the matter is stated, “to the house of the wine feast,”⁹Esther 7:8. [and as in,] “They shall not drink wine with song,”¹⁰Yeshayahu 24:9. [and as in,] “And there were harp and lute, tambourine and flute, and wine at their drinking parties.”¹¹Ibid. 5:12. This is the explanation of its apparent meaning. And according to its allegorical meaning: It was said in reference to when He gave them His Torah and spoke to them face to face. And that love is still more pleasant to them than any pleasure, and they are assured by Him that He will appear to them again to explain to them the secret of its reasons and its hidden mysteries, and they beseech Him to fulfill His word. This is [the meaning of], “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth.”