Commento su Cantico dei cantici 1:13

A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me. My beloved has become to me as one who has a bundle of myrrh in his bosom, and he said to him, “Here, [take] this bundle, which will give a more fragrant aroma than the first one that you lost.” So, was the Holy One, Blessed Is He, appeased by Yisroel for the incident of the [golden] calf and found them an atonement for their iniquity and said, “Donate to the Tabernacle, and let the gold of the Tabernacle atone for the gold of the calf.”

A bag of myrrh: The forms existing occulted within the Glory are likened to a bag of myrrh. A spray of henna blooms: The forms which are revealed and rendered accessible. The Glory is similarly called the bundle of life, because souls are bound and connected there. Thus they say in the Midrash to Canticles⁶²Midrash Shir ha-Shirim Zuta 3:10.: “‘Within it was decked with love’—these are the souls of the righteous which are present with God on high.” Three penetrated [the divine realms], each deeper than the other. “Moses approached the deep darkness” [Exod. 20:9]. The Targum⁶³Targum Onkelos ad locum. interprets this as: “towards the dense cloud.” That is, he perceived divine Will, Wisdom and Understanding, but not through the Speculum. Thus Righteousness and Justice are further inward,⁶⁴Probably malkhut and yesod. See R. Azriel: Perush ha-Aggadot, ed. Tishby (Jerusalem: Mekize Nirdamim, 1945), index of symbols. as it is written: “Righteousness and justice are the base of Your throne” [Ps. 89:16]. Further beyond are the souls of the righteous, as it says: “In his hands is the soul of every living thing” [Job 12:10] and “May the soul of my lord be bound up in the bond of life” [I Sam. 25:29].⁶⁵The “hand” is higher than the “throne.”

Between my breasts he shall lie. Even though I betrayed Him, He said He would dwell there.⁴⁹I.e., in the Tabernacle.

Between my breasts. Between the two staves of the Ark.⁵⁰Maseches Yoma 54a; the Gemara there explains that the staves of the Ark protruded into the curtain causing it to bulge like a woman’s breasts.