Citazione Commento su Cantico dei cantici 4:11

A Midrashic approach based on Midrash Tehillim 23: Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Shimon where the Israelites got all their clothing during the forty years in the desert. Rabbi Shimon answered that their clothing came from the same source as that of the ministering angels. He based this on Ezekiel 16,10: “I clothed you in embroidered garments.” Concerning the meaning of the word רקמה, “embroidered,” used by the prophet, Rabbi Simai said that it is a kind of mantle. To the question: “did they not wear out?” Rabbi Shimon replied: “Did you not ever read the text of the Torah? The Torah tells you that the clothing did not wear out!” To this Rabbi Rabbi Simai retorted: ‎”did then the clothing grow with the children?” He was told to take his cue from the lizard whose skin (compared to clothing because it is shed) also grows with it. To this came the question: “did this clothing not ever need laundering?” He was answered that the cloud would both wash it and iron it. The questioner then wanted to know if these clothes did not ever burn, catch fire? He was told to observe a certain category of animal called Sitin (salamander) which are “sort of dry-cleaning themselves” in fire without suffering burns. The questioner now wanted to know if the people wearing the same clothing for forty years did not ever experience attacks by vermin such as lice, etc.? Thereupon the questioner was told that if the bodies of these people were not subject to attacks by worms, they would certainly not be vicitimized by vermin while they were alive. The next question concerned the foul smell that must have emanated from people who wore the same clothes year in year out without change. The answer given was that the traveling well produced fragrant smells which neutralised any stench emitted by the clothing of the people. This is why they did not have to change their garments at all. In fact, according to our tradition this well made all kinds of herbs grow, herbs the fragrance of which could be inhaled from one end of the earth to the other. The people would waft these herbs to and fro; this is what David referred to in Psalms 23,2 בנאות דשא ירביצני, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Solomon also referred to this phenomenon in Song of Songs 4,11 when he said: “and the scent of your robes is like the scent of Lebanon”. Thus far Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 23. The meaning of the word sittim is “garment;” a garment the size of a זרת, the span between the two outermost fingers of the hand, is called sit.

[SINCE ALL THE WORDS of the sages contain hidden meanings], for “honey and milk are under their tongue,”²These words are similar to Song of Songs 4:11, “Honey and milk are under your tongue.” See how this verse is explained in Hagigah 11b. [it is our duty to understand the symbolism of every facet of an example or metaphor found in their parables]. The reason that our sages of blessed memory used a parable of a bride [with twenty-four ornaments] as representing [the twenty-four books], is that a woman who is not a bride does not wear the twenty-four ornaments, for if she does, people may suspect her of being a harlot. Similarly, one who is not a Talmudic scholar should not be “dressed” in the twenty-four books of Holy Scripture. [This means that] he should not write commentaries and publish them; indeed, he should not study them deeply.³Literally, “he should fold the verses in Scripture.” If someone wishes to interpret [Scripture] according to his own understanding and has not grasped the opinions of our sages of blessed memory, there is concern that he may be a heretic and that he is distorting the verses to suit his own opinion.⁴This topic is discussed further by the Netziv in Harhev Davar on Deut. 32:3.]

ויביאנו אל המקום הזה, He has brought us to this place, etc. The Torah refers to the higher world, the world inhabited by the נשמה, the superior soul. This soul is unable to make all these statements until after it has left the body it had inhabited and has reached the regions known as Gan Eden of the celestial regions. This occurs after it has had its fill of the Gan Eden to be found on earth. This is why these words about the soul having been brought back to this place have been said at this stage. The very fact that the soul has managed to reach these regions and face G'd and to tell Him all the aforegoing is already a delight for it, especially when compared to its former location in what was merely an earthly Paradise. The Torah goes on to describe this earthly Paradise as ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, "a land flowing with milk and honey". We have a similar description of an idyllic country in the terrestrial regions in Song of Songs 4,11 when Solomon says דבש וחלב תחת לשונך, "honey and milk lie under Your tongue."