פּירוש אויף שיר השירים 1:6

Do not look upon me. Do not look upon me disrespectfully, as in, “for they had gazed [disrespectfully] upon the Ark of Adonoy.”²³I Shmuel 6:19.

Do not stare at me: Do not despise me because I am swarthy, because the sun has gazed upon me, because I am situated amongst my children who are enslaved, at hard labor, performing all of their work in the field. My mother’s sons: The similitude refers to the holy spirit, from which all things are emanated; that is to say the remaining angelic princes appointed as custodians over each and every nation.

That I am so black. For my blackness²⁴שחרחרת is a combination of two words, שחר and חרת, the latter is the blackest of black. (Gra) and my ugliness are not from my mother’s womb, but from the sun’s tanning, for that blackness can easily be whitened by staying in the shade.

My mother’s sons were incensed against me. These are the Egyptians among whom I grew up, and they went up with me in the mixed multitude. They were incensed against me with their enticement and their persuasion until they made me—

keeper of the vineyards. And there the sun tanned me and I became black; i.e., they made me a worshiper of other gods, but my own vineyard [i.e., my God], which was mine from my forefathers, I did not keep. We find in Scripture that leaders are called with the expression of ‘vineyards,’ as it is stated, “And I will give to her her vineyards כְּרָמֶיהָ from there,”²⁵Hosheia 2:17. which the Targum renders as, “And I will appoint for her her leaders.” And similarly, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.”²⁶Iyov 24:18.