ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שיר השירים 1:3

All of the above-noted categories are included in the Holy Torah, which is called fire. (The reason that the Torah is described as a “fire of law,” rather than a “law of fire,” [is that fire is also symbolic of the Divine nature of the Torah, which is then used by man to derive the commandments].¹⁴See Commentary of Gaon of Vilna in Divrei Eliyahu, as referenced by Netziv in Ha’amek Davar ad loc. By applying gematria and recombining the letters of esh, dat and the neighboring words in that verse, we can derive that esh refers to the written Torah and dat refers to the Talmud. The Midrash (Tanhuma, Vayeshev) notes, that the Torah is a “fire of law”¹⁵This is the exact translation of the Netziv’s quote from the Midrash Tanhuma. I have not seen the version of the Midrash Tanhuma from which the Netziv quotes. The version found in the current texts (Buber Edition) of the Midrash Tanhuma reads as follows: “The Torah scholars are guardians of the Torah, that is, a law of fire given by the One Who Is a Consuming Flame.” This version provides even greater support for the Netziv’s understanding of why the Torah is called a fire of law. The Torah is described by our version of the Midrash Tanhuma as the law of fire given by the Consuming Flame; therefore, the reason why it is referred to as a fire of law in Deut. is that it was given by the Consuming Flame (God). and God is referred to as “a consuming fire.” See also Yoma 21b,¹⁶“There are six forms of fire…. The fire that consumes fire is the Shechinah (the Divine Presence).” [which describes God as a consuming flame]. These Talmudic statements allude to how Nahmanides wrote in the introduction to his commentary on the Torah: “The Torah consists of combinations of God’s Holy Names” – that is, [“fire” alludes to “God’s Holy Names,”] which are the root of the Torah. It is clear to me that this idea [that His Holy Names are the source of the Torah], is expressed by the verse in Shir ha-Shirim, “Your name is oil poured forth,”¹⁷Song of Songs, 1:3. meaning that the commandments are cast and formed from His Holy Names, and are symbolized by the word oil.¹⁸See further discussion of this concept in Part 2, chapter 7. See also the Midrash Koheles on the verse, “Your head will never lack oil,”¹⁹Koheles, 9:8. Koheles Rabbah, 8 states: “[Let your garments always be white, and your head never lack oil.] Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said: ‘Do not the idol worshippers have numerous white garments and oil? Rather, the verse is referring to the commandments, good deeds and the Torah.’” [which compares the commandments to oil], as does the verse, “for the commandment is a lamp.”²⁰Prov. 6:23. The fuel of a lamp is oil. [Therefore the Torah is called eish-das, a fire of law, because it emanates from God] as esh (fire) and is subsequently processed [by man] into das, law).²¹As we shall see in Chapter 3, the law is a combination of God’s and man’s efforts.

And it also intends to say "one day," by way of the [Sages], of blessed memory, saying (Avodah Zarah 35b) on the verse (Song of Songs 1:3), "therefore the maidens (alamot) have loved you," [that it is referring] to death (al mavet), the explanation [of which] is that even the 'bad' angel is forced to answer 'amen.' And for this reason, it states, "and it was evening and it was morning, one day," the explanation [of which] is that the attribute of evening and the attribute of morning, all of them, are in agreement for the good of the righteous one.

A Midrashic (Mechilta Shirah 3) approach to our verse: The word אנוהו refers to exalting G’d’s name before all the other nations. The point is to get the nations of the world to acknowledge that there is no G’d comparable to the Lord our G’d. Whereas previously such statements had a somewhat hollow ring, at the Sea of Reeds such a statement had been vindicated for all the world to see. Our sages (Mechilta Beshalach 2) also confirmed this when they said that any lowly maid saw visions at the Sea of Reeds which even the prophet Ezekiel had not been granted. The words אלו-הי אבי וארוממנהו mean that “I want to aggrandize the Lord who has already been the G’d of my father.”

אריק חרבי Translate this as the Targum: I WILL DRAW [MY SWORD]. Because one empties the scabbard when one draws out the sword and it (the scabbard) then remains empty (ריק), the, expression “emptying” is appropriate to it (to the act of drawing the sword), as in (Genesis 42:35) “emptying (מריקים) their sacks”; (Jeremiah 48:12) “And they shall empty (יריקו) his vessels (of wine)”. Now do not say that the expression “emptiness” in these examples does not apply to the thing which comes out, but that it applies to the scabbard and the sack and the vessels from which these things come out and not to the sword and to the wine (it is the scabbard, the sack and the vessels which are empty not the sword, the corn and the wine), — and consequently give a forced explanation of אריק חרבי in the sense of the verb in (Genesis 14:14) “He armed (וירק) his trained servants”, saying that it means, “I will arm myself with my sword”, for we do, indeed, find the expression “empty” applied also to the thing which, comes out of a receptacle; e. g., (Song 1:3) “oil which is emptied (תורק)”; (Jeremiah 48:11) “it (the wine) hath not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”. It does not say here “the vessel hath not been emptied”, but “the wine has not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”; consequently this expression is applied to the wine. Exactly like the phrase in this verse, is (Ezekiel 28:7) “And they shall draw their swords (והריקו חרבותם) against the beauty of thy wisdom”, in the chapter about Hiram.