RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: MITZVAH OF SONG OF SONGS AT PASSOVER: JEWISH RENEWAL

 

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: MITZVAH OF SONG OF SONGS AT PASSOVER: JEWISH  RENEWAL

 

'' When, and by what authority, arose the requirement that Shir ha Shirim be read during Pesach? Thanks and shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow' '

 

The answer to your query of why we read, sing, chant,  Shir ha Shirim , on Pesach and where this is found in our texts is an answer which you most likely already know.

 

Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism teaches that  the relationship between  a woman and a man is potentially holy. Rabbi Akiva, z'l, posited in the Talmud Bavli Tractate  Yadayim 3:5 for  Shir Ha Shirim's inclusion in our TaNaK.  We are all aware of his fellow Rabbanim of blessed memory wanting this book to be left out  because of the sexuality of the "mashal."

 

Akiva cleverly asserted that if  all the other Books in the TaNaK are considered "Kedoshim," Holy, then Shir Ha Shirim must be considered "Kodesh Kodoshim," the Holiest of the Holy. He said the Song of Song's  "mashal" [analogy] and its "nimshal" [deeper meaning]  are holy.

 

I won't get into the allegory of love of Israel and G!d , Who is never mentioned in the Song. You and other Rabbanim have taught this well. Nor will I get into the Charoset recipe being in the Song, as we both agree.

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:CHAROSET:PASSOVER

 

The answer seems that it is more of a tradition than of a Rabbinic mitzvah.

 

It is a ''custom'' to read the Song of Songs on the first night of Passover at the end of the Seder. In  our Galut,  where the Seder is repeated on the second night of Passover, the reading of this book is sometimes spread over the two nights, but it is more common for the whole book to be completed on the first night. This is the traditional custom and you are more aware than I that one finds this custom to no longer be customarily performed at Seders, just as one will be lax to find a simple Birchat ha Mazon at many Seders now.

The  Ashkenazic communities will  read publicly on Shabbat Chol HaMoed, before the reading of the Torah, the Song. In some communities it is read from a scroll, hand written on parchment, and the reader recites two blessings: " . . .Who has commanded us to read the Megillah" and Shehecheyanu, but in many places it is read from a printed book without a blessing, each person reading it for himself.

Where the ''commandment (Rabbinic) to read this Megillah'' is located in a Text is your question.

While G!d's name is not mentioned, (and isn't it tiring to hear rabbis teach the Esther's book is the only one without G!d's name mentioned?),   Pharaoh  is in The Song . As you know, the Song's  contents are allegoric to the four different exiles and Israel's redemption from each one.

In the Zohar we learn that the Song of Songs teaches us the entire Torah!  Hence the Zohar teaches that the  Egyptian bondage is in the Song of Songs. The Zohar states that Israel's redemption is in the Song. And the Zohar tells us that the Song also teaches us about G!d saving us from all oppressors.   So the Zohar states that by reading the Song of Songs we are fulfilling the Torah mitzvah of retelling the story of the Exodus. 

Now we both know  Passover is a time of love between G!d and Israel. And that we entered into a bridal covenant with G!d at Sinai with the Torah as our Ketubah. And hence the Song of Songs emphasizes  this point as well.  [see Ezekiel, 16].

So we still are searching for '''by what authority?'' The ''when'' seems to pre-date Akiva and Shimon Bar Yochai. The actual seder modeled after a Greek symposium,(literally to drink together), with its orgiastic epikomon afterwards, is developed circa 200 CE, after Akiva and Shimon, by R' Judah ha Nasi. The fourth question was changed to 'reclining' from 'eating roasted lamb,' around this time (Talmud Tractate Pesachim).

Our ''authority" seems to come only from the Yerushalmi rabbis in Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah.   You would love this Midrash as it goes thru each verse and word of the Song. It quotes from the Talmud Yerushalmi, as well as from the Midrashim of Leviticus and Genesis. This Midrash contains much original tannaitic and amoraic material from the Talmud but also some, understandably perhaps, major criticism of the New Pauline-Constantinian religion called Christianity. It was written circa 500 CE   in Palestine.

In sections 18 and 19 of this Midrash, the authors relate the Song of Songs to Passover and its inclusion at the seder and at Torah readings. Whether this is something of the 6th century CE, or them quoting Torah Shel Pe, not included in the actual printing of the Talmud Yerushalmi or Bavli is lost to us.

Now, my humble opinion, with your permission my dear Rabbi: We know that Passover is actually two holidays: the 14th day where we have a lamb offering, and the 15th day festival of Matzah, also called the Spring Holiday. The Spring Holiday was observed long before what we call Passover and the Exodus. In fact Moses asked Pharaoh to not release the Hebrews from bondage at first, but asked for some time off to celebrate the Spring Holiday (Ex 3.18, 10:09).

Hebrews and even today's Bedouin, sacrificed a lamb before nightfall. They were and still do don't break any bones and eat it all before dawn. The chief of the tribe  daubed blood on the tent posts as an antidote to illness. And let's not forget the Zodiac sign of the skipping lamb during this spring festival.

One the last day of Passover, Jews in Bedouin lands, celebrate  Mimouna , a time of courtship, young people dressed in their finery, and betrothed couples exchanged gifts. The name could come from the Aramaic Mammon, riches, or from the Arabic word for wealth, or the Hebrew Emunah, faith. In a sense they are acting out the Song of Songs.

The Song of Song celebrates spring. It celebrates life, sex, and birth. Songs of this nature were part of the ancient spring festival, and Judaism as well as Hebraism, with their borrowing from the old, and putting a spiritual spin on them, brought in the Song of Songs very early into the Rabbinic Jewish Passover celebration, as elements of this song, themes of this song, were part of the original spring festival, pre-dating the Hebraic Exodus.

So in a great sense, the Song of Songs, embodies the entire Hagaddah, the entire bridging of humans to the Divine, and love as the glue to connect human and human, redeeming us of our own self-made Mitzraim. In a greater sense, the Shir ha Shirim, being the Holy of Holies, according to R' Akiva, elevates with love and ahavath chesed, we as mere talmidim, a revelation  into a level of spirituality beyond human comprehension.

Respectfully submitted ,

Shalom v'ahavah uvracha,

Arthur

Rabbi Arthur Segal

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