The bad thing about teen-age daughters is that they are
teen-agers. The good thing about teen-age daughters is that eventually they
will no long be teen-agers. In the meantime, I remind myself that “it’s a phase”
or “patience this will end someday.” While our teen- age daughters are not
quite “boy crazy”, they do have their pop culture teen heart throbs, such as
One Direction, Nick Jonas, and Zac Efron. Of course, I recognize that this is
merely the first step towards increased angst and aggravation about dealing
with boys. In the meantime when they appear on tv or are heard on the radio,
why must they scream or begin talking so loudly, quickly and excitedly. I also keep reminding myself that although our
teenagers are loud and dramatic about the “heart throb” thing; the real focus
and concern should be upon our 25 year old. After all, she could actually meet
someone, fall in love and get married. Until now I had very little anxiety about her and boys, and relationships. There are, not too
many choices in Des Moines or Salt Lake City for a young woman who one day
would like to have a Jewish home. Now
that she has moved to Philadelphia, a place with lots of Jewish graduate
students, a sizeable Jewish population and only a 90 minute train ride from New
York City, well let’s just say we perfectly happy with her dedication and focus
upon her career in politics.
This Shabbat is the last day of Pesach. Among the additions
to the Shabbat/Pesach service is the fact that we say Yizkor and commemorate the
deceased. Because we are celebrating a Festival that did not have an
intermediate Shabbat, but rather the last days fall on a Shabbat; we read a Megillah
- a Scroll that corresponds to Pesach.
ChaZaL – our sages teach us that we read Shir HaShirim, the Song of
Songs. This biblical text, taken from Ketuvim (Writings) is attributed to
Shlomo HaMelech – King Solomon. The eight
chapters, which are song in a melody different from both Torah and Haftarah
speaks of the young romantic love between a young couple. I imagine that this young couple is in their
early twenties but there is no evidence that suggests a specific age. One thing
is for sure, because the text begins with the words: Shir HaShirim Asher L’Shlomo – The
Song of Songs by Solomon. ChaZaL explains that only a young man in throes
of romantic love would write such poetry. A middle age man wouldn’t write such
romantic poetry since some of the idealism
of that romantic love would have waned, and certainly a older man,
towards the end of life wouldn’t write of romantic love since an older man
would be more scarred by life’s experience. Nevertheless, this beautiful poetry
and the illusions of green meadows, deer, trees and fruit, portray a romantic
vision that would great poets such as Shakespeare and Keats jealous with its
use of language.
The question is why we read Shir HaShirim during the Pesach
Festival. How is a nation attaining liberty remotely connected to Romantic poetry?
R’Akiva, the same R’Akiva that we all
read about in the Haggada at our respective sedarim, comments that the Song of Songs is the holy of holies
(Midrash Tanchuma). We understand that something
becomes holy when it has been separated from the mundane and ordinary and
elevated to a higher purpose. Certainly,
Bnai Yisroel fits such a description. Throughout the story of the Yetziat Mitzrayim,
when Moshe request of Pharaoh that Bnai Yisroel be released from bondage, Moshe
repeatedly says to ‘Let me people go… Asher
Ya’Avduni “So that they may serve me.” Clearly the purpose of being released
from Pharaoh’s slavery enabled Bnai Yisroel to enter into a relationship with
God. As long as Pharaoh declined Moshe’s request, the more Pharaoh prevented
Bnai Yisroel from separating itself from Egypt and elevating itself for the
sole purpose of entering into a sacred relationship with God. Now that Bnai
Yisroel has been freed from Egypt, it can return to the sacred relationship
with God, a relationship that it had not experienced for over two
centuries. From that perspective, the
relationship, with this generation of Bnai Yisroel is novel, idealistic and
romantic. After all, within our tradition we view Hashem as our protector, we
view Hashem as bound to the Jewish people much like a husband is bound to a
wife. On Friday nights, we have a Kabalistic tradition of viewing the Shabbat
Queen as our spiritual mate. After all, Sunday has Monday, Tuesday has
Wednesday and Thursday has Friday. Can Shabbat really be left alone? According
to Midrash, Shabbat is paired off with the Jewish People. (Breishit Rabbah 11:8)The Shabbat Bride serves
as a symbol of that pairing off.
As Pesach draws to a close,
our story doesn’t end, nor does our relationship with God draw to a
conclusion. Because we are counting the Omer each evening up until 50, we
understand that our job is to prepare ourselves for our long, awaited re-union
with Hashem. That re-union will occur on
Shavuot when we stand at Sinai to receive the Torah. Shir HaShirim merely marks
the beginning of a loving relationship, a courtship prior to a marriage, a time when we should be full of romantic
visions prior to entering a relationship built upon obligations. As a father of three daughters, someday all
three will grow into relationships that culminate in the sanctity of marriage. For
now, however, I have enough anxiety just dealing with the inevitability of
their interest in boys!
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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