Shabbat Chol Ha’moed Pesach
April 19, 2003

In many communities on this Shabbat, it is customary to read Shir HaShirim. The source of this custom is in the tractate Soferim (14:18). From that source it would appear that the original custom was to read half on the night of the seventh day of Pesach, and the other half on the night of the eighth day on the Diaspora. Now, however, the established custom is to read the entire Shir HaShirim before the Torah reading, either on Shabbat Chol Ha’moed, or (if there is no Shabbat during Chol Ha’moed) sometime during Pesach.

What is the connection between Shir HaShirim and Pesach? To answer this, we need to examine the unique composition of this remarkable book about which Rabbi Akiva said:

“All the Scriptures are holy; but Shir HaShirim is the holy of holies” (Yadayim 3:5).

The most striking feature of Shir HaShirim is the fact that it is entirely composed of songs, with only the first verse – The song of songs, which is Shlomo’s - as its only narration, serving more as a title or introduction.

This concentration on poetry is not unusual in the Tanach; many books of the prophets, for example, are composed entirely of poetry. But, what makes Shir HaShirim so challenging is the multiple “voices” uttering the poetry. Even in the difficult book of Iyov, which is a series of poetic discourses, we can see clearly where one speaker ends and the next begins. However, in Shir HaShirim, many songs from many different “singers” – the shepherdess, her beloved, her brothers, the chorus of young women, the chorus of men, and others – are heard; they swirl around each other and blend together, like a dizzying dance.

To further add to our difficulties, some of the songs are sung directly to the intended listener, while others are uttered indirectly, through others. Some are expressions of love, others of longing. Some are sung while awake, while others seem to emerge from various dream-states, either pleasant or terrifying.

Shir HaShirim is truly a song of many songs! What is the significance of song?

Song is the expression of praise which permeates all of creation:

“Said the Holy One, Blessed be He: ‘I will open the tongue of all flesh and blood, so that they will sing praises before Me from the four corners of the earth. For, were it not for the song and singing that they say before Me every day, I would not have created the world”’ (Alef-Bet of Rabbi Akiva).

Not only does every created thing utter songs of praise to Hashem, mankind is especially suited for this purpose. When man was created:

…and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul (L’NEFESH CHAYA) (Bereishit 2:7).

Onkelos translates NEFESH CHAYA as

“A speaking soul.”

Man’s unique intelligence is expressed in his language, and there is no more exalted use of human language than to sing to Hashem.

The Children of Israel were once inseparable from the poetry that blessed them:

And Yaakov called to his sons and he said: “Gather together and I will tell you what will befall you at the End of Days. Assemble and listen, sons of Yaakov, and listen to Yisrael your father. Reuven, my first born are you, my strength and the first of my prowess…” (Bereishit 49:1 ff)

However, the cruel slavery of the Egyptians demoralized the Children of Israel, to the point of dehumanization. Crushed under the bitter burdens of Egypt, the once-poetic Israelites can only express themselves wordlessly:

…and the Children of Israel groaned from the work and they cried out, and their complaint because of the work ascended to G-d. And G-d heard their outcry… (Shemot 2:23-24).

We might suggest that it was the intention of the Egyptians to rob the Israelites of their capacity for song, from the very beginning of the enslavement:

And they placed officers of forced labor over them, in order to oppress them (ANNOTO) with their burdens… (Shemot 1:11).

This was done to deprive them of the ability to respond.

The word ANNOTO derives from the root AYIN-NUN-HEH (vbg). In the simple case (Pa’al or Kal), this verb means “to respond, to raise the voice [in song].” But, in the intensive case (Piel), as in this verse, it means “to oppress, impoverish, deprive.” Perhaps the connection between these two meanings is similar to what happens to other roots:

SH-R-SH – to root; to uproot

Y-R-SH – to inherit; to disinherit

Thus, AYIN-NUN-HEH might have two opposite meanings: to respond; to deprive another of response! The translation of the above verse might therefore be rendered:

And they placed officers of forced labor over them, in order –ANNOTO - to deprive them of the ability to respond.

However, once the Children of Israel had their first taste of freedom, they regained their capacity to utter song to Hashem, climaxing with the Song at the Sea:

There are ten songs: The first, which was said in Egypt, as it says, “The song shall be for you like the night which was sanctified as a festival” [i.e., Passover] (Yeshaya 30:29); the second as the sea, as it is said, “Then sang Moshe” (Shemot 15:1)… (Mechilta Beshalach; see also Shir HaShirim Rabbah on 2:1).

At the Exodus, the Children of Israel rediscovered their capacity for song, which the Egyptians had quashed.

Our celebration of Pesach is suffused with song, perhaps more than any other festival. As Amos Chacham, editor of Da’at Mikra on Shir HaShirim, points out, this is the main reason for incorporating Shir HaShirim into Pesach:

“On this festival we read most of the songs in Scriptures (the Song at the Sea [Shemot ch. 15]; the song of David [Shmuel II, ch. 22, which is read as the haftorah on the seventh day of Pesach], the song of Egyptian Hallel [Tehillim, ch. 113-118], which is said only one time during the year, and even at night; and the song of the future redemption [Yeshaya 10:32-12:6] in the haftorah of the last day of Pesach in the Diaspora).”

Once granted the ability to praise Hashem with song, we cannot sing enough. We lift our newly found voices joyfully to Hashem, praising His abundant goodness:

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for better than wine is His love (Shir HaShirim 1:2).

And, in response, Hashem “sings” to us:

Behold you are beautiful, My friend, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves (Shir HaShirim 1:15).

Like a narcissus among the thorns, so is My friend among the daughters (Shir HaShirim 2:2).

And Hashem wishes us to continue our song:

Let Me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet… (Shir HaShirim 2:14).

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