“The mandrakes have emitted fragrance, and at our entrance are all types of delicacies, new and old; I have them in store for you, my beloved” (Song of Songs 7:14). “The mandrakes have emitted fragrance,” these are the lads of Israel who have not tasted the taste of sin. “And at our entrance are all types of delicacies,” these are the daughters of Israel who have cleaved to their husbands and do not know another man.
Another matter, “the mandrakes have emitted fragrance,” Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Levi, Rabbi Yudan said: Come and see how beloved are the mandrakes before He who spoke and the world came into being, as, in the reward of these mandrakes, two great, excellent tribes emerged, and they are the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Zebulun, as it is stated: “Jacob came from the field in the evening, [and Leah went out to meet him and said: You must come in to me for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes]” (Genesis 30:16).
Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman, Rabbi Elazar says: This one lost and that one lost, this one was rewarded and that one was rewarded. Leah lost the mandrakes but was rewarded with tribes and burial.76Because she displayed her fondness for lying beside Jacob, she was privileged to be buried beside him in the Cave of Makhpela. Rachel was rewarded with the mandrakes but lost tribes and burial.
This one lost and that one lost, this one was rewarded and that one was rewarded. Leah lost the mandrakes, was rewarded with tribes, and lost the birthright.77Ultimately, Joseph supplanted Reuben as the firstborn, as he received the double portion, with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, each becoming independent tribes. Rachel was rewarded with mandrakes, was rewarded with the birthright, and lost tribes.
Rabbi Levi said: It is written: “The Lord showed me and behold two baskets [duda’ei] of figs…the one basket was of very good figs” (Jeremiah 24:1–2), this is the exile of Yekhonya. “And the one basket of very bad figs” (Jeremiah 24:2), this is the exile of Zedekiah. If you say that the exile of Yekhonya repented and the exile of Zedekiah did not repent, the verse states: “The mandrakes [haduda’im] have emitted fragrance,” both duda’im, the good and the bad, emitted fragrance.
“And at our entrance are all types of delicacies,” the school of Rabbi Sheila and the Rabbis, the school of Rabbi Sheila say: [This is analogous] to an upright woman whose husband left for her few items and little money for expenditures. When her husband returned, she said to him: ‘Look what you left for me and what I preserved for you, and what I added to them for you.’ The Rabbis say: [This is analogous] to a king who had an orchard and he entrusted it to a sharecropper.
What did that sharecropper do? He filled fig baskets with the fruit of that orchard and he placed them at the entrance to the orchard. When the king would pass, he would see all that goodness. He said: ‘If there is all that goodness at the entrance to the orchard, in the entire orchard, all the more so.’
So, in the early generations,78This corresponds to the fruit at the entrance to the orchard. there were the members of the Great Assembly, Hillel and Shammai, and Rabban Gamliel the elder. In the later generations79This corresponds to the fruit in the entire orchard. there were Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Meir, and Rabbi Akiva, and their students all the more so.
In their regard it says: “new and old.” “I have them in store for you, my beloved.” Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘You have in store for Me and I have in store for you. You keep mitzvoth and good deeds, and I keep for you in full storehouses more than all the goodness in the world.’
Rabbi Abba bar Kahana bar Yudan said: His are more plentiful than ours. That is what is written: “How great is the goodness You have in store for those who fear You, which You have created for those taking refuge in You” (Psalms 31:20).