“Place me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as intense as death, jealousy is as cruel as the grave; its sparks are the sparks of fire, a great conflagration” (Song of Songs 8:6). “Place me as a seal” – Rabbi Meir said: Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, do what You thought in Your heart to do to us,’ as Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili: When Israel stood before Mount Sinai and said: “We will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7), at that moment the Holy One blessed be He called the Angel of Death and said to him: ‘Even though I appointed you chief executioner for the whole world, you are to have no involvement with this nation.’
That is what is written: “It was when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness” (Deuteronomy 5:20). Is there darkness On High? But is it not written: “The light rests with Him” (Daniel 2:22)? What then is “from the midst of the darkness”?
This is the Angel of Death, who is called darkness. And it is stated: “The tablets were the work of God and the script was the script of God, engraved [ḥarut] upon the tablets” (Exodus 32:16) – do not read it as engraved [ḥarut], but rather as freedom [ḥerut]. Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Neḥemya, and the Rabbis: Rabbi Yehuda said: Freedom from the Angel of Death. Rabbi Neḥemya said: Freedom from the [gentile] kingdoms. And the Rabbis say: Freedom from suffering.