Take the Song of Songs, that beautiful, sensual poem. It seems simple enough, right? But the rabbis of old… they saw worlds within worlds.

Consider this verse from chapter 6, verse 6: "Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that are ascending from being washed, that are all paired, and there is none missing among them." Teeth compared to sheep? What's going on here?

Well, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Song of Songs, unpacks it for us. The Rabbis find layers of meaning.

First, the ewe. The text tells us, "Just as the ewe is modest… so too, Israel was modest and upright in the Midyanite war." Modest? An ewe? Apparently, because its tail covers its… well, you get the idea. The point is, the ewe represents modesty, and that reminds the rabbis of the Israelites during a particularly challenging time.

The Midyanite war. It wasn't just a military campaign. It was a test of the Israelites' moral fiber. Remember the story? The Midianites had lured the Israelites into sin, leading to a devastating plague (Numbers 25). So, after the victory, how could the soldiers ensure they wouldn't repeat the mistakes of the past?

Rabbi Huna, quoting Rabbi Aḥa, offers a fascinating detail: the order of putting on tefillin (phylacteries). These are the small leather boxes containing scriptural verses that observant Jews wear during prayer. There’s one for the head and one for the arm. Rabbi Aḥa said that if any of the soldiers had put on the head tefillin before the arm tefillin, Moses wouldn't have praised them, and they wouldn't have returned from the war in peace. This shows just how careful they were being to follow the law.

The text tells us, “That are all paired,” as they would enter in pairs to the woman. The war against Midyan was undertaken in response to a plague that killed thousands of Israelites. The plague was a result of their sins with Moavite and Midyanite women (see Numbers chapter 25), who were sent to seduce them. Consequently, when the Israelite soldiers conquered the Midyanites, they would enter a tent in which there was a woman only in pairs, so that there would be no doubt that they would repeat the same sins which had brought about the plague in the first place. One of them would blacken her face and one of them would remove her jewelry. According to the text, the women would protest: ‘Are we not among the creations of the Holy One blessed be He, that you do this to us?’ The Israelites would say to them: ‘Is it not enough for you that our people received their punishment because of you?’ That is what is written: “The Lord said to Moses: Take all the leaders of the people, and hang them” (Numbers 25:4). This was one of the disastrous consequences of the Israelites’ sins with the Midyanite women.

This is a stark image, isn't it? These soldiers, fresh from battle, acutely aware of the consequences of unchecked desire, are taking extreme measures to avoid temptation. It’s a testament to their commitment to repentance and to avoiding repeating the sins of the past.

Finally, “And there is none missing among them,” meaning that not one of them was suspected of committing a transgression. Their integrity remained intact.

So, what do we take away from all this? It's not just about teeth and sheep. It’s about modesty, self-control, and the constant struggle to live a righteous life, even in the face of immense challenges. It's a reminder that even in the heat of war, even after experiencing temptation and failure, we have the power to choose a different path.

And perhaps, that's why the rabbis saw so much in a seemingly simple verse. They recognized the human struggle, the potential for both great sin and great righteousness, and the importance of constantly striving to be better. It's a message that resonates just as powerfully today.