It's like peeling back an onion, only instead of tears, you find profound insights. Let's take a dive into a fascinating passage from Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Song of Songs.
The passage starts with the phrase "Daughters of Jerusalem." Now, the Rabbis, in their ingenious way of reading between the lines, suggest we don't just read it as "daughters" (benot) but rather as "builders" (bonot) of Jerusalem. Isn't that a cool twist? It transforms the image from passive recipients to active participants.
Who are these "builders"? Well, the text identifies them as the Great Sanhedrin of Israel, the ancient high court. They are the ones who convene and instruct, guiding the people with their wisdom and judgment. In essence, they are building the spiritual and legal foundations of Jerusalem.
But there's more! Rabbi Yoḥanan takes it a step further. He envisions Jerusalem becoming a metropolis for all nations, a beacon drawing people from all corners of the earth. He finds support for this idea in the verse from Joshua 15:47, which speaks of Ashdod and Gaza with their "towns" (benoteha). Rabbi Yoḥanan connects this to Ezekiel 16:61, where God says, "I will give them to you as daughters [levanot] and not due to your covenant."
What does levanot mean here? Towns, Rabbi Yoḥanan says. And the phrase "not due to your covenant"? It's not about fulfilling obligations, but about a gift, a divine promise. According to the Etz Yosef commentary, this implies that the nations honoring Jerusalem won't just be the ten promised to Abraham, but additional ones, an overflowing of blessings.
Rabbi Beivai, quoting Rabbi Reuven, brings in Isaiah 54:1: "Sing, barren one, [who did not bear]." A song for barrenness? It seems paradoxical. But the interpretation offered is beautiful: "Sing, barren one," who did not bear children for Gehenna, for hell. It's a song of liberation, of escaping a grim destiny.
Then, Rabbi Berekhya, citing Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman, presents another analogy: Israel is likened to a female who inherits one-tenth of her father's property and then leaves. This mirrors how Israel inherited the land of the seven nations, which represented one-tenth of the seventy nations. Because of this "female" inheritance, their songs were sung in the feminine form, like in Exodus 15:1: "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song [hashira hazot] to the Lord." Notice that hazot is feminine!
But the future holds a different inheritance. Like a male who inherits all of his father’s property, Israel will inherit everything. This is reflected in Ezekiel 48, with each tribe receiving a portion. And the songs of the future will be masculine: "Sing to the Lord a new song [shir ḥadash]" (Psalms 96:1). Here, ḥadash is masculine.
Rabbi Berekhya and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi offer another reason for likening Israel to a female: Just as a female "loads and unloads" – becomes pregnant and gives birth repeatedly – so too, Israel is enslaved and redeemed, over and over. However, the ultimate redemption will be permanent. In this world, because their trouble is like childbirth, their songs are feminine. But in the World to Come, where their trouble is no longer like childbirth, they will sing masculine songs. This is alluded to in Isaiah 26:1: "On that day this song [hashir] will be sung."
What strikes me is how these interpretations weave together themes of building, inheriting, and singing. They offer a dynamic vision of Jerusalem, not just as a physical place, but as a spiritual and historical entity constantly being shaped and reshaped. And the shift from feminine to masculine songs? It speaks to a transformation from cyclical suffering to lasting joy, a hope for a future where redemption is complete and irreversible. It makes you wonder, what kind of songs will we be singing then?