Commentary: On the Song of Songs

A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. (Song of Songs 4:12)

Know that the bridegroom is the Lord of Hosts, and the bride is the congregation of Israel [when it is] joined with the glory of the Lord. Just as a garden is a place of refuge, conducive to delight and joy, so, too, the sanctuary of God is [a place of] joy and delight.

As for the interpretation of the spring, it is prophetic knowledge, which [flows] unceasingly from the sanctuary [al-quds] of the Lord of the universe, the songs of the Levites who chant them with the holy spirit. They are like a powerful spring, which gushes forth. And similarly, these prophecies flow perpetually forth from the Lord of the universe.

The interpretation of the streams (Song of Songs 4:15) is that they are the prophecies; [the streams are] dispersed through the land of Israel, as it says: and your sons and daughters prophesy (Joel 3:1). Now when they [have] all [been fulfilled], they [i.e., the people] will gather in Jerusalem.

The interpretation of fruits (Song of Songs 4:13) is that they are the rights of the priests and Levites who serve the Lord of the universe: firstlings, tithes, the ḥallah offering, the sheaf offering, the bread offering, the redemption of the firstborn, and everything else presented in the Temple of the Lord of the universe that is not burned upon the altar.

The interpretation of the foliage and the fragrant things is that they are the sacrifices, which ascend with a pleasing odor (Exodus 29:18) from the altar.

Now, all of these constitute the intention of this section. We shall now return to its interpretation.

We say that the phrase an enclosed garden (Song of Songs 4:12) means it is locked; neither beast nor immoral men can reach it. This is what God promised: and I will appoint peace as your governor, righteousness as your taskmaster (Isaiah 60:17), who will never destroy the Temple of God. Neither strangers nor tyrants shall enter it, as He promised, and it states: and Jerusalem shall be holy; nevermore shall strangers pass through it (Joel 4:17). And it states: and I will encamp in My House against armies, against any that come and go (Zechariah 9:8). This is the meaning of an enclosed garden (Song of Songs 4:12). [ . . . ]

The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. (Song of Songs 5:7)

[ . . . ] [T]he watchmen alludes to the judges and the officials of the Rabbanite academy, who go around the land collecting money, commanding [the good] and prohibiting [the bad], and having oversight over the affairs of the people. Now when the seekers [of truth; i.e., the Karaites] appear, they [the Rabbanites] go and ask them the reason for the differences in their festivals and their laws, and they [the Karaites] say, “Have you seen the one I love?”¹ (Song of Songs 3:3). They mean, “Do you not know what God included in His law, what He allowed and commanded as obligations, and what He prohibited? How is it possible for us not to investigate them?”

Now, when [the Rabbanites] heard these words from them, they realized they [the Karaites] might avoid their precepts, prohibitions, and obligations, so they beat them to prevent them from disobeying and turning the people away from them. This is well known in every land of the exile; wherever Karaites are found, they experience such things.

That is why it says they smote me, they wounded me. They announce that they have been beaten and have been wounded. This statement should be understood according to its external [meaning]: they are beaten and imprisoned, and all kind of nonsense is attributed to them [the Karaites] by them [the Rabbanites]. This is the work of the watchmen.

Then it mentions the keepers of the walls, indicating that they [the keepers] stripped their garments from them. They [the keepers] are the exilarchs and the rabbinic academies, who keep the people in submission to their laws and festivals and do not let anyone escape them. [It is in this sense,] then, that they are the keepers of the walls. The expression took away my veil from me is the removal of their garments, by which they insult [the Karaites], forbidding the populace from attending [and thereby honoring] a [Karaite] circumcision ceremony, wedding feast, or [house of] mourning. It is to all these meanings that the phrase took away my veil from me alludes. All of this they inflict on them to prevent rebellion by the populace. They even send them before kings who would execute them.