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The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love

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The biblical book The Song of Songs is one of the most perplexing and inscrutable volumes of the Hebrew Bible. Do its eight chapters depict the drama a young girl's yearning for her lover and the lover's longing for his beloved, as is evident in its literal reading? If so, why did ancient Jews include this physical depiction in the Bible and why was it accepted as a holy document by Christianity? Is it, as the second century Rabbi Akiva proclaimed, the most holy book of the Bible? If so, why? Is it instead a work of symbolism or allegory depicting the spiritual love between the Jewish people and God, as rabbis say, or between the Christian and the church, as priests declare?

Benjamin J. Segal, a rabbi, educator and lecturer successfully answers these and many other questions in his very readable, interesting and informative volume.

Segal interprets The Song of Songs as a single love poem that expresses the emotional longings and the natural rapture of physical love between a young woman and man, an ideal love, a model for others. This love is egalitarian, both the male and female assume the initiative, unembarrassed. He sees no suggestion in the poem that it was intended to be interpreted allegorically and found evidence that it was in fact understood literally in ancient times. The Song's author, he writes, is unknown, although the work is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, who this tradition says wrote over a thousand poems. It was probably composed in the fourth or third century B.C.E. by a woman or a man who wanted to capture the feminine voice and emotion.

He answers the issue of how a love poem could be canonized in the Bible by saying that the book was first accepted as canonical by the general population, who were entranced by its portrayal of love, and then consented to by the rabbis and priests as well, perhaps because they could see allegory in its account.

Segal reveals the clever ways that The Song of Songs poet relates her tale. These include the use of double entendres, which are among the poet's favorite techniques, as well as graphic metaphors and symbols. It includes as well an intentional and clever blurring of intent: is the girl speaking now or is it the boy? This ambiguity allows the accomplished poet to speak even of coition in an erotic, but non-pornographic way, as in "I have come to my garden, my sister bride" in 5:1.

He shows how the young couple interacts verbally. For example, she uses a term or metaphor of endearment on which he latches and modifies ever so subtly as a term of his love for his beloved.

He recognizes that the Song, like poetry in general, is subject to various interpretations. Therefore he frequently incorporates more than a single explanation into his commentary, but uses this as an opportunity to show the skill of the author and the depth of her presentation. Thus, generally, two different accounts do not conflict, but supplement each other and add depth and meaning. In 6:2, for instance, the girl informs her friends that her lover "has gone to his garden." The girls were led to understand her to be speaking of a physical site, a direction; however, she probably meant intimacy, he came to her.

Similarly, Segal highlights many incidences that should be read as irony; are the lover's friends really complementing her when they describe her in 5:9 and again in 6:1 as the "most beautiful of women," or are they mocking her self-assurance, her delusion.

Segal's interpretation of the great poem is divided into six parts, each in a separate section of his book, each following the other. Each could stand alone, but together they add a multiple dimension to his presentation, like the difference between a two and three dimension viewing.

The first is a translation and commentary. The second offers the reader a fuller and deeper understanding. Verse 8:8 discloses that the young girl's brothers see their kid sister as immature, lacking even female breasts, while her own self image in 8:10 is the opposite; her breasts are the focal point of her attraction. He shows how the poet uses "wine" repeatedly as an understated symbol for physical love, which clarifies 8:2 where the boy offers the girl spiced wine.

The notes in the third section provide an even richer viewing of the poem and assemble some ideas contained in other commentaries. The 34 page Overview, which follows, is an excellent summary of the many themes contained in the poem, bringing them together in a clear and exciting manner, and adding new insights. He shows many reasons, for example, why he is convinced that the poem was written by a woman or a man using a female voice. He clarifies why King Solomon is the anti-hero of the poem: the beloved declaring, sometimes subtly and at other times overtly and derisively, that her lover is more precious to her than King Solomon and his enormous wealth. The fifth section is an excursus on love and the sixth an appendix discussing the poet's style. All in all, a wealth of absorbing material.

The twelfth century Bible commentator Abraham ibn Ezra described The Song of Songs: "This noble book is entirely a delight, and none of Solomon's one thousand and five songs can match it." Those who love reading brilliant poetry and speculating upon the various levels of meanings contained in its themes will be fascinated by Segal's interpretations. So, too, those who seek to understand biblical books and those who read simply for enjoyment.

I could not be happier with this purchase and highly recommend it to all those who love the Song of Songs.

The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love. Benjamin Segal, (translation and commentary). Gefen Publishing House. $30.00.192 Pages.
ISBN 10: 9652294454, ISBN 13: 9789652294456.

A love poem as old as the Bible, as contemporary as today...

One love poem-the Bible's Song of Songs - continues to be read and to inspire after thousands of years. Using the best of biblical scholarship and sharp literary analysis, Benjamin Segal's new translation and commentary reveal a picture of ideal love so appealing that it became for centuries the monotheistic model of human-divine attachment. Here one also finds a rare ancient effort to capture the female voice. Segal's literary analysis captures the pulsating rhythm of the poem, and allows the reader to confront its ever-contemporary and challenging view of love.

Several leading scholars praise the effort of Rabbi Segal for his translation and commentary:

"A delight for laymen and scholars alike.... Well based in modern scholarship, this is a wonderful new commentary, a valuable addition to our understanding of this Poem of Poems."
Professor Bezalel Porten, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"I love this book! Segal's translation and commentary is right on the mark."
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, PhD, American Jewish University

For all who love this short, loveable biblical book, and have derived great pleasure from reading and re-reading it, this new translation and interpretation will renew the reader's passion for a great, stirring and inspiring piece of literature.

Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins
DPE@JewishGrowth.org
www.JewishGrowth.org

When I was in college in the early 70's, I attended the regular Sunday services and youth activities in a Presbyterian church in Taiwan, where the culture was very conservative then, romantic love between man and woman was seldom openly discussed. My pastor focused on the Christian's devotion to God when he mentioned the "The Song of Solomon", he sort of avoiding the implied relationship between a man and a woman.

Rabbi Benjamin Segal translated and commented the "The Song of Songs" in a way that I had never thought of then. The title "The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love" clearly speaks that "The Song of Songs" is the book in Bible that celebrates the unconditional romantic love, it's not just a book that emphases divine love to God. I found Rabbi Segal's interpretations very interesting and liberating.