The Song of Songs as Divine Love Poetry
A biblical book that reads on its surface as erotic love poetry between two human lovers is treated in Kabbalistic tradition as the most sacred text in scripture, encoding the relationship between God and the divine feminine.
Rabbi Akiva's defense of the book's canonicity, recorded in the Mishnah (Yadayim 3:5), calls it the "Holy of Holies" among the biblical writings, establishing that its content was to be read as allegory rather than literal romance. Kabbalistic exegesis, especially in the Zohar, takes this further: the lovers' longing, separation, and reunion are mapped onto the dynamic between Tiferet and Malkhut, the poles within the sefirotic structure whose union is thought to depend on human righteousness below. This reading recasts erotic imagery, such as the bridegroom's descriptions of the bride and their searching through the city streets, as a map of theurgic separation and reunion within the Godhead itself. The practice of reciting the Song of Songs before Shabbat in some communities directly reflects this fusion, treating the weekly welcoming of the Sabbath bride and the Song's imagery of an arriving beloved as the same underlying event.
For all the world is not as worthy as the day the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.
Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim)
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- What Kabbalah says about love
A book of frank love poetry is treated here as the most sacred text in scripture. Rabbi Akiva defended it as the holy of holies among the Writings, and the Zohar reads the lovers' separation and reunion as the state of the divine itself.