Thursday, May 8, 2014

Sefer haZohar on Shir haShirim (Song of Songs)

"This song is a song encompassing the whole Torah, a song aroused by those above and those below, a song resembling the world that is entirely Sabbath, a song by which the supernal Holy Name is adorned. So it is Holy of Holies."

-- Sefer haZohar, 2:143b (transl. D. Matt, Pritzker ed. vol. 5, p. 310)

This "song" is the Shir haShirim, the Song of Songs in the Ketuvim.

Compare with:

"The whole world is not worth the day on which the Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) was given to Israel; for all the Ketuvim (Writings) are holy, but the Shir haShirim is the Qodesh Qadoshim (Holy of Holies)." -- attributed to Rabbi Akiva in Mishnah, Yadayim 3:5

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