K’felach harimon rakataych mi’ba’ad l’tzamataych

The curve of your cheek like a pomegranate
hidden behind the thicket of your hair. (Song of Songs 6:7)

The pomegranate is mentioned a few times in the song. It is a fruit that leads me to explore the multi-layered complexity within the Unity of Love. The lover’s face is veiled in mystery. Beyond that veil her face is opened to reveal smooth skin, a complex husk that hides treasures of sweetness; at the center of each treasure- another seed. They say there 613 of those treasures hidden in the husk of this fruit, corresponding to the Mitzvot of Torah. The high Priest had embroidered pomegranates and golden bells on the hem of his robe. Each step sounded the tantalizing song of holiness and lured us with the fruit of the Promised Land.

How do we navigate the complexity, the multiplicity of our human journey with all its myriad forms and layers… without losing our focus on the Unity? How do we dive deep into those layers to excavate the sweetness… and not get lost?

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Chukat).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• The Secret of the Pomegranate (1)  
• The Secret of the Pomegranate (2)  
• The Secret of the Pomegranate (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click The Secret of the Pomegranate PDF. For the musical notation, click The Secret of the Pomegranate notation PDF.

Achat hi yonati tamati,
achat hi l’imah bara hi l’yola’d’tah
(One Alone)

One alone is my dove, my perfect one,
One alone so luminous in her mother’s heart. (Song of Songs 6:9)

This is a love-song celebrating Unity consciousness. Though Reality appears to us as multiplicity (sixty queens, eighty concubines, young maidens beyond number), the awakened inner eye knows and sees it All as One, sourced in and emanating from the Great mother-womb of Being.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Balak).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• One Alone (melody)  
• One Alone (underchant 1)  
• One Alone (underchant 2)  
• One Alone (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click One Alone PDF.

Hasaybi aynayich minegdi, shehaym hirhivuni

Turn your eyes away,
For they dazzle me. (Song of Songs 6:5)

When I try to enter these words in a serious mood, they don’t make a lot of sense to me. But when I understand them as Divine play, then I am lifted up into an inspired, joyful reverie. The Song is filled with playfulness — in language and style as well as content.

In Hinduism there is a concept called lila. Lila is a way of describing all reality, as the outcome of creative play by the Divine Absolute. Lila is Divine play, a purpose-less purpose, a natural outflow, a spontaneous and generous self-manifestation of God. The concept of lila calls forth the role of delight in Creation.

When I enter into the playfulness of the Song, I begin to see the world as the play of light and shadow, pain and joy, separation and union, while holding the wide perspective of unitive bliss which transcends and encompasses all duality.

In this playful repartee, the lover doesn’t really want the beloved to “turn away…”. He is just saying , “Wow! I am blown away.”

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Korach).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• Divine-Love-Play (melody)  
• Divine-Love-Play (harmony)  
• Divine-Love-Play (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Divine-Love-Play PDF. For the musical notation, click Divine-Love-Play notation PDF.

Dodi tzach v’adom dagul may’r’vava

My beloved is radiant and earthy
He towers above ten thousand. (Song of Songs 5:10)

To love God is to embrace the paradox of opposites. Tzach can mean pure, milk, scorching, white, dazzling, radiant. Adom can mean ruddy, red, wine, earthy. When I can know my Beloved with my expanded heart capacities, expanding beyond mere mental faculties of the rational, then I can embrace the contradictions of my life. Then the Divine rises up (above ten thousand) and takes priority. Then I can see, with God, that apparent contradictions all belong to the One.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Naso).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• Radiant and Earthy (melody)  
• Radiant and Earthy (harmony)  
• Radiant and Earthy (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Radiant and Earthy PDF.  For the musical notation, click Radiant and Earthy notation PDF.

Im tim’tz’u et dodi mah-tagidu lo she’cholat ahavah ani

If you find my beloved,
You must tell him
That I am in the fever of Love. (Song of Songs 5:8)

With this practice, we connect with our companions on the Path of Love, asking for their understanding, support, reality checks, anchoring, as we fall in love. Being in love requires us to surrender deeply.

Being in love feels like a kind of madness, in that it sometimes requires me to ignore the outer shape of things in order to embrace the inner essence. It tells me that all is well, even in the midst of apparent disaster. Living from that inner essence feels risky; I don’t want to do it alone. That’s why I’m always reaching out to kindred souls, so we can affirm each other’s glimpses, sharing our fragile impressions of the fragrance that love imbues.

When I chant the words she’cholat ahavah ani (that I am in the fever of Love), I am swooning, languorous, dreamy…. As I enter into the state of being in love. Knowing my companions are there for me, without judgment allows me to surrender even further.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Bamidbar).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• In the Fever of Love (melody)  
• In the Fever of Love (harmony)  
• In the Fever of Love (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click In the Fever of Love PDF.  For the musical notation, click In the Fever of Love notation PDF.