Chants, Shir HaShirim

My Perfume: Ad she’hamelech

Ad she’hamelech bimsibo, nirdi natan raycho
My Perfume in Hebrew
When the King lay down beside me,
My perfume gave forth its sweetness. (Song of Songs 1:12)

The practice here is to allow myself to be aroused by my experience of Divine Presence. Sexual arousal is the metaphor. When I am given a glimpse of the Mystery, I soften, lean into the experience, let my “juices” flow. I let down my defenses, and become both receptive and responsive.

As I chant these words, I let myself be seduced by my imagination; I become unself-conscious… shameless. The perfume that wafts out is my response (beyond words)to being touched by the Mystery.

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

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click My Perfume PDF. For the musical notation, click My Perfume Notation PDF.