Chapter 2:15
Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that raid our vineyard
Just when the vines are in bloom.
I thought I heard my Beloved call to me… when suddenly hungry foxes are loosed in the mind! Those clever thoughts raid my vineyard just as the tender blossoms dare to make themselves known. “Who do you think you are?” the foxes rasp. One clever, cruel fox, disdaining the sweet blooms, points to the suffering in the world: war, disease, poverty, degradation… and then taunts, “How dare you celebrate? How dare you shine?”
In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.
Practice
Chant: Catch Us the Foxes
Commentary
If the vineyard is the place of our love and the place where the power of prophecy is cultivated, then those pesky foxes are the doubts that creep into the mind just when I am opening with some new insight or realization. If I can catch myself right at the moment when the doubt is beginning to take hold, I can release that thought and return to nurture the fragile blossoming of wisdom. When I know I am having a “doubt attack,” with this awareness, I am “catching the foxes.” With this awareness, I open in self- compassion, gently releasing the interrupting and destructive thoughts, and return to the vineyard, to the blossoming of love.
With this practice, I acknowledge the reality of foxes, (doubts, fears, cynicism, distrust, worry that run through the mind) and resolve to catch them before they do too much damage.
Bridge to Torah
As we confront Pharaoh and journey forth from the narrow places of Egypt, The Song of Songs reminds us that we must aspire to an inner Freedom. It is the untamed habit of the mind that keeps us enslaved. That is the Pharaoh, the Tyrant, who has been internalized. When the mind is beleaguered with doubt, fear, anxiety or just the wild ramblings of thought, then our inner essence — the Divine core, is obscured. By “catching the foxes” our inner journey is transformed. We can receive revelation, and journey towards Freedom.
Click to see Exodus 10:1–13:16 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.
Questions for Contemplation
Can I catch the foxes (doubts, fears, cynicism, distrust, or worry that run wild through the mind) before they do too much damage? Can I redirect my attention towards the blessings in my life?
Resources
View Love at the Center Resources.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 2:15 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.