Chapter 5:1
I have come into my garden,
My sister, my bride,
I have gathered my myrrh and my spices,
I have eaten from my honeycomb,
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Feast, friends, and drink till you are drunk with love!
You enter this garden, breach my defenses,
break open the gates to the innermost recesses of my soul,
That I might know Your sweetness, taste Your nectar.
Those spices that I thought were my own true essence
Are gathered up by my Beloved to become part of the Divine Body.I surrender the wine of my intoxication
and the milk of all that I have to give, I am consumed by that Great Mystery.
In surrendering all that I am to His pleasure, I come to know myself, my goodness, beauty and uniqueness as if for the first time.
When You feast in this garden of my life,
I am honored to suckle the whole of creation with
my milk. The wine of my inspiration will gladden the cosmos.
When I sing these words to You,
I exult in the richness of this life. I fully inhabit this world, this body,
this particular circumstance.I celebrate the consummation of our Love.
Not only have I yearned to enter Eden; I have arrived! I drink in the pleasure of being human.
I drink to my Beloved.Yes, this is how to live life! Each day a feast of taste, color and experience is set before me. I am commanded to know life intimately, to experience the whole range of what it means to be human, to quench my thirst for knowledge and pleasure.
This drunkenness is the roar of ocean beyond the shore of words,
I let the taste of finite things send me beyond the things themselves
to the Infinite mystery that beckons me.
I share this feast with everyone and anyone who has made not only a commitment to love,
but a commitment to celebrate love.
In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.
Practices
Chant: Feast, Friends
Chant: I Have Come into My Garden
Commentary
We open to the abundance and the pleasure that is laid out before us as the banquet of our lives. This is a practice of diving in to the riches before us with gusto. Those riches are not just sense pleasures; there are also soul pleasures to be enjoyed. Can we really take in the simple pleasures of breath, sound, light, connection, imagination, humor… and delight in this moment as a gift to be unwrapped with our enjoyment, passion and enthusiasm? Then we can pause and savor and be nurtured and intoxicated with the possibilities that open up before us in each moment.
Poem: Come to the Feast (PDF file to download)
Bridge to Torah
At the very center of Torah is the mystery of Holiness. Kedoshim is the middle parsha of the middle book which is Leviticus or Vayikra. Here at the center of Torah we connect ourselves with the Divine essence at our core and we are guided in how we might live a holy life of justice, generosity, and awareness. The Song of Songs leads us into that center of holiness- the garden of delight, where we can honor the sweetness of life and cherish its beauty. It is through that honoring and appreciation that we are inspired to live a life of holiness in alignment with the precious gift of Creation.
Click to see Leviticus 19:1–20:27 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.
Questions for Contemplation
Can I really take in the simple pleasures as gifts to be unwrapped with my enjoyment, passion and enthusiasm? Then can I pause and savor and be nurtured and intoxicated with the possibilities that open up before me in each moment?
Resources
View Love at the Center Resources.
See also SHS Commandment 4.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 5:1 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.