Chapter 4:10-11
How sweet is your loving,
My sister, my bride,
How much better than wine!
Your oils, more fragrant than any spice.
Your lips, my bride, drip honey,
Honey and milk are under your tongue,
And your clothes hold the scent of Lebanon.
Our Promised Land flows with milk and honey, It can be conjured with a word,
Entered with a kiss.
A forty year journey from slavery to Freedom —
is accomplished by us in this moment of Love.
In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.
Illustrations ©2009 Phillip Ratner, courtesy of the Dennis & Phillip Ratner Museum and the Israel Bible Museum collection. All rights reserved.
Practice
Chant: Honey and Milk
Commentary
One of the most important spiritual challenges we face is the need to sweeten the bitterness that is in us. Bitterness can accumulate within us, even without our knowing it, made from small or large disappointments, regrets, unhealed grief, grudges, anxieties or resentments. That bitterness forms the obstacle to fully stepping onto the Path of Love.
According to the Baal Shem Tov, here are the steps we must take in order to sweeten that bitterness:
- Hachna’ah: Being humbled, surrendering, yielding
- Havdalah: Discerning God’s Presence in the midst of it
- Ham’takah: Sweetening our bitterness
First we face and taste the bitterness within us, and are humbled by it. Then we look into that bitterness and find the seed of soul-growth. When we focus on that seed and water it with our compassion and awareness, the sweetening begins. Here in the Song of Songs, we can savor the rewards of this journey of transformation. The milk and honey under our tongues are the taste of the Promised Land. That taste inspires us to find voice for the love that is in us.
Bridge to Torah
The Song of Songs offers Leviticus its wisdom of sweetening, healing and purification. On our journey to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, we encounter great challenges, and through it all we are commanded to “Be Holy”. The milk and honey that we journey towards are right here, under our tongue- in the sweet words of love when our intentions are purified. Tazria concludes with the commandment to purify our clothes that may have been corrupted by disease, while the Song of Songs reminds us that those garments hold the scent of Lebanon — purity, and can be raised up by our love.
Click to see Leviticus 12:1–13:59 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.
Questions for Contemplation
Can I take the journey towards sweetening? Can I acknowledge the bitterness that I carry, and then search for the Divine spark that will lead me to the honey and milk of my Promised Land?
Resources
View Love at the Center Resources.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 4:10-11 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.