Chapter 1:9-11
I see you, my love, as a mare,
Among Pharoah’s chariots.
Your cheeks as beautiful as jewels
Your throat encircled with beads.
I will make you golden earrings studded with silver.
My love is the wild-in-me that is harnessed to the chariot of Truth, yet never tamed. My love is gentle, yet more powerful than an army. My love is mystery unfolding infinitely.
I receive my Life plain, unadorned,
And then pleasure stirs.With my laughter,
With my fanciful story, through the prism of my joy
This world is made precious,
The light from within shines out as sparkle,
Luring me within and beyond.
In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.
Illustration ©2009 Phillip Ratner, courtesy of the Dennis & Phillip Ratner Museum and the Israel Bible Museum collection. All rights reserved.
Practice
Chant: A Mare Among Pharaoh’s Chariots — L’susati
Commentary
Considering the fact that Shir Hashirim is often read as a midrash on the story of Exodus, this was a shocking image for me. It seemed to call up the power that belonged to our oppressors. I read many commentaries and still was disturbed… until I began chanting these words. I found myself chanting to my own body, that mare who carries me with such nobility and power. Yes, her power feels a bit dangerous, and yet, as I honor that mare among Pharaoh’s chariots, she is radiant in her dignity and resolute in her fierce beauty.
With this practice we affirm the holy animal that we are, honor her power and beauty, while letting go of any shame or fear that might impede the richness and full-realization of embodied love.
Bridge to Torah
Our mother, Sarah, was once a “mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.” Back in Chapter 12:15 she was taken into Pharaoh’s house, because of her great beauty, and because Abraham had pretended to be her brother. And now as Sarah dies, her legacy of power and beauty must find a place within us, her descendants. Abraham procures the cave of Machpela as a place within us where the ancestors lie. We enter into that ancestral cave through our own bodies that hold the memories, traumas, and secret wisdom of the ancestors.
Click to see Genesis 23:1–25:18 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.
Question for Contemplation
Can I listen to, honor and be responsive to the messages that my body speaks?
Resources
View Love at the Center Resources.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 1:9-11 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.