Chapter 1:15-17
How beautiful you are my friend,
Your eyes are doves.
And how beautiful you are, my beloved,
and how gentle,
Wherever we lie, our bed is green.
Our roofbeams are cedar, our rafters, fir.
The eyes of my heart have wings.
I open my heart’s eyes
To lift myself above the clouds of confusion,
That I might see wide and clear
The beauty that’s before me.In this moment
I fall fiercely in love with my life, knowing in my heart…
Wherever I step, wherever I sit, wherever I lie
You are beside me
Embracing me
Urging me on.
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: How Beautiful: Hinach Yafah
Commentary
Love opens my heart to the beauty that surrounds me and is in me. In seeing that beauty, my heart is opened to love. This practice teaches me that it’s not enough to see beauty. It is the expression of my appreciation for what is beautiful that opens me to love.
In this practice, I chant these words in 3 ways:
- First, I sing a love-song to the beauty in my life — to the color, light and fragrance, to the unique shapes and sounds that make up my world, to the faces, flowers, art, landscapes and subtle splendors — I raise my voice in thanks and appreciation. I do this with my eyes closed, calling up image after image.
- With the 2nd way I chant this, I open my eyes and see the beauty before me. If I’m with other people I look into their faces. I open my eyes to the beauty that was always there waiting for me in the simple lines and textures of the room I sit in, and I sing myself awake to receive that beauty.
- With the 3rd way, I close my eyes and imagine that God, the Beloved, is singing this to me. I receive this acknowledgment, and move through the contradiction, remembering that I often don’t feel like I can ever live up to society’s version of beautiful. When God sings this to me, I open to the truth of my own unique beauty. Through that knowing, I step out of my small, self-conscious shame and into my power.
Bridge to Torah
Jacob awakens from his dream (which is our dream) and says, “How awesome is this place!” He is touched and awakened by the beauty of that ladder connecting Heaven and Earth; he is touched, awakened and awed by the beauty of the angel’s dance and the generosity of God’s promise. His eyes are opened to the beauty that had always been there. He looks around and affirms that this world we have over-looked is none other than the house of God; it is the gate of Heaven. Wherever we lie, we are resting in God’s presence.
Click to see Genesis 28:10–32:3 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.
Questions for Contemplation
Can I let the beauty that I see open my heart? Can my loving heart open my eyes to beauty?
Resources
View Love at the Center Resources.
See also SHS Commandment 2.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 1:15-17 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.