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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg

Good Morning,

Whoever wrote the Song of Songs bequeathed to us one of the greatest love poems ever. We read it in the Synagogue today, on this Sabbath in the middle of Passover.
The rabbis debated whether to include it in the Biblical Canon. Was it merely a collection of secular lyrics, sung in the nightclubs of those days, or was it truly sacred? Rabbi Akiva clinched the argument, declaring that this was the Bible’s Holy of Holies.

That’s because The Song of Songs is a love song to life on every level, to the spirit at the heart of all existence.

Its author (or authors) knew the land’s seasons, wildflowers and birds: ‘Come my beloved, my beautiful one…the buds are out… the vineyard is fragrant with blossom.’ They understood the nervous temerity of the deer, glancing through the lattice window, fleeing to the mountains, like the tremulous joy of new love.

The wonderful, sadly departed, Sister Edmee, of the Sisters of the Love of God, debated with me whether there was eros in the Songs, or whether it was only all about the love of God. She insisted on its chastity. Maybe this mattered to her so much, precisely because she’d been a pop-star and fashion model, until, as she put it, ‘God got me.’

In my view, what’s so wonderful is how the sensual and the sacred meet. Love of nature, romantic love and spiritual love come together. Beauty, wonder and mystery suffuse them all.

‘I sleep, but my heart is awake,’ says the beloved. All too often we’re awake but our heart is asleep!

May our hearts always be open to wonder.

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