parshat Bemidbar: The Closed Garden As The Exit From Egypt

While reading through Midrash Rabba this week, I encountered one particular midrash which I liked immensely. It is based in part on Shir Hashirim, and midrashim on Shir HaShirim are always interesting to me because the status of peshat and derash in this book are unique. (That is, it is difficult to speak of peshat and derash in the first place - Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and other classic commentaries understand the entire work as an allegory, where the mashal is a relationship between two lovers while the nimshal is the relationship between God and Israel -- the entirety of this is what we one might loosely call a peshat level, and the meaning of just the literal mashal level of the story does not necessarily have value (see e.g. Ibn Ezra on this point -- or Rabbi Akiva). There are also derashot made on Shir haShirim independent of this. Modern scholars who dismiss an allegorical interpretation but take the book as love poetry still admit symbolism throughout - overtly mentioned in text, as in Shir haShirim 1:14 - אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר דּוֹדִי לִי בְּכַרְמֵי עֵין גֶּדִי, as well as non-overt, such as 1:6 - כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי, לֹא נָטָרְתִּי.)

We begin with a pasuk in Tehillim 68:7 - מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת - which the Midrash takes to refer to the taking out of the Israelites from Egypt.

ה שִׁירוּ, לֵאלֹהִים-- זַמְּרוּ שְׁמוֹ: סֹלּוּ, לָרֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת--בְּיָהּ שְׁמוֹ; וְעִלְזוּ לְפָנָיו.	5 Sing unto God, sing praises to His name; {N} extol Him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is the LORD; and exult ye before Him.
ו אֲבִי יְתוֹמִים, וְדַיַּן אַלְמָנוֹת-- אֱלֹהִים, בִּמְעוֹן קָדְשׁוֹ.	6 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
ז אֱלֹהִים, מוֹשִׁיב יְחִידִים בַּיְתָה-- מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים, בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת; אַךְ סוֹרְרִים, שָׁכְנוּ צְחִיחָה.	7 God maketh the solitary to dwell in a house; He bringeth out the prisoners into prosperity; {N} the rebellious dwell but in a parched land.
ח אֱלֹהִים--בְּצֵאתְךָ, לִפְנֵי עַמֶּךָ; בְּצַעְדְּךָ בִישִׁימוֹן סֶלָה.	8 O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah
ט אֶרֶץ רָעָשָׁה, אַף-שָׁמַיִם נָטְפוּ-- מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים: זֶה סִינַי-- מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים, אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.	9 The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; {N} even yon Sinai trembled at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Now, there are derashot which utilize the principle of omnisignificance - looking at a selection of a pasuk very closely without regard to context. Here, though, classic meforshim do indeed understand the phrase to refer to the Exodus from Egypt on a peshat level. And the Israelite slaves scattered through Egypt were gathered to a single place - to Raamses, and brought out into prosperity with the property of the Egyptians.) Indeed, throughout this praise of God, one can see allusions to Exodus related events scattered throughout - thus we see God going before His people (in 8) in the wilderness, and what seems to be mention of matan Torah. On some level, hearing about the bringing out prisoners in this context (deliberately) calls to mind the Exodus from Egypt.

The midrash explains that מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת means that Hashem brought out the prisoners - the Israelite slaves - via the kosharot - feminine plural of kasher - those women who acted in a kosher manner. The famous ("lucky" ?) midrash - is one in Sotah 11b, that in the merit of the righteous women who ensured the continuity of the Jewish people, the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt:

"Rav Avira expounded: In the merit of the righteous women who lived in that generation, the nation of Israel was delivered from Egypt. When they went to draw water, the Holy One, Blessed be He, arranged that small fishes should enter their pitchers, which they drew up half full of water and half full of fishes. They then set two pots on the fire, one for hot water and the other for the fish, which they carried to their husbands in the field, and washed, anointed, fed, gave them to drink and had marital relations with them among the sheepfolds. . . ."

That is, the partial basis for the midrash is pasuk 14 - a bit on in the perek -

יד אִם-תִּשְׁכְּבוּן, בֵּין שְׁפַתָּיִם: כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה, נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף; וְאֶבְרוֹתֶיהָ, בִּירַקְרַק חָרוּץ.

14 When ye lie among the sheepfolds, {N} the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her pinions with the shimmer of gold.

The gemara continues - because of the merit of lying among the sheepfolds, the Israelites merited the spoils of Egypt - the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her pinions with the shimmer of gold. Once they became pregnant they returned to their houses until it was time to give birth, and then they gave birth in the field under the apple tree, as it states in Shir haShirim 8:

ה מִי זֹאת, עֹלָה מִן-הַמִּדְבָּר, מִתְרַפֶּקֶת, עַל-דּוֹדָהּ; תַּחַת הַתַּפּוּחַ, עוֹרַרְתִּיךָ--שָׁמָּה חִבְּלַתְךָ אִמֶּךָ, שָׁמָּה חִבְּלָה יְלָדַתְךָ.

5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee; there thy mother was in travail with thee; there was she in travail and brought thee forth.

The midrash continues, and I am not going to get into how each of the details of the midrash are deduced - but it fits in well with the explicit theme in the pesukim of the work intending to curb the Israelite's population growth.

One thing that was not made clear from reading this "famous" midrash in Sotah 11b until we see the midrash in midrash Rabba was how R' Avira knew this was the result of the merit of righteous women - namely, מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת. Just an example how not every aspect of a midrash is explicitly derived, and one has to look around a bit and engage in philology to fully understand a midrash.

Now on to the midrash in Midrash Rabba that I did want to consider. The verse in Tehillim is taken to mean that in the merit of righteous women the Israelites were redeemed. For what, exactly? To supplement this initial derasha with details, the midrash turns to Shir HaShirim 4:12.

יב גַּן נָעוּל, אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה; גַּל נָעוּל, מַעְיָן חָתוּם.

12 A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

The derasha is as follows - because of the righteous Israelite women in Egypt who did not engage in zenut/promiscuity. גַּן נָעוּל = the virgins; גַּל נָעוּל = the married women; מַעְיָן חָתוּם = the penuya - unmarried woman. (We see from here -- and other places -- that Chazal were not in favor of unmarried women sleeping with their boyfriends.) The specific derivations I will leave to the classic commentators of midrash - check them out inside - but perhaps the semichut on achoti to גַּן נָעוּל and the semichut of kallah to גַּל נָעוּל played a role.

How do we know that it was this merit that caused the Israelites to be redeemed? For the next verse in Shir haShirim reads:

יג שְׁלָחַיִךְ פַּרְדֵּס רִמּוֹנִים, עִם פְּרִי מְגָדִים: כְּפָרִים, עִם-נְרָדִים.

13 Thy shoots are a park of pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna with spikenard plants,

where שְׁלָחַיִךְ is taken to mean "your sending out," linked to Shemot 13:17:

יז וַיְהִי, בְּשַׁלַּח פַּרְעֹה אֶת-הָעָם, וְלֹא-נָחָם אֱלֹהִים דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים, כִּי קָרוֹב הוּא: כִּי אָמַר אֱלֹהִים, פֶּן-יִנָּחֵם הָעָם בִּרְאֹתָם מִלְחָמָה--וְשָׁבוּ מִצְרָיְמָה.

17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said: 'Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.'

Thus, one midrash links the Exodus to the merit of righteous women encouraging and engaging in marital relations, while the present midrash links the Exodus to the merit of righteous women refusing to engage in extra-marital relations (or and relations outside the sanctity of marriage.)

It is interesting to note that this midrashic explanation of Shir HaShirim which takes the closed garden to be a reference to chastity - is well rooted in the literal understanding of Shir HaShirim as love poetry. Modern scholars understand the verse the same way. The full context is:

יב גַּן נָעוּל, אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה; גַּל נָעוּל, מַעְיָן חָתוּם.	12 A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
יג שְׁלָחַיִךְ פַּרְדֵּס רִמּוֹנִים, עִם פְּרִי מְגָדִים: כְּפָרִים, עִם-נְרָדִים.	13 Thy shoots are a park of pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna with spikenard plants,
יד נֵרְדְּ וְכַרְכֹּם, קָנֶה וְקִנָּמוֹן, עִם, כָּל-עֲצֵי לְבוֹנָה; מֹר, וַאֲהָלוֹת, עִם, כָּל-רָאשֵׁי בְשָׂמִים.	14 Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
טו מַעְיַן גַּנִּים, בְּאֵר מַיִם חַיִּים; וְנֹזְלִים, מִן-לְבָנוֹן.	15 [Thou art] a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.
טז עוּרִי צָפוֹן וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן, הָפִיחִי גַנִּי יִזְּלוּ בְשָׂמָיו; יָבֹא דוֹדִי לְגַנּוֹ, וְיֹאכַל פְּרִי מְגָדָיו.	16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his precious fruits.

Note I put [Thou art] in brackets in verse 15. Robert Gordis explains thusly: until verse 14 is the man who praised his beloved's qualities but complains that she is a closed garden. She responds in 15-16 inviting him to come into his garden and eat his precious fruits. It continues through 5:1.

We could also read the first part as a reference to her other suitors. Some scholars read these all as wedding songs (see e.g. the prohibition to sing it as such) and so can read verse 16 to refer to relations within the context of marriage.

This midrash is thus a fusion of the allegorical interpretation - reading Shir haShirim as the history of God's relationship with Israel - and the most literal interpretation - in which "closed garden" refers to a woman being chaste.

(We might imagine other interpretations, and can find such in midrashim. Just off the top of my head - how else could we have interpreted gan na'ul? We might say this is Israel being distant from God, and then we return and reestablish the relationship of old. We might consider the word pardes in the next sentence. We might say that the secrets of Torah are inaccessible, and only the select few can enter the pardes. We might say that this relationship with God is one that is available to Israel but not to other nations. Thus, it is interesting how the midrash fuses the interpretation of the symbolism on the literal level (avoid the word peshat) with the allegorical level reading this as a history of the relationship of God and Israel.)