Mo’edim l’Simcha . . . Is this what is read on the Sabbath of Passover?
(Is this our legacy? Is this the meaning of our lives?)
“What’s love got to do with it . . .
What’s love but a second-hand emotion? — Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”
or this . . .
Warm regards — Mo’edim l’Simcha — Moed Tov,
Solomon’s ‘Song of Songs’ — and ‘the strength of love . . .’
The Song of Songs is read on this Shabbat (this Sabbath) and while it has become a statement of many things, most importantly it celebrates love that cannot be extinguished . . . it is not wealth, it is not wisdom, nor life lost, not even death, it is only love . . .
Only Love Survives — i.e. ‘the strength of love’
even flood waters cannot quench this flame:
שׁיר השׁירים ח:ז מַיִם רַבִּים לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְכַבּוֹת אֶת הָאַהֲבָה וּנְהָרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּהָ אִם יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶת כָּל הוֹן בֵּיתוֹ בָּאַהֲבָה בּוֹז יָבוּזוּ לוֹ.
Song of Somngs 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the rivers overwhelm it. If a man offered all his wealth for love, he would be laughed to scorn.
The many waters and the rivers are both symbols for chaos, for the (primal) ocean that surrounds the earth and on which it is founded (e.g., Ps 24:1–2, 93:3–4). Only love survives the waters of chaos, death, and time.
The Book of Ecclesiastes claims that everything, even love, is ephemeral, and yet the Song argues that love is as strong as death (if not moreso).
שׁיר השׁירים ח:ו שִׂימֵנִי כַחוֹתָם עַל לִבֶּךָ כַּחוֹתָם עַל זְרוֹעֶךָ כִּי עַזָּה כַמָּוֶת אַהֲבָה קָשָׁה כִשְׁאוֹל קִנְאָה רְשָׁפֶיהָ רִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָה.
Song 8:6 Let me be a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand. For love is as strong as death, jealousy as harsh as Sheʾol (Hellish); its sparks are the sparks of fire of the flame of . . . (Yah)
