Shir ha-Shirim VIII: Part Six: The Candle

Our Rabbis say: Do not let the parable be lightly esteemed in your eyes, since by means of the parable a man can master the words of the Torah. If a King loses gold from his house or a precious pearl, does he not find it by means of a candle worth no more than a penny? So too, the parable should not be lightly esteemed in your eyes, since by means of the parable a man arrives at the true meaning of the words of the Torah.

Here is a proof that it is so; for Solomon by means of the parable penetrated to the finest nuances of the Torah. (Shir haShirim Rabbah 1.1:8, part six)

There are treasures hidden in each word and story of the Torah. The Zohar describes the words of Torah as we have them, as external garments of the deeper wisdom’s underneath. There are layers and layers of Wisdom under each garment. Solomon used the power of the parable as a simple candle to allow us to explore and discover the treasures hidden inside each word of the Torah.

This is especially true of the Pesach story while we have to study the story as we have it, we can use the Haggadah as a candle that will help us find the secrets and deep wisdom Friday beneath the external garment of the story as we know it.

We begin the mitzvot of Pesach with Searching for Chametz: we search with a candle! We are reminding ourselves that when we study the pay sucks story we have to bring a candle with us; we have to understand that the basic story is only an outer garment, 84 inviting us in to explore and discover the true treasures of Wisdom inside.

This process of discovery is a Song, a connection to the Song of Songs.