Rabbi Shefa Gold

Generally non my style of book, as the parshiot are condensed far to quickly, so an aweful lot it left out, and I tend not to like this style of meditation upon some small part picked out of the parashah, but I did like page 54, in which she points out that "We are tangled up in a system that is inherently unjust." and encourages working toward greater equity using various tools.

I also appreciate her Spirit Buddies system as a way to connect safely with another and provide mutual spiritual encouragement one on one.… (more)

Generally non my style of book, as the parshiot are condensed far to quickly, so an aweful lot it left out, and I tend not to like this style of meditation upon some small part picked out of the parashah, but I did like page 54, in which she points out that "We are tangled up in a system that is inherently unjust." and encourages working toward greater equity using various tools.

I also appreciate her Spirit Buddies system as a way to connect safely with another and provide mutual spiritual encouragement one on one.… (more)

The Song of Songs is one of the most fascinating books of the Bible, and not just because of its unapologetic sexual candidness, or its centrality in the Passover Seder. As Gold notes in her introduction, the 2nd C. mystic Rabbi Akiva believed the book to be the "Holy of Holies." Fast forward many centuries: Franz Rosenzweig, sketching "The Star of Redemption" on postcards to his mother from the trenches of WWI, argues that the Song of Songs must be understood as the central text of Judaism.

If we take Rosenzweig seriously (and I think there's reason to), we cannot expect a single exegetical book to open up the text in its entirety. Gold's book is not where to turn for a detailed commentary on the original Hebrew, its translation, or the symbolic meaning packed in each line (if you want that check out the Anchor Bible series). It is no ultimate source, but is intended to be a supplement to the literature.

Gold hails from the reconstructionist tradition, self-identifies as a mystic, and this edition contains illustrations. Let that be a warning, but not necessarily a deterrence. When she's good she's very good. Glossing "I am dark and beautiful, Oh Daughters of Jerusalem.../Do not see me as only dark/for the sun has stared at me..." she says, very beautifully IMO, "My dark beauty shines in the life that I have lived, the mistakes that I have made...Yet my darkness is still a mystery which I offer up...I have quarreled with my life. My argument with the World is exhausting..."… (more)