In our previous article about Perek Shirah, we discussed the idea of the highest levels of Torah understanding relating symbolically to “kissing” and drinking wine, both of which are mentioned together at the very beginning of the Song of Songs: “The Song of Songs which is Solomon’s. He will kiss me from the kisses of His mouth; because Your love is better than wine.”
The word for wine in Hebrew (יין) equals 70, the same as the word for “secret,” (סוד). The sages teach: “When wine enters, a secret exudes.”
This teaching expresses Israel’s longing for closeness with God, to receive His deepest Torah secrets. This experience is greater than any physical gratification or stimulation the world can offer.
The Torah’s song, revealed to us through the cantillation marks, includes both the musical notes by which we sing the Torah text and the and the fifth level of Torah interpretation that the cantillation marks can only hint at and which includes the underlying reasons for the mitzvot as well as a completely different level of known God. The latter at present cannot be fully revealed but will be by the Mashiach.
To translate this into King Solomon’s parable, the wine of the Torah relates to its intellectual level, as manifest in the sefirot of wisdom (chochmah), understanding (binah), and knowledge (da’at). But the Torah’s wordless song is the kisses of God whose origin is even higher than the intellect. These kisses come from the sefirah of crown (keter), the superconscious level of soul that hovers above the intellect—the kiss surpasses the taste of wine. It is the kisses that God kisses us through the Torah that testify to His infinite love for us: “He shall kiss me from the kisses of His mouth; because Your love is better than wine.”
References:
- Rashi on Song of Songs loc. cit. Midrash Otiyot DeRabbi Akiva §7. Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah 429.
- Hilchot Tefillin Mezuzah veSefer Torah 7:1.
- Song of Songs 1:1-2.
- Eiruvin 65a.
