The struggle to come together in mutual bonds of affection has come to an end. We now encounter a married couple, working together to intensify their feelings and deepen them naturally, rather than through tension and conflict. If you will, the Re’aya’s depiction of their plans to head out into the fields may be viewed as a honeymoon, and an expression of her desire to move even beyond this point, to the elimination of all feelings of tension in favor of a natural unity between them:
If only it could be as with a brother, as if you had nursed at my mother’s breast: then I could kiss you when I met you in the street, and no one would despise me. I would lead you, I would bring you to the house ofmy mother, of her who taught me… (8:1-2)
V. “Look at Your Love Before the Almighty!!”
Rav Katina said: When the Jews would make their pilgrimage for YTov, the curtain would be opened for them, showing them the “keruvim” embracing each other, and they would say, “Behold your love before the Almighty, like the love of a man and woman!”
Rav Chisda asked [from the verse], “Let them not go inside and witness the dismantling of the sanctuary”… [So how could the Jews be allowed to actually see the “keruvim”?]
Rav Nachman answered: This may be compared to a bride. So long as she lives in her father’s home, she is modest before her husband [i.e., during the period of engagement. Similarly, while Benei Yisrael were still in the wilderness, they were not yet comfortable with the Presence of the Shekhina]. Once she moves into her in-laws’ home, she is no longer modest before her husband. (Yoma 54a)
The discomfort and tension between the couple mark the engagement period. This metaphor, employed to describe the relationship between the Almighty and Benei Yisrael prior to their entry into Israel, accompanies us throughout the Megilla until the final chapter, where there occurs the transition to their married life, where the tension and apprehension disappear.
Just as God did not forsake His love of Am Yisrael in the wake of the sin of the Golden Calf, so does the Dod retain his affection for the Re’aya even after she does not open the door for him.
Great is repentance motivated by love (teshuva me-ahava), for it brings man closer to God, and great is the love and compassion of the Almighty for His people!
By Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein Translated by David Silverberg
Originally published at The Virtual Beit Midrash at Yeshivat Har Etzion.