Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Christine Bass" <christinebass AT home.com>]

This is the perspective of the man  who was questioning the interpretation
of this passage----he gives the explanation of the  1/20. What do you think?

A great weekend to all!
Christine
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By Jacob (213.36.82.209) on Friday, May 25, 2001 - 09:04 am:
Now about : Song 8:11-12 -

Some introductive info before the answer ...

A - About G-d in the book Song of Songs
The allegoric level of the book Song of Songs shows a couple, who represents
G-d and the People of Israel. In the textual sense, the man's name is
Shelomoh. Notice that Shelomoh litterally means : "the Owner of Peace" (May
He bring Peace very soon now to Mankind). Notice also that according to
Judges 6:24, Shalom is one of the Names of G-d. So, the allegoric
interpretation of the book of Song, considering that Shelomoh refers to G-d
has justification.

B - About Torah
The Torah in Jewish perspective, has 70 "faces", that is can be learnt in 70
perspectives. In each of these perspectives there are 4 (FOUR) levels :
- Pshat = Litteral meaning
- Remez = allusive, analogy, allegory
- Drash = (means 'to seek') rational, deductive.
- Sod = secret, is the highest level

Each of the levels Remez, Drash and Sod have an epistemologic approach, that
is : written methodology of reasoning procedures, specific to that level
(there are for instance 13 general rules -rabbi yishmael - for reasonning
methodology of Drash level). Notice that the highest level, Sod, has value
70 (again!, like the 70 faces of the Torah). By the way, notice that the
initials of the four methods give the word PaRDeSS (vowels are not written
in hebrew) which means a perfectly beautiful garden (normal garden = 'gan')
which is certainly the origin of the word Paradise (somehow a place where
people learn the Torah ...)
Wine in hebrew is YaYiN, value 70 too, and is the only fruit that, if the
fruit is of quality, improves with time, whereas if the fruit is bad, the
wine gets worse with time. Wine represents often the position of human vs
time in Judaism. It's the reason why Jewish celebrations start by the wine
(a tradition that the christians have taken, and sadly attached to a logic
of human sacrifice ...)
Clearly the vineyard is the Torah.


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By Jacob (213.36.82.209) on Friday, May 25, 2001 - 09:03 am:
Song 8:11-12 Part II
C - Ratio 1/5 :
All translations below are paraphrasing
Lev. 5: 16 : if someone sins about something sacrated for the Temple, he has
to pay its value back, and add one fith;
Lev 22:14 : if unintentionnally someone eats something reserved for /
sacrated for the Temple, then he will have to pay its value plus one fifth;
Lev 27 : 13 : if someone promisses something to the Temple and changes his
mind, he has to add 1/5 to its value
Lev 27:27 - again 1/5th added for someone who takes benefits of something
sacrated ...
Lev 27:31 - again concerning the 1/10th of the earnings, that everyone has
to reserve /sacrate for the Temple, if he wants to use what he has reserved,
he has to pay its value and add 1/5th

CLEARLY : anytime you distort a sacrated thing, you pay the value of that
thing, PLUS 1/5th


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By Jacob (213.36.82.209) on Friday, May 25, 2001 - 09:02 am:
Song 8:11-12 - Part III
CONCLUSION :
What is happening in Song 8:11-12 ? A vineyard has been given to the spouse,
through the caretakers. The vineyard is the Torah (sacrated) and the
caretakers are those who study it and check that nobody will distort it.
Thus, the Torah has to remain unchanged, until the spouse gives back the
Torah to its original Owner, exactly as it was when He gave it to her. The
people who have tried to distort the Torah, and have taken benefit from it
will have to "pay" 1/5th of the vineyard = 200, which is the salary of the
caretakers ....
Let's look at the text : (my frenchie translation)
Song 8:11 : Shelomoh had a vineyard (The Owner of Peace = G-d, had the
Torah) in Baal Hamon he gave the vineyard to the caretakers (He gave the
Torah to Moses and his followers and those who study in yeshivot following
the ORIGINAL message) a person would pay for its fruits 1,000 pieces (the
value of the "deal" is one thousand - calibration of the subject) - This
verse is clearly about Sinai
Song 8:12 : This verse is clearly about the end of time : My vineyard is
here (in front of me) (The people of Israel gives back the Torah to G-d, as
it was on Mount Sinai, not one letter changed) the 1,000 are for you
Shelomoh (the Torah is given back to You, the Owner of Peace) and 200 to the
caretakers (200 for those who dedicated their lives to be the guardians of
the Torah)

Shabbat Shalom everybody


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