Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We are now in the
second song of the Dove,
יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י
הַסֶּ֗לַע בְּסֵ֙תֶר֙ הַמַּדְרֵגָ֔ה הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙ אֶת־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי
אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ כִּי־קוֹלֵ֥ךְ עָרֵ֖ב וּמַרְאֵ֥יךְ נָאוֶֽה׃
My dove in the cleft of the rock, in the hidden level, let Me see
what you look like, let Me hear your voice. Your voice is sweet and what you
look like is beautiful (Shir Hashirim
2,14)
This is from the love song of Shir Hashirim, and the Jewish
people are compared to the dove. The Sefer Ikarim (Maamar
3, perek 1) quotes this pasuk from Perek Shira יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַעand says, the Jewish people are compared to a dove, and we learn
from the dove. The dove is modest; We are modest. The dove is loyal; we are
loyal. We learn many things from the dove and therefore the Jewish people are
represented by the dove.
What is the story of the dove in the cleft in the rock? Rashi on Shir
Hashirim says this refers to when Paroah was chasing the Jewish people after
they left Egypt. He caught up to them at
the sea, where there was no place to run. The sea was in front of them, there were
animals around them, and at that moment they were like a dove that has a hawk chasing it. It enters a cleft in the
rock, where there's a snake. If the dove goes in, there's a snake waiting for him, if
he goes out, there's the hawk. That was the danger the Jewish people were in at that time.
Hashem said, "Let Me see what you look like," meaning, Let
Me see where you turn in a time of
difficulty. Let me hear your voice.
And, as it says, The Jewish people cried out. The Midrash
Raba in Shemot 21,5 cites a beautiful mashal based on this
pasuk. A king was out on the road and heard a princess screaming for help
because bandits were attacking her. The bandits heard the king approaching and ran
away. The king saved the princess and they got married.
Sometime later, they got into a fight and weren't speaking to each
other. What did the king do? He sent robbers after her. Again, she screamed out
and the king saved her. He said, "I wanted to hear your voice." So too, the
Jewish people in Mitzrayim. They were subjugated and crying out and
lifting their eyes to the heavens, and as it says, they cried out and
Hashem saw their difficulties and took them out. Hashem wanted to hear their
voice again. Hashem wanted that
heartfelt plea of connection. That's what Hashem wants. So Hashem sent Paroah after
us to arouse us, once again, to cry out to Him.
And on this we say,
הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙
אֶת־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ
I want to hear that voice that I heard in Mitzrayim,
and they cried out a heartfelt cry and they were answered.
This is the dove that symbolizes the Jewish people, and Hashem
wants us, like the dove, to give that heartfelt cry.
I saw something very interesting that might be news to some, in the
perush of Rav Binyamin Hakohen on the on Shir Hashirim. He says,
the reason why the dove is called a yonah יונה
is from the root of Ona'ah which
means to be oppressed because the yonah is always oppressed. He proves it from a pasuk in Yirmiyah 46,16
where it says ק֣וּמָה ׀ וְנָשֻׁ֣בָה
אֶל־עַמֵּ֗נוּ וְאֶל־אֶ֙רֶץ֙ מוֹלַדְתֵּ֔נוּ מִפְּנֵ֖י חֶ֥רֶב הַיּוֹנָֽה׃/Let us go back to our land, to our
birthright from the sword of the yonah/oppressor. Rashi says that here, yonah
doesn't mean dove. Doves don't have swords. It means the sword of the
oppressor.
And there's a pasuk in Sephania that say
העיר היונהthe city of the
yonah and the Radak quotes two
explanations – either the city is being oppressed or the city that's
like a dove. So when you see the word yonah, it may seem like
it's two different explanations but according to this, it's really one and the same. The dove is
called a yonah because it is oppressed and that's why the Jewish people are compared to a dove-we also
are constantly oppressed, like that dove that cries out from the hawk on one side and the snake on the other.
In Bereshit 15,10
Hashem made a deal with Avraham
Avinu and they split the animals. That's why it's called the Brit Ben Habetarim. The HaSipor/the
bird wasn't split, and Rashi says the goyim are compared to the
animals and the Jewish people are compared to the dove. The Jewish people won't be split, which means
we're going to last forever. Why? Because we have that trait of the owner.
Based on this, Rav Yerucham Levovitz explains an important concept in bitachon.
We've said many a time that we think that we have a problem, and we
pray to get rid of the problem. But we often don't realize that the problem was sent to get us to pray. The
end goal is the prayer. And that's יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע
My dove in the cleft of the rock
God says to every one of us, הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ/I want to hear your voice.
We all know that when we're experiencing challenges or
difficulties, our voices are different. It's a shame that we need the
challenges to summon that voice, but that's what Hashem wants to hear- that heartfelt cry, that connection. It doesn't have to be a connection of sorrow. It can be a connection of joy, like the famous story of a
man seen bawling at the Kotel. A wealthy
man happened to be standing nearby with
the head of Ezer M'Tzion, who said "If it's a health problem, I'll take care
of it." The wealthy man said, "If it's a money problem, I'll take care
of it." But when they asked him why he was crying, he said, "I'm
crying because I married off my 12th child. I can't believe it! I'm so full of gratitude,
I'm crying out to Hashem."
That's the Kol that Hashem wants to
hear, and that's the kol that we should be able to produce, without the
need for anything negative.
