Introduction to the Song of Songs שיר השירים.
This Song of Songs poetry has been praised from ancient to modern times, but for different reasons. In modern times the tendency (but not by all) has been toward the straightforward sexual interpretation.The metaphorical interpretations of the text are many and varied. The text and its JPS translation are at https://www.sefaria.org/Song_of_Songs.1?lang=biThere was a debate among the Rabbis as to whether to include the Song of Songs as part of the books of our canon. Part of this debate is recorded for us in Mishna Yadayim. Composed in Israel (c.190 - c.230 CE). Yadayim (Hands) discusses Rabbinic impurity related to the hands. The rule is that books deemed holy upon touching will cause the hands to be impure. This matter of impure hands מְטַמֵּא אֶת הַיָּדַיִם is clarified in Mishna Yadayim chapter 4:6 in the disagreement between the Saducees and the Pharases. A main discussion about which books are holy is reported in Yadayim chapter 3:5.b. This, and a few other places, contains the famous retort of Rabbi Akiva "all the writings are holy but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies." See https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Yadayim.3.5?lang=bi. (Also see Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:1:11.) The strong stand of Rabbi Akiva was designed to convince. However Rebbe records in the Mishna the recollection by Ben Azai of the assembly that both Shir haShirim and Kohelet were consideration for exclusion from the canon. Rebbe then brings a proof for Ben Azai and concludes that both were, after discussion, included in the canon. Our sages have discussed whether the verses of "The Song of Songs" depict heavenly or earthly love, the love between God and Israel, or between two human beings. Rabbi Akiva's teaching: "All the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies" can be read as his effective dismissal of this debate. The famous commentator on the Mishna תוספות יום טוב sees the testimony of Ben Azai as primary and that Rebbe brings proof that והעיד רבי יוחנן בן יהושע שכדברי בן עזאי כן הוא. בין לענין המחלוקת. בין לענין הגמר the decision of the assembly was both on Kohelet and Shir haShirim.Nevertheless, some debate reminants remain in our tradition. For example Bavli Shavuot 35b. " All mentions of the name Shlomo that are stated in the Song of Songs, such as: “The song of songs that is Shlomo’s” (Song of Songs 1:1), are not references to King Solomon; rather, they are sacred, meaning a song to the One for Whom peace [שהשלום] is His, except for this mention: “My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; you, Solomon shall have the one thousand,” i.e., one thousand are for Solomon himself; “and two hundred for those who guard its fruit” (Song of Songs 8:12), which is a reference to the Sages. And some say: This verse too is non-sacred: “Behold, the bed of Solomon; sixty mighty men are around it” (Song of Songs 3:7). "The first few comments of Rashi are reflections on the unmetaphoric and the metaphoric meanings that are are ascribed to the Shir Hashirim, See https://www.sefaria.org/Song_of_Songs.1.1?lang=bi&with=Rashi&lang2=en. Furthermore, this is one of the few places where Rashi explicitly explains his methodology.A scholarly article https://openscholar.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/jstudies/files/_file_1409475622.pdfpoints out that Rashi was preceeded in the matter of showing both metaphoric and unmetaphoric explanations by Rabbi Toviya ben Eliezer in his commentary Lekach Tov. See https://www.sefaria.org/Song_of_Songs.1.1?lang=bi&p2=Midrash_Lekach_Tov_on_Song_of_Songs.1.1&lang2=biNote, the author,Tobias b. Eliezer. called it Lekaḥ Tov ("good doctrine ") on the basis of its opening verse (Prov. 4:2): "For I give you good doctrine" which he chose with allusion to his name. What is significant for us is that he weaves in the simple (peshat) meaning of the versis with the metaphorical midrashic meanings.The much later Metzudat David combines an explication of human interactions with then giving the metaphorical meaning.In modern times it has been said "The Song of Songs (Shir ha-Shirim in Hebrew) is an unabashedly sensuous, even at times quite erotic, paean to love. " [ref https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/song-of-songs/]It does not mention G-d and, it also doesn’t explicitly deal with any religious themes.When was Shir ha-Shirim composed? Uncertainty surrounds the composition date of the Song, and speculations have been dependent upon clues to be found in the text itself. Most scholars believe that the work was written between 500 B.C.E. and 300 B.C.E. . Scholars, for the most part, agree that it was in the second temple time under the Persian domination. This is indicated by the occurrence of the Persian loanword (4:13) and Greek loanword (3:9), which would seem to suggest a late dating for the book.Since it is poetry, at times it may be a bit obscure. We may not be sure who said what to whom and why. A problem occurs already in the second sentence. In its first half the subject is indirectly referred to, in the second half the subject is directly spoken to.The unity of the work suggests that a later, anonymous editor may have compiled the extant text. However, there is no need to date Song of Songs late. Noegel and Rendsburg see the Song of Songs as a literary work written in northern Israel based on their analysis of lingustic evidence. In their conclusion, they also date the book specifically to the era between Jeroboam I and Omri (918–876 B.C.E.), primarily on the basis of the parallelism between Tirzah and Jerusalem (Song 6:4), the capital cities of Israel and Judah, respectively.[ Scott B. Noegel and Gary A. RendsburgSolomon's Vineyard: Literary and Linguistic Studies in the Song of Songshttp://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/Song%20of%20Songs%20Translation.pdf ]Note, that the Artscroll’s Shir Hashirim/ Song of Songsonly gives the allegorical translation based on Rashi with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic sources. They explain in their introduction that they completely eschew peshat in favor of allegory.A modern interesting moral lesson learned is the article Deepening Love in the Song of Songs Countering Flaunting Love with a Call for Intimacy by Dr.Baruch Alster[ https://www.thetorah.com/article/deepening-love-in-the-song-of-songs]. This is an analysis of the song as between the Dod [lover] and Raya [beloved] with interpolations by the chorus.In the English translation of the Song Noegel and Rendsburg aim to approximate some of the devices of the Hebrew poetry through their choice of English words and phrasing. So does Robert Alter in his translation Strong as Death Is Love. This is the title given by Robert Alter to his translation of The Song of Songs.