Gan Naul (Abulafia)
גן נעול (אבולעפיה)
Sefaria Community Translation
https://www.sefaria.org

Gan Naul (Abulafia)




















































So with the exchanges (in the order of the letters), the raw material has brought out matters that are contrary. For example, I heard it said that the fools flip the word, <i>betzelo</i> (in his shade) [in the phrase] (Song of Songs 2:3), "I delight to sit in his shade." So they said, <i>tzaluv</i> (the crucified one), is added [here]. And the one who interpreted it like this said, "I delight to sit in the shade of the crucified one." As he went with this, he did not know the statement (Deuteronomy 21:23), "Do not leave his corpse overnight on the stake." And the proof [that it is incorrect is in the continuation of the verse], "for a hanging corpse is an affront to God," [such that] one would not want to sit in its shade. Rather, one who wants to hang, 'should hang upon a tall tree.' And this is the foolishness and evil of the one who wants to transform the words of the Torah into heresy. For behold, if the Song of Songs - which is the holy of holies - were to be profane and all of its ideas like their simple understanding, God forbid, all of its words would only indicate the love of a physical bride and groom. 'But wickedness be far from God; wrongdoing, from the Omnipresent.' There was never a proper sage - one from the Children of Israel, who are the holy descendants from the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov and the students of Moshe, Aharon, David and Shlomo - who [even] considered that the Song of Songs is anything but a parable for the Congregation of Israel together with the Holy One, blessed be He. For He is like a perfect Groom to her in all matters, and she is like a perfect bride in all matters, He in divinity and she in humanity. And the love and clinging between them is shared in the way of ascent and descent - this One ascends and that one descends. "Who is this one who has ascended from the desert" (Song of Songs 3:6); "I have descended to the walnut orchard" (Song of Songs 6:11). This hints to the virgin, the blessing for whose blood is, "who has set the walnut tree [in] the Garden of Eden."