Tradition today: Elul – the month of love

28.08.2011                      28.Aw-Elul, 5771

Judentum:

Tradition today: Elul – the month of love

As we approach the High Holy Days and prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgment, we should not allow their seriousness and solemnity to overwhelm us.

Irecently officiated at a wedding at which the bride gave the groom a ring and recited the oft-quoted verse from the Song of Songs, “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” – I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
The significance of that verse for marriage is all too often glossed over. Spoken by the woman in the Song of Songs, it is a remarkable expression of equality and mutuality in the relationship between men and women. In the that biblical text, the man and the woman are on the same level. He is hers just as she is his, no more and no less. When love is involved, as it is in the Song of Songs – a book devoted to the topic of what real love means – male and female must be equals….