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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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A calligraphic masterpiece, this 11-inch-high piece of parchment contains the entire Song of Songs in Hebrew micrography. Near the center, in the three elaborate shapes that frame flowers, it is signed by the artist, Baruch ben Shemaryah. This magnificent 1794 manuscript by a Lithuanian scribe renders the entire Song of Songs as a work of art, in letters that are at once text and illumination. Shir (song) is the central word around which the text revolves. The crown, labeled "crown of kingship," perhaps refers to the Song's opening statement that its author was King Solomon. Religious authorities in both
Judaism and Christianity made the Song's prominence possible by interpreting it
allegorically, as an expression of God's love. This document's
chronogram—Hebrew words whose numerical value indicates the date—uses ahavat
olam:
eternal love. It may refer to a prayer about God's love for Israel which begins
with those words; or it may mean the document was created in honor of a
marriage. For, in everyday usage and in its plain meaning, the Song of Songs is
about spring, youth, love, and yearning. |
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