Song of Songs Rabbah 6:2

¹“My beloved went down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” (Song of Songs 6:2). “My beloved went down into his garden, to the beds of spices.” Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Ḥanina said: This verse, its beginning does not correspond to its end, and its end does not correspond to its beginning. The verse should have said only: My beloved went down to feed in his garden, and it says: “To feed in the gardens”? Rather, “my beloved,” this is the Holy One blessed be He. “Into his garden,” this is the world. “To the beds of spices,” this is Israel. “To feed in the gardens,” these are the synagogues and study halls. “And to gather lilies,” to take the righteous of Israel. What is the difference between the death of the elderly and the death of lads? Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Abahu, Rabbi Yehuda says: When a lamp extinguishes on its own, it is good for it and it is good for the wick; but when it does not extinguish on its own, it is bad for it and bad for the wick. Rabbi Abahu said: When a fig tree is harvested in its season, it is good for it and good for the fig, and when it is not harvested in its season, it is bad for it and bad for the fig. ²There was an incident in which Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba and his disciples, and some say Rabbi Akiva and his disciples, and some say Rabbi Yehoshua and his disciples, were accustomed to sit and study beneath a certain fig tree. Each day, the owner of the fig tree would arise early and harvest his fig tree. They said: ‘Let us change our location, as perhaps he is suspicious of us.’ What did they do? They went and sat themselves elsewhere. The owner of the fig tree arose early and did not find them. He went and looked for them until he found them. He said to them: ‘My rabbis, you were performing one mitzva to my credit, and now you are seeking to withhold it from me?’ They said to him: ‘Heaven forbid.’ [He said:] ‘Why then did you abandon your place and sit elsewhere?’ They said: ‘We said that perhaps you are suspicious of us.’ He said to them: ‘Heaven forbid; rather, I will tell you why I arise early to harvest my fig tree. When the sun shines on the fig tree, it becomes infested with worms.’ They returned there immediately. On that day they found that he did not harvest. They took some of them, pierced them, and found them infested with worms. They said: ‘The owner of the fig tree spoke well. If he knows the season of his fig tree and he harvests it, so too, the Holy One blessed be He knows when it is the time to take the righteous, and he takes them.’ ³Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: [This is analogous] to a king who had an orchard and he planted rows of nuts, of apples, and of pomegranates, and he gave them over to his son. When his son would fulfill his will, the king would search for and find a beautiful sapling in the world, and he would uproot it and plant it in that orchard. When his son would not fulfill his will, the king would see some beautiful sapling in the orchard and uproot it. So too, as long as Israel fulfills the will of the Omnipresent, He sees what righteous individual there is among the nations of the world, like Yitro and Raḥav, and He brings them and attaches them to Israel. When Israel does not fulfill the will of the Holy One blessed be He, He sees what righteous, upright, proper, and God-fearing individual there is among them, and He takes them from their midst. ⁴When Ḥiyya bar Ivya, son of bar Kappara’s sister, died, they said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: ‘Go and eulogize him.’ He said to them: ‘Let Reish Lakish go, as he is his disciple and he knows his virtues.’ Rabbi Shimon came and eulogized him: “My beloved went down into his garden”—the Holy One blessed be He knows the actions of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ivya and He took him from the world. ⁵When Rabbi Simon bar Zavdi died, Rabbi Ila entered and eulogized him. “But wisdom, where will it be found, and where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12). “The deep says: It is not in me; and the sea says: It is not with me” (Job 28:14). “It is vanished from the eyes of all living and hidden from the birds of the heavens” (Job 28:21). There are four elements that are crucial for the function of the world, but if they are lost they have replacements. These are: “For there is a source of silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the dust, and copper is smelted from rock” (Job 28:1–2). A Torah scholar, if he dies, who will bring us his replacement? We, who lost Rabbi Simon, where will we find someone like him? Rabbi Levi said: The tribes found a lost item, and it is written: “Their hearts sank and they trembled” (Genesis 42:28). We, who lost Rabbi Simon bar Zavdi, from where will we find his replacement? That is, “but wisdom, where will it be found?” ⁶When Rabbi Bon ben Rabbi Ḥiyya died, Rabbi Zeira came to eulogize him. “The sleep of the worker is sweet” (Ecclesiastes 5:11). I will tell you to what Rabbi Bon is comparable; to a king who had a vineyard and hired workers for it. There was one worker there who was more industrious in his work than all the others. When the king saw that he was extraordinarily industrious in his work, he grasped his hand and began taking long and short strolls with him. At evening time, the workers came to collect their wages. That worker came to collect his wages with them, and the king gave him wages like them. The workers began complaining. They said to him: ‘Our lord the king, it is we who exerted ourselves all day, and that one exerted himself for only two or three hours of the day, yet he is collecting his wages like us?’ The king said to them: ‘Why are you complaining? This one accomplished in two or three hours of the day what you did not accomplish in the entire day.’ So too, Rabbi Bon bar Ḥiyya accomplished in Torah what an experienced scholar does not accomplish in one hundred years. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who engages in Torah in this world, even in the future they do not allow him to sleep, but rather, they lead him into the study hall of Shem and Ever, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Moses and Aaron. To what extent? It is until “I will give you great renown, like the renown of the great men of the world” (II Samuel 7:9).