Song of Songs Rabbah 8:2

¹“I would lead you, would bring you to my mother's house, that you would teach me; I would give you to drink from the spiced wine, from the juice of my pomegranate” (Song of Songs 8:2). “I would lead you, would bring you”; “I would lead you” – from the supernal to the earthly. “Would bring you to my mother’s house” – this is Sinai. Rabbi Berekhya said: Why is Sinai called “my mother’s house”? It is because Israel became like newborn babies there. ). “That you would teach me” mitzvot and good deeds. “I would give you to drink from the spiced wine” – these are the great compendia of baraitot , like the compendium of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great, the compendium of Rabbi Hoshaya and of bar Kappara, and the teachings of Rabbi Akiva. “From the juice of my pomegranate” – these are the aggadot , which are tasty like a pomegranate. Alternatively, “I would give you to drink from the spiced wine” – this is the Talmud, in which mishnayot are blended like spiced wine. “From the juice of my pomegranate” – these are the vestments of the High Priest, just as it says: “A golden bell and a pomegranate” (Exodus 28:34).