דּוֹדִי֙ יָרַ֣ד לְגַנּ֔וֹ לַעֲרוּג֖וֹת הַבֹּ֑שֶׂם לִרְעוֹת֙ בַּגַּנִּ֔ים וְלִלְקֹ֖ט שֽׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃
’My beloved is gone down into his garden, To the beds of spices, To feed in the gardens, And to gather lilies.
Rashi on Song of Songs
My beloved has gone down to his garden. He commanded us to build His Temple, and He will be there with us.4Alternatively, He has gone to the “Garden” of Eden. (Gra)
Ezra ben Solomon on Song of Songs
My beloved has gone down to his garden: An all-encompassing entity does not differentiate between such distinctions as “above” and “below.” Descent is equivalent to ascent; ascent to descent. Because exile has caused it to be occulted amidst its sefirotic manifestations, Scripture refers to it as engaging in an act of “descent.”155A radically different and ironic reading. At the time of exile, the omnipresent divine “descends” as it were back into its recesses—the source of creative manifestation—divine Wisdom, from whence it must be reinvoked through prayer and the performance of the commandments. Whence has it [descended] to the garden?
Rashi on Song of Songs
To the beds of spices. The place where the incense is burned.