The commentary of R. Abraham B. Isaac Ha-Levi TaMakH on the Song of Songs

Little is known concerning the rabbinic exegete R. Abraham b. Isaac Ha-Levi TaMakH, who lived in Gerona in the fourteenth century, other than his commentary to the Song of Songs. The purpose of this study is to assess the exegetical strategy of this commentator. The commentary resembles those of Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Rashbam, in that it first attends to the surface level of the text, and then to its allegoric meaning. It stands distinct, however, in its attention to the text as a poetic work that plumbs the depth of human experience, and its appreciation for rhetorical technique. The author displays a keen awareness of poetic technique and locates the Song of Songs in the category of poetry generally. He considers the poetics of Song of Songs in the historical and geographic context of the period and place of its composition. In like fashion, he assesses the interaction between the lovers in light of the book's time and place of origin. He approaches the subject of love within the work with a keen psychological understanding of the interdynamics of lovers, courtship, and the expression of passions. TaMakH views the allegorical level of the Song as did his predecessors, namely, as reflecting the lot iest and holiest of topics. At the same time, TaMakH is able to relate to the surface level of the text, both in theme and its rhetorical art as non-sacral love poetry.