The Mystery of the Kiss
Zohar II, 146a-146b[1]
(~1300)
Another interpretation: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth [SoS 1:2].
What did King Solomon mean by introducing words of love between the upper world and the lower world,
and by beginning the praise of love, which he has introduced between them, with let him kiss
me? They have already given an explanation for this, and it is that inseparable love of spirit for spirit
can be [expressed] only by a kiss, and a kiss is with the mouth, for that is the source and outlet of the spirit.
And when they kiss one another, the spirits cling to each other, and they are one, and then love is one.
In the Book of the Ancient Rav Hamnuna Sava, he says on this verse: The kiss of love
extends into the four spirits and the four spirits cling together and they are within the mystery of faith, and
they ascend by four letters, and these are the letters upon which the Holy Name depends and upon which the
upper and the lower depend, and upon which the praise in the Song of Songs depends. And which are they?
Alef, he, bet, he[2]. They are the supernal chariot, and they are the
companionship, unison and wholeness of all. These letters are four spirits; they are the spirits of love and
delight, for all the limbs of the body are without any pain at all. There are four spirits in the kiss and each
one of them is comprised within its companion. And since one spirit is comprised within another, and this
other is comprised within the former the two spirits become one, and then the four are wholly joined
together in one single unison, flowing into one another and being contained within one another. And when
they spread abroad a single fruit is made from these four spirits, one spirit comprised of four spirits, and
this ascends and splits firmament until it ascends and dwells by a palace called "the palace of love," a
palace upon which all love depends, and this is similarly called "Love." And when this spirit ascends, it
stimulates the palace to unite with that which is above.
[1]Fischel Lachower and Isaiah Tishby, eds. The Wisdom of the Zohar: An
Anthology of Texts. (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), pp. 364f
[2] letters for the Hebrew word for 'love' ('ahabah)
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