The Song of Solomon ~ Ancient Masterpiece of Jewish Mystical Thought. Also called the "Song of Songs," and also "Canticles," the Shir ha Shirim can is a dreamlike dialog between lovers, it’s a collection of antique poetic fragments, it’s a bouquet of free verse “sweet nothings,” it’s a meditation on human attraction, it’s a manual on how to keep a marriage fresh, it’s a sequence of hidden references to the mystical temple services and the Jewish calendar cycle, it’s a teaching about love from the Creator of the universe to the Jewish people, and as the great first century sage Rabbi Akiva says, it is “the holy of holies.” The volume also contains "K'Gavna Dayinun," a short Shabbat prayer from the Zohar, and the Sanctification of the Moon, both of which are related to the themes in the Song of Solomon. There are also several full page illustrations of various meditative devices that will be familiar to students of the Kabbalah. This new translation and illumination by Rafi Metz is both a concise and content-rich learning tool, and a sumptuous visual experience. In Hebrew and English, with notes.