Ashrénu, mah tov chelkénu: Heirs to one of the world’s most beautiful love poems

“Happy are we, how good is our portion,” to have inherited from our ancestors such a gorgeous piece of poetry as Shir haShirim, the Song of Songs, which we read every year during Pesach (Passover), among other times. Whether you interpret it p’shat (in accordance with the literal meaning of the text), as a love poem between a man and a woman, or whether you accept the rabbininc interpretation that this is a love poem between HaShem (G-d) and the Jewish People, it’s a beautiful work of literary art.

And yes, Virginia, there is a connection between my life as a Jew and my “hobby” as a science fiction fan: If I could find one word to describe the selfless love of Babylon 5’s resident romantic, Marcus Cole, for Susan Ivanova, it would be this—“libavtini,” you have ravished my heart.” Surely, for this man, who sacrificed his own life to save hers, “azah cha-mavet ahavah, as strong as death is love . . . “