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Jonathan Kaplan . My Perfect One: Typology and Early Rabbinic Interpretation of Song of Songs . New York : Oxford University Press , 2015. xiv + 225 pp.
Book Reviews: Judaism in Antiquity and Rabbinics
In this monograph, Jonathan Kaplan explores the role of Song of Songs in the tannaitic layer of midrash (the earliest stratum of rabbinic interpretation, pre-200 CE). Kaplan begins by covering the history and contexts of the various sources of these midrashim (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, Mekhilta Devarim, Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Sifre Devarim) and cautions against reading the midrashim without accounting for their initial cultural milieu. He argues that these early midrashim should be considered something other than halakhic (legal in orientation) and asserts that that the rabbis "have a profound interest in exploring the shape of Israel's national narrative and in relating aggadic traditions" (3). While this argument is a bit overstated, Kaplan's decision to confine his study only to the tannaitic layer has historical and contextual value. In the book's introduction, he also describes the Song itself and touches on the various scholarly theories surrounding the inclusion of the Song in the canon. These points lead him to deliberate on aspects of love as presented in the Torah (i.e., love of God) and those presented in the Song (i.e., erotic love).
Chapter 1 addresses the question of genre, specifically, whether the tannaitic readings of the Song should be considered allegory, mashal (parable), or figuration. With the title of the book in mind, the reader will not be surprised to learn that Kaplan argues for a figural or typological reading of the midrashim--but not before an extremely detailed description of the rise of allegory as a method of ancient interpretation...