The New Sulamith: The Song of Songs in the Commentaries of Raphael Breuer and Joseph Carlebach

Abstract

The present paper analyses two commentaries on the Song of Songs, written by two representatives of the Jewish Neoorthodox movement in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, Raphael Breuer (1881–1932) and Joseph Carlebach (1883–1942). Remaining on the positions of Orthodox Judaism, the authors, however, leaved the traditional interpretation of the Song of Songs as an allegory for the love between God and the People of Israel. But while Joseph Carlebach understands the Song of Songs as a hymn to traditional Jewish family values, Raphael Breuer interprets it rathe as warning of the pre- and extramarital sexual relations. Raphael Breuer’s provocative interpretation was strongly opposed even by numerous representatives of the Neo-orthodox Judaism. Due to this severe reaction, Breuer was forced to publish another commentary on Song of Songs, in which he committed himself to the traditional understanding of it as an allegory. In the present paper is shown to what extent the commentaries of Breuer and Carlebach can be understood as a reaction of the Jewish Orthodoxy to challenging the traditional Jewish family values by Reform Judaism and “Modern world”.