I was asleep, But my heart was wakeful. Hark, my beloved knocks! “Let me in, my own, My darling, my faultless dove! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of night.”Song of Songs 5:2 (The Israel Bible™)
אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר קוֹל דּוֹדִי דוֹפֵק פִּתְחִי־לִי אֲחֹתִי רַעְיָתִי יוֹנָתִי תַמָּתִי שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי נִמְלָא־טָל קְוֻּצּוֹתַי רְסִיסֵי לָיְלָה
Hear the verse in Hebrew
a-NEE y’-shay-NAH v’-li-BEE ayr KOL do-DEE do-FAYK pit-khee LEE a-kho-TEE ra-ya-TEE yo-na-TEE ta-ma-TEE she-ro-SHEE nim-la TAL k’-vu-tzo-TAI r’-see-SAY LAI-lah
When God Knocks, Answer!
The words: “My beloved knocks,” in Hebrew kol dodi dofek (קול דודי דופק), form the title and theme of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s classic essay on religious Zionism. In this essay, Rabbi Soloveitchik highlights the miraculous events surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel and posits that God “knocked” six times to get our attention. He points to military successes, political opportunities, the theological awakening of the Christian world and other developments as contemporary signs that Hashem is beckoning the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel. Rabbi Soloveichik cautions that we must respond quickly to these knocks, unlike the beloved who hesitates in this chapter, and later regrets her lost opportunity.
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