Honey and Milk: Nofet titofna

Nofet titofna siftotayich kalah,
d’vash v’chalav tachat l’shonaych

Your lips, my bride, drip honey.
Honey and milk are under your tongue. (Song of Songs 4:11)

One of the most important spiritual challenges we face is the need to sweeten the bitterness that is in us. Bitterness can accumulate within us, even without our knowing it, made from small or large disappointments, regrets, unhealed grief, grudges, anxieties or resentments. That bitterness forms the obstacle to fully stepping onto the Path of Love.

According to the Baal Shem Tov, here are the steps we must take in order to sweeten that bitterness:

Hachna’ah: Being humbled, surrendering, yielding
Havdalah: Discerning God’s Presence in the midst of it
Ham’takah: Sweetening our bitterness

First we face and taste the bitterness within us, and are humbled by it. Then we look into that bitterness and find the seed of soul-growth. When we focus on that seed and water it with our compassion and awareness, the sweetening begins. Here in the Song of Songs, we can savor the rewards of this journey of transformation. The milk and honey under our tongues are the taste of the Promised Land. That taste inspires us to find voice for the love that is in us.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Tazria).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Honey and Milk PDF. For the musical notation, click Honey and Milk notation PDF.