The Song of Songs: A Honeybee in The Garden. A Critical Review.

This version of The Song of Songs is a beautiful coffee-table book that is both illustrated and has commentary. All though there are wonderful and fuller translations of The Songs, most notably by Drs. Ariel and Chana Bloch, but Dr. Band preferred to use the widely available J.P.S. version.

The Book is divided into two sections. Part 1-has pastel designs of several of Middle Eastern d?cor and abstract montage. Below are the translations the J.P.S. and very slight variations with annotated, Talmudic commentaries.

The strength of this book is in large part for its aesthetic value. If there is a negative side, it would be that she opted to take a safe translation and pretty it up. With The Bloch's wonderful translation (1995), it would have been over-the-top in terms of standing out of the crowd. Such a book would invite discussions on deeper levels of intimacy, youth, external pressures, class struggle-essentially, what does Songs says to and about the existential in contemporary society.

Part 2-is a beautiful reproduction of the poem in Hebrew.

Overall, this book should be in the homes of die-hard romantics.

In The Song Of Songs: The Honeybee In The Garden, author, artist, and Hebrew manuscript expert Debra Band provides a beautifully illustrated exploration and analysis of the true meaning of the 117 verses comprising "The Songs of Songs". Is it a celebration of romantic love that was by some fluke included in a compilation of sacred writings or is it an allegory of divine love and redemption and therefore properly a part of holy scripture. With her fine calligraphy and original artwork, Debra Band presents the gracefully advanced argument that both perceptions of this remarkable Hebraic poem is to be taken literally and allegorically, sensuously and spiritually. Each of the 65 full-page illuminations and beautifully crafted papercut reproductions draws upon classic rabbinic text and modern scholarship, and is accompanied by images along with the Bible text in its original Hebrew. Of special note is the informed and informative foreword written by Raymond P. Scheindlin, a renowned scholar of medieval Hebrew literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. The Song Of Songs: The Honeybee In The Garden is especially recommended for students of the Torah and as a Memorial Gift acquisition for synagogue and community library Judaic Studies collections.