Eruvin 21B

הבכורות והדוד האחד תאנים רעות מאד אשר לא תאכלנה מרוע״⁠ —

that are first ripe, and the other basket [dud] had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten” (Jeremiah 24:1–2).

תאנים הטובות ⁠— אלו צדיקים גמורים. תאנים הרעות ⁠— אלו רשעים גמורים. ושמא תאמר אבד סברם ובטל סיכוים? תלמוד לומר: ״הדודאים נתנו ריח״⁠ — אלו ואלו עתידין שיתנו ריח.

Good figs, these are the full-fledged righteous people; bad figs, these are the full-fledged wicked people. And lest you say that the hope of the wicked is lost and their prospect is void, the verse states, interpreting the word duda’im homiletically: “The baskets [duda’im] yield a fragrance” (Song of Songs 7:14), meaning that both of them, the righteous and the wicked, will eventually yield a fragrance.

דרש רבא, מאי דכתיב: ״הדודאים נתנו ריח״⁠ — אלו בחורי ישראל שלא טעמו טעם חטא.

Rava interpreted the verse cited above homiletically as follows: What is the meaning of that which is written: “The mandrakes [duda’im] yield a fragrance, and at our doors are all manner of choice fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved” (Song of Songs 7:14)? “The mandrakes [duda’im] yield a fragrance,” these are the young men of Israel who have never tasted the taste of sin.

״ועל פתחינו כל מגדים״⁠ — אלו בנות ישראל שמגידות פתחיהן לבעליהן. לשון אחר: שאוגדות פתחיהן לבעליהן.

“And at our doors [petaḥeinu] are all manner of choice fruits [megadim],” these are the daughters of Israel who inform [maggidot] their husbands about their passageway [pit’ḥeihen], i.e., they tell them when they are menstruating. Another version of this interpretation is: They bind [ogedot] their passageway and save it for their husbands, and do not have sex with others.

״חדשים גם ישנים דודי צפנתי לך״⁠ — אמרה כנסת ישראל לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא: רבונו של עולם, הרבה גזירות גזרתי על עצמי יותר ממה שגזרת עלי, וקיימתים.

“New and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved,” the Congregation of Israel said before God and continued: God! I have decreed many decrees upon myself through the enactments and ordinances of the rabbis, more than what You decreed upon me in the Torah, and I have fulfilled them. These are the new laws which were added to the old ones stated in the Torah.