Composed:Talmudic Israel/Babylon, c.700 - c.950 CE
Kohelet Rabbah is a midrash on Ecclesiastes with verse-by-verse interpretations, compiled between the 6th and 8th centuries. The work mostly presents material from earlier sources, including Bereishit Rabbah, Pesiḳta d’Rav Kahana, Eikhah Rabbah, Vayiḳra Rabbah, Shir haShirim Rabbah, and the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. Ecclesiastes is interpreted in the midrash as a religious allegory. Verses that celebrate the joy of eating and drinking, for example, are read as metaphors for learning Torah and performing mitzvot.
