https://www.myjewishlearning.com/quiz/sukkot-quiz/
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"Yet the iron rule of 2020 seems to be that every Chekhovian gun will be fired — and then a few more, scattershot into the night, lest anyone get too comfortable with a mere pandemic-cum-protest-cum-wildfire national epic that does not include a commander-in-chief-in-quarantine.
The Trump age has supplied no shortage of previous late-hour pronouncements from the president, though those have more often tended toward the comparatively banal: a television program he didn’t like, a Democrat he felt compelled to needle, the unveiling of the word “covfefe.”
For many on Friday, the response to his positive test was instead the kind of psychic doom-spiraling that has felt endemic to the era." (NY Times, October 2, 2020, By Matt Flegenheimer)
Kohelet has a reputation of being depressing and nihilistic which flies in the face of the commandment in Deut. 16:14, "you shall rejoice in your festival." Kohelet actually provides instruction on how to avoid the all-too-common cycle of suffering we impose on ourselves. What is repeatedly referred to as "vanity of vanities" (הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים), which appears 38 times in Kohelet, has a rather narrow meaning in the book. The term doesn't cover every pursuit of pleasure. Rather, it is the striving for heroic greatness in any endeavor, be it in knowledge, material enjoyment, or wealth. So what, according to Kohelet, will release us from our self-inflicted suffering? It's to know these two truths: (1) All pleasures and accomplishments, even the most impressive and apparently lasting, are nothing more than fleeting clouds. (2) The simple pleasures that we earn through our honest labor are nothing less than divine gifts for which God has given us full permission to enjoy. Let's reaquaint ourselves with this Megilat Kohelet aka Ecclesiastes.
(ז) לֵ֣ךְ אֱכֹ֤ל בְּשִׂמְחָה֙ לַחְמֶ֔ךָ וּֽשֲׁתֵ֥ה בְלֶב־ט֖וֹב יֵינֶ֑ךָ כִּ֣י כְבָ֔ר רָצָ֥ה הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶֽת־מַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ׃ (ח) בְּכָל־עֵ֕ת יִהְי֥וּ בְגָדֶ֖יךָ לְבָנִ֑ים וְשֶׁ֖מֶן עַל־רֹאשְׁךָ֥ אַל־יֶחְסָֽר׃ (ט) רְאֵ֨ה חַיִּ֜ים עִם־אִשָּׁ֣ה אֲשֶׁר־אָהַ֗בְתָּ כָּל־יְמֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י הֶבְלֶ֔ךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נָֽתַן־לְךָ֙ תַּ֣חַת הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֣י הֶבְלֶ֑ךָ כִּ֣י ה֤וּא חֶלְקְךָ֙ בַּֽחַיִּ֔ים וּבַעֲמָ֣לְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה עָמֵ֖ל תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ (י) כֹּ֠ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּמְצָ֧א יָֽדְךָ֛ לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת בְּכֹחֲךָ֖ עֲשֵׂ֑ה כִּי֩ אֵ֨ין מַעֲשֶׂ֤ה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן֙ וְדַ֣עַת וְחָכְמָ֔ה בִּשְׁא֕וֹל אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתָּ֖ה הֹלֵ֥ךְ שָֽׁמָּה׃ (ס)
(7) Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action was long ago approved by God. (8) Let your clothes always be freshly washed, and your head never lack ointment. (9) Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun. (10) Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
Small Groups - to heed the advice of Kohelet: What are you doing right now to find meaning, purpose and joy in the midst of this "doom spiral?"
Death: The Final Stage of Growth, Elizabeth Kübler Ross, 164.