Introduction
Our sages have asked: what is a sukkah? Some said: it’s a remembrance of the tents we lived in during the exodus from Egypt. Others said: it’s a reminder of the cloud of glory which traveled with us during the exodus from Egypt. Still others said: it’s a harvest house, a reminder of the temporary dwellings our agricultural ancestors used to build in their fields during harvest time. And still others said: it is temporary, beautiful, vulnerable, a place for welcoming guests and connecting with people (both those who are in our lives, and those ancestors whom we remember with love) — it is an embodied metaphor for human life. Like a sukkah, each life is temporary; each life is beautiful; each life is vulnerable; each life is enriched by the presence of our loved ones, both living and imagined. Into every life a little rain must fall, but we have the opportunity to greet even that rain with joy.
(2) Our Sages of blessed memory have taught us that man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the greatest pleasure that can be found. The place where this joy may truly be derived is the World to Come, which was expressly created to provide for it; but the path to the object of our desires is this world, as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Avot 4:21), "This world is like a corridor to the World to Come."
(ב) הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל. (ג) מַה יִּתְרוֹן לָאָדָם בְּכָל עֲמָלוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ. (ד) דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת. (ה) וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶל מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף זוֹרֵחַ הוּא שָׁם. (ו) הוֹלֵךְ אֶל דָּרוֹם וְסוֹבֵב אֶל צָפוֹן סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ וְעַל סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ. (ז) כָּל הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל הַיָּם וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא אֶל מְקוֹם שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים לָלָכֶת. (ח) כָּל הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים לֹא יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר לֹא תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת וְלֹא תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹעַ. (ט) מַה שֶּׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה וּמַה שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה וְאֵין כָּל חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ. (י) יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר רְאֵה זֶה חָדָשׁ הוּא כְּבָר הָיָה לְעֹלָמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה מִלְּפָנֵנוּ. (יא) אֵין זִכְרוֹן לָרִאשֹׁנִים וְגַם לָאַחֲרֹנִים שֶׁיִּהְיוּ לֹא יִהְיֶה לָהֶם זִכָּרוֹן עִם שֶׁיִּהְיוּ לָאַחֲרֹנָה.
(2) Vanity of vanities, said Koheleth; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
(3) What profit has man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?
(4) One generation goes and another generation comes; And the earth endures forever.
(5) The sun also rises, and the sun sets, and to its place it yearns and rises there
(6) The wind goes toward the south, And turns about unto the north; It turns about continually in its circuit, And the wind returns again to its circuits.
(7) All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full: to the place where the rivers flow, there they repeatedly go.
(8) All things are wearisome; no one can utter it, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.
(9) That which has been is that which shall be, And that which has been done is that which shall be done; And there is nothing new under the sun.
(10) Is there a thing of which it is said: ‘See, this is new’?—it has been already, in the ages which were before us.
(11) There is no remembrance of them of former times; neither shall there be any remembrance of them of latter times that are to come, among those that shall come after.
1. What is Kohelet's initial message?
2. Why do you think Kohelet sees life and the world this way?
(יג) גַּם זֹה רָאִיתִי חָכְמָה תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ וּגְדוֹלָה הִיא אֵלָי. (יד) עִיר קְטַנָּה וַאֲנָשִׁים בָּהּ מְעָט וּבָא אֵלֶיהָ מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל וְסָבַב אֹתָהּ וּבָנָה עָלֶיהָ מְצוֹדִים גְּדֹלִים. (טו) וּמָצָא בָהּ אִישׁ מִסְכֵּן חָכָם וּמִלַּט הוּא אֶת הָעִיר בְּחָכְמָתוֹ וְאָדָם לֹא זָכַר אֶת הָאִישׁ הַמִּסְכֵּן הַהוּא. (טז) וְאָמַרְתִּי אָנִי טוֹבָה חָכְמָה מִגְּבוּרָה וְחָכְמַת הַמִּסְכֵּן בְּזוּיָה וּדְבָרָיו אֵינָם נִשְׁמָעִים.
An appreciation for joy grows steadily out of such an understanding. In truth, Judaism has long recognized its spiritual value. For example, the Talmud teaches that divine inspiration cannot be attained in a state of sadness, for it dwells only in a mind that has trained itself in joy.47 Many centuries later, the Hasidic sage Rabbi Nahman of Breslav taught that it is a great thing always to be in a state of joy. As Kohelet writes: “Rejoice, O lad, in your childhood, let your mind elevate you in the days of your youth… clear your mind of grievance and relieve your body of harm.…”48To Kohelet, joy is not a consolation prize, or an elixir for life’s pains. Neither is it related to the promise of a life to come. Rather, joy is a value in and of itself; it is what it means to be truly alive. (Ethan Dor-Shav)
Four characters in Kohelet:
- The builder
- The philosopher
- The pleasure-seeking person
- The God-fearing individual
These characters are debating philosophical questions of faith and belief, in particular, the meaning and purpose of life.
The author allows each character to have his say and argue rationally why his explanation of life’s purpose is correct.
-The builder believes the purpose of life is to design and create structures and buildings for the betterment of mankind.
-The philosopher believes that the purpose of life is to try and understand its processes and why things happen as they do.
-The pleasure seeking person sees enjoyment and rejoicing as the purpose of life while -the God-fearing individual sees faith as the core of his purpose.
Through debate, argument and dialogue we are led to an understanding why faith offers such a meaningful explanation to the purpose of life. This interpretation of Kohelet can best help us understand the contradictions in this book.
The book can be divided into “speeches” given by the different personalities and the arguments and counter-arguments given by the other characters.
Chapters 1-2: introduction; opening statements of the builder, pleasure-seeking person and philosopher
Chapters 2:24-3:22: the pleasure-seeking person
Chapters 4:1-4:16: the builder (normally in the first person “I”)
Chapters 4:17-5:11: the God-fearing person (normally in the second person “you”)
Chapters 5:12-6:12: the builder; to whom will he give all his wealth after he dies?
Chapters 7-10: arguments between the characters about how to deal with death
Chapters 11-12: the final winning speech of the G0d-fearing person