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Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Sukkot/Ecclesiastes Connection

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The sagacious wisdom of King Solomon is to be found in the Book of Koheles that we read on Sukkos
The sagacious wisdom of King Solomon is to be found in the Book of Koheles that we read on Sukkos
King Solomon’s exhilarating answer to: “What on earth are we doing here?”

Each of the Jewish holidays is characterized by a special biblical book (megillah). On Passover, we read Song Of Songs. On Shavuot, we read Ruth. On Sukkot, we read Ecclesiastes, known in Hebrew as “Kohelet,” the name by which Solomon calls himself in the book.

Ecclesiastes begins, “Vanity of vanity, says Kohelet, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” It then catalogs the many life philosophies and lifestyles its author, the King of Jerusalem, experimented with and ultimately concluded were vain and empty. For this reason, people often view Kohelet as pessimistic and downbeat.

Nothing is further from the truth. And that is illustrated by the fact that the sages instructed us to read it on Sukkot, the festival of our greatest simcha, joy. Far from being a depressing book, Kohelet is there to add to the simcha. It’s infused with a spirit of joy and optimism, and gives Sukkot a special flavor.

In order to penetrate and breakthrough to the beautiful, exhilarating message beneath the surface of Kohelet’s often complex imagery and language, we must analyze three key words — the Hebrew equivalents of “human,” “vanity” and “sun” – which are repeated throughout the entire work. Understanding these words in depth will provide us with the skeleton key to reveal the true message of this often misunderstood book.1

Adam

The first word is adam, “man,” i.e. human being. In the Torah we are told that Adam was given his name because he was made from the adama, the “earth.” However, that doesn’t seem to explain the human being very well, because animals and myriads of other things were created from the adama. For instance, the verse says: “Let the earth give forth living things.” If God wanted to give human beings a name that points to their uniqueness, one could argue that adam isn’t a very good name.

However, the Maharal explains that adama, “earth,” has two very seemingly different characteristics that in reality harmonize with one another. One on hand, there is little value in a simple clod of earth. On the other hand, all life ultimately comes from the earth. We stand on the earth; it gives us our food and minerals. It carries within it the entire and total potential of human life.

Adama, then, is that material which in and of itself is valueless but which nevertheless carries within itself a vast potential. Adam is called his name because he has the potential of adama. He is nothing as he is; he is everything in what he can become.

“Adam l’omal yulad — The human was created for labor.” If a person is going to make anything of himself, he is going to have to work very hard. If he is going to become something he has to take all those wonderful gifts that God gave him and to forge from them a personality, a being, who is Godly and good.

“Adam,” then, conveys the meaning of a being whose potential is limitless, but who needs a great deal of work in order to attain it.

Hevel

The most common word in Kohelet is hevel, which is often translated “vanity.”

“Vanity of vanities, says Kohelet, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

However, “vanity” isn’t a particularly good translation. Hevel literally means “breath.” When you let out a breath of air in the cold of winter you see its mist briefly, and then, just as quickly, see it dissipate. That’s hevel: it’s there one minute, seemingly possessing substance, and then gone the next.

Hevel is Kohelet’s way of describing material existence. Material existence is “Like a shadow that passes… a mist that dissipates… a dream that vanishes….” A hevel existence is a vain, empty experience — no matter how well off one is in a material sense.

The Sukkot Connection

Kohelet is the perfect biblical book for Sukkot.

During the year we sit in a house with a roof over our heads. Symbolically, the roof separates us from heaven. On Sukkot, we sit in a temporary structure that has no true ceiling to divide us from the Divine. In the sukkah we eat, drink and sleep, and basically live an ordinary physical life. However, in the sukkah the Shechinah, the Divine presence, is shining through the schach (the thin, thatch-like roof), enveloping our entire being in holiness — adding meaning and a dynamic to ordinary life. Our entire physical existence becomes a mitzvah, a holy act.

God has given us a wonderful world to live in. It’s full of beauty and song. Yet there’s a catch. We are challenged. We have to allow the Divine to shine into our lives. If so, it is a life of substance, not hevel. It’s a life of genuine optimism and holiness.

If, on the other hand, we live separated from the spiritual dimension — under a closed roof with a barrier above, living entirely “under the sun” — even if that roof is the ceiling of the most ornate mansion — our life will be a life of futility, vanity, hevel.

We are creatures rooted in the earth but capable of forging ourselves into something reaching into the heavens. To the extent one nurtures the inner spark and makes it the main focus of his labor here is the extent one’s life will have substance, meaning, hope and happiness.

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