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Sukkot : Reading Kohelet/Ecclesiasties

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muman613:
Here is part 5:

muman613:
I wish I could post the entire shuir because it is an excellent analysis of this incredible sefer. I have an account on Naaleh {it is free} and I would recommend everyone interested in this series to join...

muman613:
I just found this site which has a full audio shuir on the entire Sefer of Kohelet...

http://isralight.org/rabbi-david-aaron-kohelet/

muman613:
http://www.webshas.org/torah/bichtav/tanach/shelomo.htm

King Solomon
"Yedidyah" [one of King Solomon's titles] as one word or two: Pesachim 117a
King Solomon as the symbol of wealth: Pesachim 36b
Why King Solomon was anointed by a river: Keritot 5b
King Saul was anointed from a pitcher of oil, King David and King Solomon from horns of oil: Megillah 14a
King Solomon's broad reign didn't last: Megillah 11b
King Solomon on death and debilitation, in Ecclesiastes: Shabbat 151b-153a
King Chizkiyahu praying to be saved in King Solomon's merit: Berachot 10b
King Chizkiyahu was buried alongside him: Bava Kama 16b
The size of the big ritual bath which King Solomon built: Pesachim 109b
King Solomon's reign was from Tafsach to Azah: Megillah 11a
King Solomon on the Evil Inclination: Succah 52a
King Solomon unsuccessfully attempting to trick the Angel of Death by sending two servants who he heard were to die, to a far away place, via Shaidim-Spirits - where the Angel had been supposed to kill those two servants: Succah 53a
A Divine Voice confirming Solomon's decision as to who was the mother of a disputed child brought before his court: Makkot 23b
The Sea which King Solomon created: Eruvin 14a-b
When King Solomon created the decrees requiring washing one's hands before bread and merging adjacent private properties to permit transport between them on Shabbat, a Divine Voice announced, "My son, if your heart is wise, My Heart is glad!": Eruvin 21b
King Solomon established the transmission of Torah, and established the signs (mnemonics?) for it: Eruvin 21b
King Solomon's enactments made the Torah, which had been like a handle-less basket, into a basket with handles: Eruvin 21b
Why King Solomon was anointed, given that he was already the heir to the throne - the concern for Adoniyahu's coup: Keritot 5b


King Solomon as "Kohelet [Ecclesiastes]"
Whether the scroll of Kohelet represents something which is divinely inspired, or is the wisdom of Shelomo: Megillah 7a
Kohelet wanted to acquire the 49 levels of understanding which Moshe had acquired; a Divine Voice informed him of the impossibility involved: Rosh HaShanah 21b
Kohelet wanted to attain the wisdom to be able to judge cases without witnesses or prior warnings to the defendants, but a Divine Voice informed him that he couldn't: Rosh HaShanah 21b
Whether the scroll of Kohelet has the level of holiness to include it in the edict which created a level of impurity for hands which touch it: Megillah 7a
Koheles's analogy for the human struggle with inclinations: Nedarim 32b


Mishlei / Proverbs
The sum of Shelomo's written and un-written Proverbs: Eruvin 21b; Megillah 7a

muman613:
http://blog.webyeshiva.org/chagim/kohelet-and-the-temporality-of-the-sukka

Kohelet and the Temporality of the Sukka
Written by Dr Yoel Finkelman
Monday, 5 October 2009 12:35

The five Megillot are read, each at its time, over the course of the year. For the most part, it is easy to understand the connection between the Megilla in question and the time it is read. Eicha, naturally, is read on the 9th of Av, the date of the destruction of the Temple; Esther is read on Purim , the holiday that commemorates the events described in that Megilla. Perhaps somewhat less obviously, Shir HaShirim is read on Pesach. Pesach commemorates the exodus from Egypt, and according to the interpretations of Chazal, Shir HaShirim describes metaphorically the history of the Jewish people and its relationship to God (see Rashi, for example, on Shir HaShirim). In the early summer, on Shavuot, we read Rut, which describes events that occurred at that time of the year (during the barley harvest). In addition, Rut the Moabite takes on a life of Judaism and commitment to Torah, her own personal acceptance of the Torah, which parallels the Jewish people’s collective acceptance of Torah on Shavuot.

The reading of Kohelet on Sukkot, however, seems to be a bit out of place. Sukkot is the ultimate holiday of happiness. ושמחת בחגך… והיית אך שמח (and you shall rejoice on your holiday… and you shall be particularly happy) is a verse stated about Sukkot (Vayikra 16:15). Kohelet, on the other hand, is one of the most depressing, least encouraging works of Tanach. It focuses on the inevitability of death, the temporality of all worldly things, and the lack of ultimate value in any human endeavor. The end of the Megilla seems to find some comfort in a life of fear of God, but this seems to be only partial comfort to those who take the message of the body of the book seriously. Is Kohelet read on Sukkot only because it is the “only one left,” the last Megilla after the other four have been “taken?”

I do not have a complete answer to that question. I am not sure that I can explain the dissonance between the happiness of Sukkot and the despair of Kohelet. But I would like to point out a way in which Kohelet matches another theme of Sukkot. According to the Mishna, during Sukkot a person is to make his sukkah permanent and his house temporary (Sukkah 2:9) . The home which symbolizes permanence and solidity gets treated as something temporary and time-bound. The booth, temporary and time-bound, becomes something permanent and consistent. Similarly, when we left the established civilization of Egypt we were protected in God’s temporary dwellings in the transience of a desert existence (Vayikra 23:43). That is to say, on Sukkot we reflect on the temporality of the things we consider most permanent, by treating the temporary as permanent and vice versa. I suspect that we read Kohelet on Sukkot because we are to focus on the idea that we should not expect concrete walls and elaborate insurance policies to protect us from the temporality of life and inevitability of death. If there is ultimate meaning to be found, it is in the fear of God and the fulfillment of his commandments, for in fact the walls of our houses are really no more permanent than the walls of our Sukkot.

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