Kohelet - the Embodiment of Intellectual Courage

 

     “Intellectual courage is the quality that allows one to believe in one’s judgment in the face of disappointment and widespread skepticism. Intellectual courage is even rarer than physical courage.” - John Charles Polanyi, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry 1986

Jews, the world over, are celebrating the Holy Day of Sukkot. This festivity is a milestone in our Jewish year for more than one reason.

First and foremost, Sukkot is one of the several links in the chain of events which commemorate the Exodus from Egypt, from slavery into freedom, a momentous event, in our Jewish history. “Live in sukkot [temporary shelters] for seven days: All native-born Yisralites are to live in sukkot: so, your descendants will know that I had the Yisraelites live in sukkot when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your G-d” (Leviticus, 23: 42-43).

Sukkot also marks the completion of a 52-week-old yearly cycle of reading the Torah portions and the commencement of a new one. It concludes with Simchat Torah which is characterized by Jews dancing with the Torah, our Tree of Life.

Another special custom that takes place on this Holy Day is one when on the Shabbat that occurs during the intermediary days of Sukkot (Chol Hamo’ed), we read one of the greatest books ever written, Kohelet (Ecclesiastes).

Kohelet belongs to the group of books entitled “The Books of Wisdom” in our Tanach. According to tradition, the book is attributed to King Solomon and was written by him at an old age. Its name, Kohelet, stems from the same Hebrew root as the word “congregation,” or “to congregate.” Scholars explain that Solomon was called "Kohelet" because Solomon “congregated congregations in Yisrael” – gathered the People and taught them Torah as is expected of a king.

The wisdom of Kohelet has engaged many philosophers, thinkers, and writers such as Maimonides, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, professor Leibovitch, my most favourite Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks ZT”L and many others over the years, and for a good reason.

It is not my intention to delve into the complexities of the book and the intensity of the insights that Kohelet embraces. I doubt I ever could grasp the degree the author’s intellectual courage nor the tragic meaning of his sentiments. Neither could this space ever accommodate all the book’s intricacies.

I would like, however, to dwell on a few points.

Kohelet focuses on one important issue: the meaning and purpose of life, a question that has preoccupied humanity for a long time. It is not just another philosophical book with a methodical doctrine. Its conclusions do not flow in a linear manner. Moreover, in most cases, it does not bother to justify its claims. It merely states them and in a rather pessimistic way which is summed up in the second verse of the book, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Kohelet, a man in his twilight days stresses the pointlessness, the absurdity, and the temporality of everything. He feels that now, at an old age, not only can he say whatever is on his mind in an open and intellectually courageous way, it is his duty in the pursuit of truth. In the words of Milan Kundera, old age awards “a greater degree of freedom;…… only in old age can one ignore the opinion of the herd, the opinion of the public, and the opinion of the future.”

Professors Ya’akov Klein and Michael Fox describe Kohelet as a hard book to penetrate. They portray its views as “often strange and even contradictory.” Its flow of reasoning is winds from subject to subject back and forth without a clear structure that could guide the reader in deciphering them.

The intensity with which Kohelet expresses its view about human tragedy, its uncompromising pursuit of the truth as its author sees it and his unusual poetic ability to express himself, even in parts which the average reader is unable to comprehend them are, according to these two, what makes this book one of the greatest pieces of world literature.

Why then, do we read Kohelet on Sukkot?

One angle of looking at this book of wisdom is through the inevitable perception that everything in life is transitory. On Sukkot, we dwell in temporary, fragile structures which mirror our existence. “Our lives,” states Rabbi Sacks in his interpretation of Kohelet, “are a mere microsecond in the history of the universe. The cosmos,” suggests Sacks, “lasts forever while we, living, breathing mortals are a mere fleeting breath. Kohelet,” explains Sacks, “is obsessed by this because it threatens to rob life of any certainty. We will never live to see the long-term results of our endeavours.”

How, then, are we to find meaning in life, the core of Kohelet’s concern?

According to Sacks, “Kohelet eventually finds it not in happiness but in joy – because joy lives not in thoughts of tomorrow, but in the grateful acceptance of today. We are here; we are alive; we are among others who share our sense of jubilation.” 

That is, indeed, the ensuing message which ends every one of Kohelet's deliberations on the purpose of life. They culminate with an entreaty to rejoice. His conclusion is unequivocal and clear, "However many years anyone may live, let them rejoice in them." (Kohelet 11:8). 

May we all enjoy a Healthy and Happy Sukkot, fellow Jews and a jubilant and rewarding life to all, this time of year and always. 

Note:

Yours truly has also engaged in studying “Kohelet.” When completing my undergraduate degree at the University of California San Diego, I wrote a paper comparing its perspective with that of Buddhism. My paper was entitled “Ecclesiastes and Buddhism, Two Facets of Human Epistemology.”