Preface to Sefer Koheles (According to the Metzudos)

I will soon be embarking on my second year of Sefer Koheles, with a year's break in between. As part of my preparation, I've been reviewing the posts I wrote during my first go-around. Since those posts are not on this blog, I decided to repost them here. 

This post was originally published in April of 2012, as the kickoff of "Project Koheles" - my first attempt at "unlocking" Sefer Koheles. My chavrusa and I settled on the Metzudas David / Metzudas Tzion as our commentary of choice. Here was our plan:

My chavrusa and I plan on learning the sefer one section at a time. These "sections" will be determined by the actual paragraph break, or by wherever we see a new theme or natural division. I will begin each blog post with the Hebrew text and an English translation based on the Metzudos. I will then follow this up with a pasuk-by-pasuk elucidation in which I summarize the pshat according to our understanding of the Metzudos. At the end, I might include some additional insights, observations, or questions that arose over the course of our learning.

Even in retrospect, I am pleased with this first post. I still agree with the ideas, and am happy that our approach succeeded with these first eleven pesukim. 

Ultimately, the approach did not succeed. Thank God, it was replaced by a new one, which I wrote about then, and will repost tomorrow.

Artwork: All is Vanity (1892), by Charles Allan Gilbert

קהלת פרק א:א-יא

(א) דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם:

(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 שֶּׁנַּעֲשָׂה 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: 

Koheles 1:1-11 (translation based on the commentary of Metzudos)

(1) The words of Koheles, son of David, king in Yerushalayim:

(2) "Recognize the futility of that which is futile!" says Koheles, "Recognize the futility of that which is entirely futile.

(3) What is gained by man in all of his labor in which he toils under the sun?

(4) A generation goes and a generation comes - but does the earth endure forever?

(5) And the sun rises and the sun sets - then to its place it rushes; there it rises again.

(6) It goes toward the south and veers toward the north; [its] desire goes round and round, and on its rounds the desire returns.

(7) All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers flow, there they flow once more.

(8) All matters are wearying, [too many] for man to be able to recount; the eye is never sated with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

(9) Whatever has been is what will be, and whatever has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.

(10) Sometimes there is something of which one says: "Look, this is new!" - this has already existed in the ages before us.

(11) As there is no recollection of the former ones, so too, of the latter ones that are yet to be, there will be no recollection among those of a still later time.

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Outline of Koheles 1:1-11

• Authorship and qualifications (1:1)
• Thesis and statement of purpose (1:2)
• Inquiry #1: Material possessions (1:3-11)
• Proposition: Pursuit of material possessions is hevel (1:3)
• Problem #1: Impermanence of possessors (1:4)
• Problem #2: Extrinsic obstacles (1:5-6)
• Problem #3: Intrinsic obstacles - insatiability of desire (1:6-7)
• Consequence: Perpetual frustration (1:8)
• Argument: Innovations can eliminate these obstacles (1:9-10)
• Counter-argument: There are no real innovations (1:10)
• Cause of error: Ignorance of the past (1:11)

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Elucidation: based on the commentary of Metzudos

(1) The words of Koheles, son of David, king in Yerushalayim:

In order to conduct a thorough investigation, one must approach the area of inquiry from three angles: (1) he should conduct a survey and an analysis of all possible theories to determine which are valid, (2) he should take into account the wisdom and knowledge of the experts in the field, and (3) he should rely on as much direct observation, experimentation, and firsthand experience as possible in order to have the largest and most reliable pool of data on which to base his conclusions.

For this reason, the copyist who transcribed Sefer Koheles began by stating that this work satisfies all three criteria: (1) the book contains "the words of Koheles" - literally, "the gatherer [of opinions]" - who surveyed and analyzed all of the various opinions to distinguish the true from the false; (2) in addition to relying on his own wisdom, he took into account the wisdom he received from David ha'Melech, his father, who was preeminent in wisdom and fear of God, and who taught him and raised him to be a man of truth; (3) Koheles based his conclusions on the vast amount of firsthand observations he gleaned in his capacity as king of Yerushalayim - the city that was the capital of the world, whose residents were renowned for their wisdom and intelligence.

For these three reasons, one can be assured that the conclusions of this book were arrived at through the most complete and comprehensive investigation possible.

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(2) "Recognize the futility of that which is futile!" says Koheles, "Recognize the futility of that which is entirely futile.

Metzudos translates the term "hevel" as "davar sh'ein bo mamash" meaning "that which has no substance" or "that which has no reality." Accordingly, we would be inclined to translate the term hevel as "nothingness," but we have found that this leads to some awkward phraseology. Therefore, we will stick with the traditional translation of hevel as "futile" or "futility," and only use the phrase "nothingness" when appropriate.

The phrase "havel havalim" is translated by most commentators as a noun qualified by an adjective: "vanity of vanities" or "futility of futilities." Consequently, Koheles is understood to be condemning the entirety of existence (or at least, "everything under the sun") as vain and futile.

The Metzudos, on the other hand, understands "havel havalim" as a command. He writes:

In this book, Koheles declares to mankind and warns them to recognize and to despise the futility of that which is futile (לההביל ולהמאיס את ההבלים); he then goes back and qualifies his statement, saying, "Recognize the futility of that which is entirely futile, in which you cannot find any worthy or valuable purpose; but as for the other futilities which ultimately have a beneficial purpose - it is not proper to view them as futile or to despise them, since they contain that which is good and beneficial." 

On the surface it seems that this will lead to a significantly different reading of the sefer than one might get from the other commentators. According to them, Koheles is claiming that everything under the sun is utterly futile, but according to the Metzudos, Koheles is acknowledging that some things are entirely futile and ought to be recognized and despised as such, whereas other things are only partially futile and should be valued for what they are.

After stating his thesis and statement of purpose, Koheles commences with his arguments.

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(3) What is gained by man in all of his labor in which he toils under the sun?

Koheles begins his investigation by examining amel tachas ha'shemes - man's pursuit of material possessions. He declares that no matter how much we toil in an attempt to achieve some real yisron (gain, profit, or advantage), our endeavors will only end in yegiah (weariness) and reus ruach (frustration). Koheles then proceeds with his analysis:

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(4) A generation goes and a generation comes - but does the earth endure forever?

Ultimately, there is one reason why the pursuit of material possessions is futile: human mortality. Even if you were to amass all of the money in the world, you will eventually die and you will not be able to take anything with you. What good is there in accumulation if nothing can be kept? What good is there in acquisition if one's ownership is only temporary?

The same holds true for all humans in every generation: no matter what degree of material success our generation achieves, and no matter how much splendor and glory it attains, its members will soon die out and be replaced by the individuals of the next generation. We all feel special during the show, but when the curtains close and the performance ends, we will be ushered out and a new audience will take our place. In a short time, we will be forgotten - just like the countless audiences that preceded us. Death is a cruel usher.

Some might try to console themselves by saying, "I know that I will one day die, but at least the fruits of my labor will be enjoyed by my children." Upon closer examination, this line of thinking is faulty for exactly the same reason. Are your children immortal? Aren't they, like you, destined to perish? And if your own mortality prevents your material success from being a real gain, then shouldn't the mortality of your offspring pose the same problem? Can you really derive a sense of accomplishment and consolation at the thought that all of the wealth you spent your life accumulating will ultimately be bequeathed to future generations who will neither recognize your name nor have any gratitude for you labor? How would you feel if your wealth were seized and distributed to thousands of strangers in a foreign country, and why do you think you will feel different about the prospect of your wealth being inherited by the legions of your faceless progeny in only a few generations down the line? 

Even "the earth" - the inhabitants of the civilized world - will not last forever. Societies and empires come and go, and whatever mark they make on the face of the planet will disappear, like sand castles on the shores of the sea. "The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished" (Mark Twain).

So too, "the earth" itself which you inhabit "will become worn out, like a garment" (Yeshayahu 51:6) and cease to exist. Why, then, do you toil? You gather up the earth with your hands and hold it until death pries it from your clenched fists. Is there any real accomplishment in that? "What is gained by man in all of his labor in which he toils under the sun?"

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(5) And the sun rises and the sun sets - then to its place it rushes; there it rises again; (6) it goes toward the south and veers toward the north; [its] desire goes round and round, and on its rounds the desire returns. (7) All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers flow, there they flow once more.

Let us disregard, for the time being, the problem of man's mortality and the futility of chasing wealth on the way to the grave. Aside from that, the pursuit of material possessions is fraught with two types of obstacles: extrinsic and intrinsic.

The first category of obstacles to the pursuit of material success (i.e. the category of extrinsic obstacles) is allegorically represented by the orbit of the earth around the sun. The earth "desires" to fall into the sun; that is to say, it is attracted towards the sun by the gravitational force. However, due to the delicate balance between the speed of the earth and the strength of the sun's gravitational force, the earth ends up orbiting the sun in a state of perpetual "falling." Thus, its "desire" to fall is thwarted by the sun's gravitational force - an extrinsic obstacle, as it were.

The same is true of those who pursue material wealth. You can have the greatest ambitions for material success and be endowed with all of the skills needed to achieve it, but you will be faced with thousands of obstacles that stand in your way. Statistically speaking, the odds are against those who aspire to reach the pinnacle of financial success. Try as you might, you cannot control these external factors, and they will always threaten to prevent your success or to deprive you of success after you've worked so hard to achieve it.

The second category of obstacles to the pursuit of material success (i.e. the category of intrinsic obstacles) is allegorically represented by the water cycle. All rivers "desire" to fill up the larger bodies of water into which they flow; in other words, the rivers are are attracted towards the seas, oceans, and lakes by the gravitational force. However, due to various processes in the water cycle (e.g. infiltration, evaporation, subsurface flow, etc.), these bodies of water are never filled. Instead, the very same water that flows into them eventually makes its way back into the rivers themselves. Thus, the rivers are engaged a "self-defeating" attempt to fill the larger bodies of water which are the source of their own flow.

The same is true of the desire to pursue material wealth. The desire for wealth is insatiable, as Koheles states later on in the book: "One who loves money will never be satisfied by money; a lover of abundance has no wheat. This, too, is futility!" (ibid. 5:9). The more you feed this desire, the more dissatisfied you will be. All of the energy you invest in the attempt to allay this desire will only exacerbate it. [We will elaborate on this point when we reach that pasuk, God willing.]

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(8) All matters are wearying, [too many] for man to be able to recount; the eye is never sated with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

Due to these three factors - man's mortality, the external obstacles to his acquisition of wealth, and the inherent insatiability of his desire for wealth - all of his material pursuits are wearisome and frustrating. There are so many examples and manifestations of these three factors that it would be impossible to enumerate them all, and any attempt to do so will be overwhelming.

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(9) Whatever has been is what will be, and whatever has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun. (10) Sometimes there is something of which one says: "Look, this is new!" - this has already existed in the ages before us. (11) As there is no recollection of the former ones, so too, of the latter ones that are yet to be, there will be no recollection among those of a still later time.

Man's natural reaction to these problems is to deny their existence. The most convenient way of doing this is to try to convince themselves that these problems are a thing of the past, and we have already overcome them or are close to overcoming them. Man will point to innovations in technology, commerce, government, and society and say, "See? We've made so much progress already, and soon enough, all of these problems will be behind us."

This is a mistake. The three factors enumerated above are part of human nature. No matter how many innovations we make, we cannot change human nature. We may be able to prolong our average lifespans, but we will never be able to defeat mortality. Technology can help us to control more external factors than we did in the past, but when we surmount these difficulties, we will be greeted by yet another host of factors that elude our control. We may succeed in achieving a greater degree of material success and prosperity than our predecessors, but this will only fuel our desires and increase our dissatisfaction with what we have.

What's more, if we were to examine past generations, we would see that they entertained the same illusions about their innovations that we do about ours. For example, we see the rapid pace of technological advances in our age and we feel that it is only a matter of time before we can overcome all of the obstacles that stand in our way of our material success - and yet, we have forgotten that mankind experienced the exact same belief at the very dawn of technology, with the invention of the plow at the time of Noach:

Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son. And he called his name Noach, saying, "This one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which Hashem has cursed" (Bereishis 5:28-29).

We laugh at our ancestors' conviction that the invention of the plow could remove their toil and frustration, but then we immediately delude ourselves with the same fantasies about Apple and Google, NASA and the Human Genome Project, the rise of the American democracy and the motion towards a global community, and so on. We scoff at the trust that the ancients put in "ancient technology," but fail to recognize the nature of the trust we put in "modern technology." We don't think about the fact that our modern technology will one day be considered "ancient" in the eyes of our descendants, who will laugh at us in the same way that we laughed at our ancestors.

It is not the innovations themselves that "have already existed in the ages before us," but rather, it is the fantasies and ambitions we attach to those innovations. "And as there is no recollection of the former ones, so too, of the latter ones that are yet to be, there will be no recollection among those of a still later time." Those who forget the fantasies of old are doomed to repeat them.

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Thus concludes our understanding of the preface and opening inquiry of Sefer Koheles according to the Metzudos. As mentioned above, this approach did not play out as planned. Perhaps, one day, it will be revisited, and will continue to yield insight.