By Nic Levy
Ecclesiastes is essentially the autobiography of the character Kohelet. The first half of the texts poetically details the meaninglessness of life and death, and that all human actions are hevel, or in vain. Every human comes from dust, and will die again into dust. Kohelet talks about the importance of valuing wisdom in life over wealth, fame, and power. Yet in the end, everyone is forgotten in death. Kohelet tells us that we should live life in the present, being merry and eating (and drinking) well, and should enjoy our short lives and respect the sanctity of others’ lives. i.e. give rather than take, be generous rather than greedy, and be wise rather than foolish. Kohelet concludes with “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear G-d, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will being every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (12:13-14).
In contemporary Judaism the term mitzvah has become synonymous with “good deed,” rather than “commandment.” In Kohelet this translation is accurate; judgment by G-d is based not on observing traditional Jewish practices (None of that is mentioned in Kohelet) but being wise and generous and honest (basically all those good qualities). This text is read on Sukkot in order to remind us that cheshbon (judgment) occurs throughout the year and although we rejoice and live in the moment on Sukkot, the life of mitzvah should be present until the following Rosh Hashanah.
I feel like I’m supposed to go and connect all this somehow to myself and/or the movement now… But I don’t really know how to do that. So YOLO am I right? Don’t worry, be happy. As you all go about your non-observant sukkot holidays (cause unless you go to Brandeis you’re probably super busy) take a minute to think about being Jewish is important to you, and how that can manifest itself in your actions this year.
What is the meaning of life? Is it all in vain? How can we rejoice about our righteousness? Will we be able to remember this year’s Simchas Torah? Wink wink.
Many religious Jews nowadays have reckoned the current events in the Middle East to Gog and Magog. Is the ISIS crisis (good rhyme eh?) something we should be involved in? Or should we let the [70 nations] battle it out and cause their own destruction?