Exhale is Everything

Kohelet 1:2

Vanity or vapor, meaningless or mythical? For everything there is a season and everything about this book is multi-layered, morbid and mysterious at the same time.

Welcome to the Scroll of Kohelet - Ecclesiastes. What is all about?

In the 1923 book Cohelet, or The Preacher by Ernest Renan, some suggestions seem compelling as a way to introduce this scroll:

“In the unique and admirable volume, which the Jewish nation has given to humanity, called by all nations the Bible, the religious idea is so predominant that we are surprised to find in it several profane selections. The Song of Songs proves that ancient Israel was, at that time, still in its youth. A second book, even more singular, Ecclesiastes, shows that this people, apparently imbued to the core with a passion for justice, the eager avengers of the honor of Jehovah, were at various times skeptical.

The little book has at its head a quaint word of four letters, QHLT, which taken by itself, cannot be satisfactorily explained.

It is the name, however, of the person who, throughout the whole book, holds speech. Indeed, the book is simply a discourse, a sort of confession, a medley of counsels, that the author places in the mouth of a certain, QHLT, whom he supposed to have been the son of David and King of Jerusalem.”

Spelled Koehlet, Qoheleth, QHLT and known in English by its Greek name - Ecclesiastes - this fourth scroll in the Wisdom section of the Hebrew Bible defies classification as even its name is debated.

The book begins with an official flourish by the author who is most likely not who he claims to be:

דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן־דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃

The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Kohelet 1:1-1

Dr. Moshe Sokolow helps make sense of the title and authorship:

“The proper Latin noun, Ecclesiastes, derives from the Greek ecclesia, meaning a church, and is related to the French word for church: eglise. To the extent that a church is a place where people congregate, it is a reasonable facsimile of the Hebrew Kohelet, from the verbal root k-h-l, to assemble. Indeed, the rabbinic attribution of this book to King Solomon is usually accompanied by the explanation that he was so-called because “He would address the people at The Assembly (Hakhel)” , referring to the once in seven-year assemblage of “all Israel” (Deut. 31:10 ff.) that was addressed by the king…

And yet this attribution is also problematic… the use of Persian and Aramaic words that usually indicate a late composition, as well as the overall philosophy of the book, whose similarity to that of the classical Greek cynics just does not concur with the Tanakh’s descriptions of Solomon’s wealth, influence, and success.”

Although tradition ascribes this book to King Solomon’s old age, even the rabbis in the Talmudic era doubted his authorship and debated the scroll’s inclusion in the biblical canon, as mentioned in the 30th folio of the Talmudic tractate Shabbat:

“The scholars sought to conceal the Book of Kohelet because its contents were heretical. Why did they not conceal it? Because it begins and ends with words of Torah.”

What are the controversial ideas that this text, likely written or edited during the 2nd or 3rd century BCE, by an anonymous author who ascribed it to the wise and wealthy king, got into trouble for?

It begins right away with the second verse - with its multiple optional translations:

הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל׃

Utter futility!—said Koheleth—

Utter futility! All is futile!

Kohelet 1:2 (JPS 2023)

Really? Everything?? What does this famous line mean?

The Hebrew original hides important information that can be only gathered if we pause to consider the original intent as revealed by comparing the different English translations:

“Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

(JPS 1917)

“Only vanishing mist, vapor, says Kohelet, evanescence and mere appearance, everything is a vanishing mist.”

(Bruch Heitler)

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”

says the Teacher.

“Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless.”

(NIV translation)

The word ‘Hevel’ shows up 38 times in this scroll — more than any other book of the bible. It can mean all of the above - from vapor or out-breath to mist and meaninglessness, but it’s also the name of the first slain human in history.

Robert Alter, who translates "hevel" as breath or vapor, something utterly insubstantial and transient, connects it to the very short story and life of Hevel - Abel - son of Adam and Eve who is killed by his brother Cain because of jealousy. Abel’s offering to God is accepted while Cain’s is rejected.

Why is Abel’s tragic story echoed here?

Israeli author Ethan Dor-Shav suggests that to understand the link between Genesis and Kohelet we need to reexamine the way this word has been translated:

“If we translate Abel’s name, hevel, as “vanity,” as readers of Ecclesiastes have long been accustomed, it is impossible to reconcile the term with Abel’s acceptance by God. Indeed, the story of Abel teaches the exact opposite—the possibility of salvation despite the fleeting nature of life. Precisely because of the tragic nature of Abel’s interrupted life, we learn its deepest message: In turning one’s life into an offering, one is not dependent on any life circumstance, or on any achievements in the material world.”

And in their book Qohelet Searching for a Life Worth Living that combines original commentary and art, Menachm Fisch and Debra Rand explore this texts’ meaning for our lives, starting with this puzzle:

“Qohelet’s fundamental premise, ‘havel havalim, all is hevel’, asserts not that all is emptiness and futility, as most read it, but that like vapor or mist all knowledge and achievements are inherently time bound and tentative; human accomplishment is real, yet ephemeral as mist. Today’s truths will be refuted tomorrow, what was fitting yesterday, is now unthinkable; our standards wax and wane across time and circumstance. How then, given perpetual uncertainty, can one lead a ‘profitable’ life “under the sun” whose value can be vouched for?!

…Qohelet’s problem demands urgent attention. Assuming the nom de plume of King Solomon, Qohelet embarks on a study of human rationality, which he knows in advance is powerless to transcend the time bound limits of even the wisest of human observers. Such is Qohelet’s setting of the stage for the anxious and profoundly sobering deliberations probed throughout his book.”

I invite you to take a deep breath with me, and to exhale a little longer, let the outbreath linger. Whoever wrote this scroll and whatever its reflections may mean to us - it is an invitation to take stock of our human condition, and breath by breath find ways to live more meaningful, thoughtful and useful lives.

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