{"id":23822,"date":"2015-05-15T16:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T22:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=23822"},"modified":"2015-05-15T16:00:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T22:00:19","slug":"why-ecclesiastes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/why-ecclesiastes\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ecclesiastes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ted_Roberts\"

Now, with a more mature eye we notice it\u2019s a simmering stew of history, poetry, moral lessons spiced with love, martial, and adventure stories. But to this reader the strangest ingredient in the bubbling pot is the Book of Ecclesiastes \u2013 a book that conflicts and frequently overwhelms the principles expressed throughout the holy book. Eat, drink, and be merry is its theme \u2013 \u201c\u2019cause you ain\u2019t gonna be here long,\u201d it seems to say.<\/p>\n

Wisely, it dismisses wealth as a source of happiness. Fine, an intelligent start, we get it. King Solomon, allegedly the author, a great proponent of entertainment with all of his girls, palaces, paraphernalia, and royal trappings may be no happier than Joe Israelite, who lived in a hut with his goat. Ah, the beginning of wisdom, we think. But then to the reader\u2019s dismay the author (King Solomon, not a stay-at-home dad) snaps his fingers at life\u2019s real treasures: knowledge, goodness, love. It is not a book to relieve your depression. \u201cALL IS VANITY.\u201d Eat, drink, and be merry is suggested as the only remedy. In fact, that thought is repeated SIX times. In a bleak world that\u2019s the only medicine the author recommends.<\/p>\n

And as if that isn\u2019t enough, evil is everywhere. Naked you came from your mother\u2019s womb and naked you shall return. And there\u2019s more. The day of your death beats the day of your birth. A lightless pit of cheerless philosophy. An unmitigated, black ode to nothingness. Weird. Why is it in the Tanach? Tradition says the school of Hillel rejected it. Get drunk? Treat yourself to the sweets of the world. That\u2019s the best advice it can give.<\/p>\n

Strangely, it is almost a perfect reflection of a world famous poem written by a Moslem Sufi \u2013 Omar Khayyam \u2013 a millennium or two later, \u201cThe Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam\u201d. Life is short and followed by darkness, so have a good time before the carnival closes and the lights go out. The poem was extravagantly popular during the roaring twenties. The anthem of that Devil may care generation who only thought deeply about their next whiskey and soda. The similarities between it and Ecclesiastes are such that, had the Rubaiyat been first written, you would accuse the author of Ecclesiastes of plagiarism.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, in Ecclesiastes, at the conclusion of this hedonistic rant the author, realizing he has misrepresented Judaism, declares, \u201cfear G-d and keep his commandments\u201d as though that transforms his previous screeching into a prayer. Or it could be that some rabbinic editor, astonished by the book\u2019s heresy, just glued on that final truth.<\/p>\n

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