{"id":63569,"date":"2021-09-24T13:58:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T18:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=63569"},"modified":"2021-09-24T14:20:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T19:20:37","slug":"kohelet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/kohelet\/","title":{"rendered":"Kohelet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n<p>We customarily read the Book of Ecclesiastes (\u201cKohelet\u201d) in conjunction with Succot: commonly, on the intermediate Sabbath of the Festival or on Shemini Atzeret&#8230; though there is no mention of this practice in the Talmud.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-40581 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-350x350.jpg 350w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-40581 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-350x350.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>Rashi explains the Hebrew name of this Biblical work: \u201cKohelet\u201d (from the root <em>k.h.l<\/em>., meaning \u201cto gather\u201d) is so called, he says, because its author \u201cgathered together many different forms of wisdom.\u201d This relates to the long-standing belief (see Succah 55B) that the seventy bulls sacrificed over the course of the Festival were offered on behalf of the seventy non-Israelite nations of the world. Kohelet, Rashi proposes, draws upon global sources of wisdom to honor Succot&#8230; just as the People Israel brought sacrificial offerings on behalf of that global community.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin (\u201cNetziv,\u201d 1816-1893) taught that representatives of the seventy nations came to witness the sacrifices offered in their names&#8230; and to listen to the reading of Kohelet (Harchev Davar, <em>Numbers<\/em> 29:12; see also Zechariah 14:16-19).<\/p>\n<p>Kohelet is worldly, Rashi understood, in its openness to a variety of philosophical approaches and traditions. Succot pilgrims complemented that openness by celebrating the Festival in the presence of non-Israelite guests&#8230; proudly sharing with \u201coutsiders\u201d our distinctive spiritual and philosophical synthesis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is wise? One who learns from everyone\u201d (Avot 4:1).<\/p>\n<p><em>(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the past National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Kohelet\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9415,643],"tags":[8790,8795,11700,8788,8823],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63574,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63569\/revisions\/63574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}