Webinar Outline

Introductory Comments

Webinar topic: Sukkot and Kohelet: A time to rejoice or a time to agonize?

Basis of title: ושמחת בחגך…והיית אך שמח (Deut. 16:13-5) + נושמחת vs. portrayals זמן of Kohelet

When is Kohelet read?

Why is Kohelet read on Sukkot?

a. leftoversb. Solomon as “author”c. Kohelet 11:2d. Thematic suitability / compatibility

What themes?

Not exclusively or primarily a search for the meaning of life, but rather… something else

• Key terms:a. הבל

b. יתרון

c. עמל

d. תחת השמש

• A (the?) main theme of Koheleto Main theme mingles with other “themes” / observations

• Structure of book; thematic “development”(?)o Many apparent contradictions.o Role of contradictions

Punchline: possible meaning of זמן שמחתנו

Dr. Stephen Garfinkel Sukkot 5777 Webinar for Rabbis

Sukkot and Kohelet:A time to rejoice or a time to agonize?

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T.A. Perry, Dialogues with Kohelet: The Book of Ecclesiastes University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993

11 (1:4-11) Prologue on the Nature ofThings: Analogies from Nature

1:4 A generation goes forth, only to die! But the earth endures forever.

5 The sun rises, only to set! Yet it pants to return to its starting point, ivhere it rises

6 again. Moreover, it goes southward but returns northward.

The wind goes forth around and around! Yet it can reverse its direction.

7 All rivers flow to the sea! But the sea is not filled. And the rivers must reti1rn to their source, since they contini1e to flow to their destination.

8 All things are "\\י"eary ... . . . things that a person cannot sayl

The eye is never sated with things to see. Or the ear filled with things to hear!

9 What will be has already been, and every action is doorned to be repeated. Bi1t is there nothing new under the sun?

10 Si1rely there is sometl1ing aboi1t which one can say: "Look, this is neiv . . . "

It has already been in the ages that went before us. 11 Is there then no remembrance of forrner great rnen And of the ג;

next generation of sages will there be no remembrance by those who come afier?

Commentary

1 :4-11 This section contains two equal parts of four verses each and articulates a carefully crafted debate on the lessons of nature.

1 :4-7 In these verses K will seek suppסrt for his vanity argument from analogies with nature (cf. Prov 25:13-14). The Presenter's reply will be that, if anything can be learned from such analogies, it is that nature's repetitiveness is more a subject of vvonder and even encourage­ment than of despair; whereas K looks at the end of each cycle, P focuses on its (nevv) beginning.

Dr. Stephen Garfinkel Sukkot 5777 Webinar for Rabbis

Sukkot and Kohelet: A time to rejoice or a time to agonize?

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Kohelet 3:1-8

Dr. Stephen Garfinkel Sukkot 5777 Webinar for Rabbis

Sukkot and Kohelet: A time to rejoice or a time to agonize?

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Select bibliography about Kohelet Some items are list for their “classic” role and other are listed as examples of current works.

Bickerman, Elias. Four Strange Books of the Bible. NY: Schocken, 1967.“Koheleth,” 139-67.

Boda, Mark J; Longman, Tremper III; Rata, Christian G. The Words of the Wise are Like Goads: Engaging Qohelet in the 21st Century. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrausn, 2013.

Christianson, Eric S. Ecclesiastes through the Centuries. Malden, MA.; Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.

Fox, Michael V. Qohelet and His Contradictions. Sheffield: Almond, 1989.

Fox, Michael V. A Time to Tear Down & a Time to Build up: A Rereading of Ecclesiastes. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999.

Fox, Michael V. Ecclesiastes: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation. The JPS Bible Commentary. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2004.

Garfinkel, Stephen. “Qoheleth: The Philosopher Means Business.” Pages 51-62 in Bringing the Hidden to Light: Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller. Edited by K. Kravitz and D. Sharon. Winona Lake, IN:

Eisenbrauns and Jewish Theological Seminary. 2007.

Ginsberg, H. L. קֹוֶהֶלת [Hebrew]. Tel Aviv: M. Newman, 1961.

Ginsberg, H.L. and Fox, Michael V. “Ecclesiastes.” Pages 88-90 in vol 6 of Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Edited by Fred Skolnik, et al. Detroit: Macmillan in association with Keter, 2007.

Goldman, Y.A.P. “Qoheleth.” Pages 25-53 and 28*-30* in Biblia Hebraica, qunita editione (BHQ) General Introduction and Megilloth. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004.

Golinkin, David. “Why and When Do We Read the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) in Public?” The Schechter Institutes website, Responsa in a Minute, Volume 1, issue 2 (October 2006) http://www.schechter.edu/responsa.aspx?ID=18

Japhet, Sara and Salters, Robert B., eds. and trans. The Commentary of Rabbi Samuel Ben Meir (Rashbam) on Qohelet. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1985.

Kushner, Harold. When All You Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. New York: Schocken, 1985.

Perry, T. A. Dialogues with Kohelet. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University, 1993.

Seow, Choon-Leong. Ecclesiastes. Anchor Bible 18c. Garden City: Doubleday, 1997.

stgarfinkel@jtsa.edu

Dr. Stephen Garfinkel Sukkot 5777 Webinar for Rabbis

Sukkot and Kohelet: A time to rejoice or a time to agonize?

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