{"id":96072,"date":"2018-07-09T18:01:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1162\/"},"modified":"2022-02-02T19:45:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T17:45:01","slug":"wall-1162","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1162\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20250309-to-20250315"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1162","date_from":"20250309","date_to":"20250315","book":"Ecclesiastes","books_group":"Writings","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"96578","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Introduction To A Solomonic Ecclesiastes ","post_title":"Introduction To A Solomonic Ecclesiastes","slug":"introduction-to-a-solomonic-ecclesiastes","old_id":"96578","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"808","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An author of many names\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Mishnah Yadayim<\/span><\/a> preserves an early rabbinic debate about whether the Book of Ecclesiastes \u201cdefiles the hands\u201d, i.e., whether it is to be regarded as a physically sacred object and therefore should be included in the canon of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. The decision that Ecclesiastes (Hebrew: Kohelet), along with the Song of Songs, is part of our Biblical canon was ratified by the 72 Elders of the Sanhedrin only in the 1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cKohelet\u201d could be a personal name of Solomon, \u201cson of David, king in Jerusalem\u201d. However, in 12:8<\/span> it is a noun preceded by the definite article, \u201c<\/span>Ha-Kohelet.<\/span><\/em>\u201d This seems to mean \u201cThe Preacher\u201d, i.e. the one who preaches in public to a congregation (<\/span>kahal<\/span><\/em>). This is reflected in the Septuagint Greek translation <\/span>\u2018Ekklesiastes, <\/span><\/i>which gave the name Ecclesiastes to the book.Indeed,<\/span> Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:2<\/span><\/a> states that Solomon was called \u201cKohelet\u201d because he brought together a \u201ccongregation\u201d (<\/span>kahal<\/span><\/em> \u2013<\/span> I Kings 8:1<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to<\/span> Avot de-Rabbi Natan<\/span><\/a>, Solomon had six names: Shlomo, Yedidya, Kohelet, Ben Yakeh, Agur, and Lemuel. According to <\/span>Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:2<\/span><\/a>, he was called by three names: Jedidiah (<\/span>II Samuel 12:24-25<\/span><\/a>), Kohelet, and Shlomo. But Rabbi Yehoshua said that he had seven names: Agur, Yakeh, Lemuel (<\/span>Proverbs 31:1<\/span><\/a>) and Ithiel (<\/span>Proverbs 30:1<\/span><\/a>) in addition to the three mentioned. Rabbi Shmuel countered that the only proper, authentic names among them are Jedidiah, Kohelet, and Shlomo. He accepts the other four names for Solomon, but as nicknames given to him only to be interpreted midrashically. He was called \u201cAgur\u201d (\u201cstored\u201d) because he was stored (<\/span>agur<\/span><\/em>) with words of Torah. He was called \u201cYakeh\u201d (\u201che will expel\u201d) because he expelled (<\/span>meqi<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i>) words of wisdom like a bowl that is filled and then emptied. Similarly, Solomon learned Torah at one time and forgot it at another time.\u00a0 He was called \u201c<\/span>Lemuel<\/span><\/i>\u201d (<\/span>lo\u2019 El<\/span><\/i>) because he spoke against God (<\/span>nam le-El<\/span><\/i>) in his heart, saying, I can multiply wives without sinning (see<\/span> Deuteronomy 17:17<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> I Kings 11<\/span><\/a>). He was also called \u201c<\/span>Ithiel<\/span><\/em>\u201d (<\/span>Proverbs 30:1<\/span><\/a>) because he said, \u201cGod is with me -- \u2018<\/em><\/span>Itti El<\/span><\/em>), and I can (<\/span>va-\u2018ukhal<\/span><\/em>) do what I want (i.e resist the evil intention of being married to so many wives). For I am a son of King David, a king and the son of a king, a wise man and a son of a wise man, a righteous person and the son of a righteous person, a nobleman and a son of a nobleman.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Song of Songs Rabbah 1:2<\/span><\/a> compares David and Solomon. They both ruled for 40 years. They both composed songs and wrote books. Indeed, just as David had all his sins forgiven (<\/span>II Samuel 12:13<\/span><\/a>), so too Solomon. This became evident when the Holy Spirit rested on Solomon and he composed his three books: Proverbs, the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image<\/em>: King Solomon (stained glass), produced by Tiffany Studios, c.1900,\u00a0Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, The Navy Pier, Chicago, IL.\u00a0 Photo by A Duarte \/ flickr<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":92101,"alt":"","title":"pro1-solomon stained glass","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","width":784,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","1536x1536-width":784,"1536x1536-height":1080,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","2048x2048-width":784,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","post_full_size-width":784,"post_full_size-height":1080,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Introduction To A Solomonic Ecclesiastes","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An author of many names\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":92101,"alt":"","title":"pro1-solomon stained glass","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","width":784,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","1536x1536-width":784,"1536x1536-height":1080,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","2048x2048-width":784,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass.jpg","post_full_size-width":784,"post_full_size-height":1080,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro1-solomon-stained-glass-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"808","date":"20281003","wall_id":"808"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"96585","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Ki Teitzei: Letting the Mother Go","post_title":"Ki Teitzei: Letting the Mother Go","slug":"ki-teitzei-letting-the-mother-go","old_id":"96585","type":"song","iframe":"","writer":{"id":84106,"post_title":"Aharon Ariel Lavi","slug":"aharon-ariel-lavi","old_id":"84106","first_name":"Aharon Ariel ","last_name":"Lavi ","description":"Aharon Ariel Lavi is the founder and director of Hakhel: The Jewish Intentional Communities Incubator in the Diaspora. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":84107,"alt":"","title":"aharon ariel lavi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1162","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The urge to acquire and control directs many of our actions. The Torah restrains acquisition at its source, beyond giving charity only after we bring goods or produce into our homes: it demands we look more closely at our need to control\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Only a handful of Mitzvot in the Torah reveal their own \u201cpayback\u201d, or benefit to one who observes a particular commandment. The most famous one is honoring one\u2019s parents, which will result in long endurance \u201con the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you\u201d (Numbers 20:12<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u00a0In this week\u2019s Parsha there are two more such special cases:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. If you find a nest with a mother bird and its eggs or fledglings, you must let the mother go and as a result, you will \u201chave a long life\u201d (Deuteronomy 22:6-7<\/a>).\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. If you overlook a sheaf of grain during harvest, and leave it to the poor, \u201cGod may bless you in all your undertakings\u201d (Deuteronomy 24:19<\/a>).<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    The connecting thread between these two seemingly separate commandments is that both of them are based on acquisition on the one hand and letting go on the other. With one hand we acquire the eggs or the fledglings (or the crops) but with the other we let the mother go (or leave something for the poor to live on). Recognizing the fact that using natural resources for our own benefit is perfectly legitimate, yet we do not own nature in its entirety. The creator has commanded us to leave something for someone else specifically when we take something for ourselves.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

    The urge to acquire and control is imprinted deeply in our minds and directs many of our actions. This is perhaps why the Torah restrains acquisition at its source. The commandments go beyond giving charity only after we bring goods or produce into our homes and ask us to look more closely at our need to control.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

    Shmita tackles the exact same issue, on a much larger scale. By leaving the land fallow and letting everybody take its fruit, we acknowledge the fact that the true owner is not us, it is the creators. On the other hand, Shmita confirms the validity of private property and commerce throughout the other six years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

    But where does it say what the benefit of observing Shmita would be? In the case of Shmita, it is brought on the negative side, both in the Bible and in the Talmud: if the People of Israel fail to observe Shmita, the whole nation will be punished by exile. The logic here is clear: if we fail, as a nation, to acknowledge the fact we have only partial ownership of the land, we will have to learn this lesson the hard way. It happened once, when we lost the first Temple in 586 BCE, now it is up to us to make sure it will not happen again.<\/p>\r\n

    The next shmita year begins next\u00a0Rosh Hashanah 2021<\/span>, only a few weeks from now. Join us in preparation for the upcoming shmita year \u2013 a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we will share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

    Join us for the journey.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

    See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Ki Teitzei: Letting the Mother Go","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1162"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":3,"id":"96520","color":"#f2e9df","size":"2","name":"Insatiable ","post_title":"Insatiable","slug":"insatiable","old_id":"96520","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":96427,"post_title":"Lenore Mizrachi-Cohen","slug":"lenore-mizrachi-cohen","old_id":"96427","first_name":"Lenore ","last_name":"Mizrachi-Cohen ","description":"Lenore Mizrachi-Cohen is a mixed media conceptual artist, currently based in Brooklyn. 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withheld from my eyes nothing they asked for, and denied myself no 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withheld from my eyes nothing they asked for, and denied myself no 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For Newness And Joy ","post_title":"Searching For Newness And Joy","slug":"searching-for-newness-and-joy","old_id":"96486","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"808","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But can radical innovation and complete happiness be part of the human experience?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    The author of Ecclesiastes wishes to encounter the completely \u201cnew,\u201d unexperienced by anyone previously, unique in the present moment, and remaining pristine in future years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    He bemoans what he perceives as the eternal repetition of patterns being followed by all things in Creation: e.g.,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201cOne generation goes, another comes, But the earth remains the same forever\u2026 Only that shall happen Which has happened, only that occur Which has occurred; there is nothing new Beneath the sun!\u201d (verses 4, 9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    However, one wonders whether Ecclesiastes\u2019 upset is merely a function of the author\u2019s personality, or a true reflection of how things are.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    A test of the universality of Ecclesiastes\u2019 outlook is reflected in his comments regarding education and learning at the end of Chapt. 1. Due to human mortality, every generation must acquire anew ideas of civilization and spirituality. Ecclesiastes describes his initial devotion to such enterprises and their analyses, but he ultimately see his learning in the same way as his other experiences, not because the ideas are not \u201cnew,\u201d but because they increase pain and frustration, rather than bringing him joy:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And so I set my mind to appraise wisdom and to appraise madness and folly. And I learned\u2014that this too was pursuit of wind: For as wisdom grows, vexation grows; To increase learning is to increase heartache (17-18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Ecclesiastes reaches the conclusion that while the educated person gains access to all sorts of knowledge, simultaneously he becomes increasingly aware of the difficulties confronted at one time or another by humans as well as other forms of animate life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Consequently, Ecclesiastes by his own admission, was in pursuit not only of newness, but also of joy. Despite all of his wealth and opportunity, he could not identify this combination, i.e., radical innovation and complete happiness, as part of the human experience.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    I don\u2019t believe that Ecclesiastes was wrong with respect to his perceptions; however, I take issue with his expectations. The natural world consists of rules, laws, and principles to which all adhere. Even Albert Einstein devoted his life to the quest of detecting an all-encompassing pattern affecting bodies in the physical universe. The truly educated, brilliant person does not shy away from repetition; s\/he is determined to uncover the rule(s) that governs the bodies which make up his environment.\u00a0 Ecclesiastes would seem to prefer that \u201cGod <\/span>did<\/em> <\/span>play dice with the universe.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    As for delight and happiness, perhaps if man were immortal, it would be possible for him\/her to avoid old-age and illness, which human beings project from themselves onto all that is around them, e.g., a \u201cdying\u201d star, the \u201cillness\u201d of the ecosystem. But we are not, and balancing good times with bad is part and parcel of our existence as well as that of the world around us, resulting at times in joy, and other times, in sadness.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96490,"alt":"","title":"ecc1-einstein formulas joy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1303,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-300x204.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":204,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-768x521.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":521,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-1024x695.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":695,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1042,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1303,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-1200x814.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":814,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-619x420.jpg","home_baner-width":619,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Searching For Newness And Joy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But can radical innovation and complete happiness be part of the human experience?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96490,"alt":"","title":"ecc1-einstein formulas joy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1303,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-300x204.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":204,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-768x521.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":521,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-1024x695.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":695,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1042,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1303,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-1200x814.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":814,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-einstein-formulas-joy-619x420.jpg","home_baner-width":619,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"808","date":"20281003","wall_id":"808"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"96478","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"In Retrospect ","post_title":"In Retrospect","slug":"in-retrospect","old_id":"96478","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"808","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"I've spent my life in search of love, in quest \/\u00a0 Of faith\u2026 \/ Yet what have I attained?\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    \"What\u00a0 profit does man have in all his labor, wherein he labors under the sun?\" (Ecclesiastes 1:3)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    I've spent my life in search of love, in quest<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of faith; the two are intertwined. Or if<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I need to be exact, they're both one cliff\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Which split in two; one peak is facing west,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The other, facing east. I've done the best\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I could to climb their slopes, to catch a whiff<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of fragrant air that's heaven fresh, and sniff<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    A sea-wind from an ocean heaven blessed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>\r\n

    Yet what have I attained?\u00a0 To tell the truth,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not very much. I stroked a woman's hair,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And held a son's embrace in search of love,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In search of giving love; I spent my youth<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And later years inscribing one long prayer<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In quest of faith. Was this, dear God, enough? <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96479,"alt":"","title":"ecc1-figures climbing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","width":1440,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1440,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"In Retrospect","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"I've spent my life in search of love, in quest \/\u00a0 Of faith\u2026 \/ Yet what have I attained?\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96479,"alt":"","title":"ecc1-figures climbing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","width":1440,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1440,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-figures-climbing-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"808","date":"20281003","wall_id":"808"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"96465","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Qohelet With A Q: Appraising The Madness Of The New ","post_title":"Qohelet With A Q: Appraising The Madness Of The New","slug":"qohelet-with-a-q-appraising-the-madness-of-the-new","old_id":"96465","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":59587,"post_title":"Benjamin Morse","slug":"benjamin-morse","old_id":"59587","first_name":"Benjamin ","last_name":"Morse ","description":"Dr. Benjamin Morse studied religion and art history at Vassar, Oxford, and the Courtauld before completing a PhD in biblical interpretation. His dissertation reads the Hebrew Bible\u2019s \u201cmodern methods\u201d through the lens of painting and collage. His illustrated children\u2019s Torah, The Oldest Bedtime Story Ever, has won multiple awards.\r\nPhoto by Lenka Opalena.","short_description":"Dr. Benjamin Morse studied religion and art history, and is the author and illustrator of the illustrated children\u2019s Torah, The Oldest Bedtime Story Ever. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":59588,"alt":"","title":"Benjamin Morse by Lenka Opalena","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","width":1069,"height":1576,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-203x300.jpg","medium-width":203,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","1536x1536-width":1042,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","2048x2048-width":1069,"2048x2048-height":1576,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-814x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":814,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-285x420.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"808","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The concept of newness is brushed aside as foolishly old hat\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    \u201cSometimes there is a phenomenon of which they say, \u2018Look, this one is new!\u2019\u2014[but in fact] it occurred long since\u201d (1.10). If there were ever a biblical passage after my own heart, it is the introduction to Qohelet. From his faux aristocratic claim to be the son of David (a ruse that led me in my doctoral days to liken him to a dandy, such as the author pictured) to his fatigue regarding the monotony of eternal recurrence, his vision transcends the fray. I know him intimately because he is the elite everyman I want to be. Not too good to try everything at least once, but aloof to claptrap.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    I\u2019ve long felt that the adaptation of chapter 3 into song and gift-cards missed the drollery our Assembler makes so clear in his introductory verses. Relentless antitheses\u2014within generations, cosmos, and elements repeating themselves as aimlessly as rivers draining into a sea (vv. 4-7)\u2014employ parallelism not to praise the wonders of creation but to illustrate that the earth itself is as insatiable as the species that can never have enough (8). Equally, the concept of newness, the belief that something or someone can be wholly different from what went before, is brushed aside as foolishly old hat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    It reminds me of a difficult lunch I had with a formerly gay friend who now identifies as queer. My comment that the term nonbinary relies on a binary construct did not go down well: one has to be careful not to offend anyone with rational observations. So when he began trashing \u201ceverything old\u201d, including ballet because there are no trans roles in the classical repertoire, I did not tell him he sounded like a Maoist and a <\/span>sans culottes<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Queer theory entrenches itself in newfangled dichotomies. Reclaiming a term of abuse that\u2019s now open to people who don\u2019t have same-sex sex, writers like David Getsy distinguish queerness from gayness that \u201cassimilates.\u201d They declaratively exclude \u201chomonormative\u201d voices that are not defiantly \u201cintolerable.\u201d I\u2019m lost on whether a homonormative gay is one who wears khakis and collared shirts and loves Victorian novels or one who adheres to the stereotypes of bondage gear and <\/span>only reading<\/span><\/em> queer authors, but the boundaries of inclusion are firmly rooted in bifurcation: normal (<\/span>qu\u2019est-ce que c\u2019est?<\/span><\/em>) is old, queer is new.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Ditto, I imagine, for people who still seek the wisdom of Qohelet, versus those who know he is just another cog in the Judeo-Christian patriarchy. As if the biblical corpus is not replete with challenges to gender hierarchies. Queer revolutionary histories imagine <\/span>all<\/em> <\/span>indigenous cultures have two-spirit concepts (and are happy to appropriate them). They contrast blissful systems of concubinage and pederasty with Western intrusions that rendered them immoral. So much for being fluid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The practitioners of reductive revisionism attempt to erase what went before (11). Defiant only if different, their folly of making bogeymen out of what they perceive to be \u201cdominant narratives\u201d is a strategy as old as time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    There is nothing new under the sun.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Image: Jules-Am\u00e9d\u00e9e Barbey d'Aurevilly, by \u00c9mile L\u00e9vy, 1882 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96466,"alt":"","title":"eccles1-BMorse-Barbey d'Aurevilly by E\u0301mile Le\u0301vy, 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With A Q: Appraising The Madness Of The New","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The concept of newness is brushed aside as foolishly old hat","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96466,"alt":"","title":"eccles1-BMorse-Barbey d'Aurevilly by E\u0301mile Le\u0301vy, 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Dreams Of Lasting Achievement ","post_title":"Dashed Dreams Of Lasting Achievement","slug":"dashed-dreams-of-lasting-achievement","old_id":"96529","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":96474,"post_title":"Menachem Fisch","slug":"menachem-fisch","old_id":"96474","first_name":"Menachem ","last_name":"Fisch ","description":"Menachem Fisch is Joseph and Ceil Mazer Professor of History and Philosophy of Science Emeritus, and Director of the Center for Religious and Interreligious Studies at Tel Aviv University, and Senior Fellow of the Goethe University Frankfurt's Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Bad Homburg.\r\n","short_description":"Menachem Fisch is Joseph and Ceil Mazer Professor of History and Philosophy of Science Emeritus, and Director of the Center for Religious and Interreligious Studies at Tel Aviv University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":96482,"alt":"","title":"menachem.fisch","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/menachem.fisch_.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"809","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The transience of human sensibility is synonymous with emptiness and worthlessness. But that is only the beginning\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    Chapter 1 ended with the heart-wrenching realization that, because inherently tentative, applying reason to better understanding its own constraints can also never yield more than tentative conclusions, which only further aggravates Qohelet\u2019s predicament. \u201cIn much wisdom,\u201d he laments, \u201cis much grief (<\/span>ka\u2019as<\/span><\/i>, anger).\u201d But perhaps we can speak of lasting human accomplishment despite our inability to grasp it as such? Can a wedge be somehow driven between the mist-like nature of our understanding, and the actual mark we leave on reality?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Speaking still as King Solomon, Qohelet devotes the first part of Chapter 2 to exploring the relevance of material achievement to solving the <\/span>hevel<\/span><\/em> question. His topic isn\u2019t hedonism, indulging in pleasure for pleasure\u2019s sake \u2013 that will come later in the book. The depths of despair to which Qohelet is plunged upon realizing its futility, clearly attest to the seriousness of this first attempt.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The key word is <\/span>simha<\/span><\/em>, which apart from joy, connotes for <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/em> a sense of fulfilment, or contentment (e.g. 2:10). I read Qohelet as exploring here what some philosophers would describe as a<\/span>utilitarian <\/span>morality<\/span><\/em>. Can proven success in bringing joy and happiness to many by combatting pain and suffering, serve as the standard of a worthy life? Solomon\u2019s Jerusalem, alluded to in almost every verse, serves here as Qohelet\u2019s paradigm: a royal lifework devoted to the common good that achieved decades of lasting peace and prosperity for all. This is not the story of an extraordinarily rich individual\u2019s success. It is explicitly that of a king (2:12) who had achieved more <\/span>as a king<\/span><\/i>, than any \u201cwho were before\u201d him in Jerusalem (2:7,9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    However, not even the decades of peace, bliss, and immense prosperity under Solomon, Qohelet realizes to his horror, begin to meet the demand of divinely defined lasting value. Human material and political achievement fares no better in the test of time than human understanding. Fleetingly transient, both are equally meaningless under the cruel scrutiny of absolute divine approval. The difference between the fool and the wise should be categorical; the advantage of wisdom over foolishness, absolute. But it is not. Wisdom is as transitory as foolishness; death being the great leveler (2:15-16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Restating the <\/span>hevel<\/span><\/em> predicament in the religious terms of a God-given and divinely judged undertaking, drives Qohelet to the utterly depressing conclusion that the transience of human life renders it irredeemably worthless in absolute divine terms. And there is no limit to the depths of his despair (17-18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And thus, by the end of Chapter 2, Qohelet has come to view the transience of human sensibility as synonymous with emptiness and worthlessness. But as Chapter 3 will amply prove, it is an understanding that marks, not the conclusion of his discourse, as it does for most, but its starting point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Excerpted from : <\/span>Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living<\/span><\/i>, by Debra Band and Menachem Fisch (forthcoming).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55025,"alt":"","title":"jud2-hourglass memories","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","width":1920,"height":799,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-300x125.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-768x320.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1024x426.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":799,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1200x499.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":499,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1009x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1009,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Dashed Dreams Of Lasting Achievement","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The transience of human sensibility is synonymous with emptiness and worthlessness. But that is only the beginning","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55025,"alt":"","title":"jud2-hourglass memories","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","width":1920,"height":799,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-300x125.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-768x320.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1024x426.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":799,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1200x499.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":499,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud2-hourglass-memories-1009x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1009,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"809","date":"20281004","wall_id":"809"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"96517","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Pardes Lost ","post_title":"Pardes Lost","slug":"pardes-lost","old_id":"96517","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64450,"post_title":"David Curwin","slug":"david-curwin","old_id":"64450","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Curwin ","description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","short_description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64452,"alt":"","title":"david curwin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","width":427,"height":464,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-276x300.png","medium-width":276,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","medium_large-width":427,"medium_large-height":464,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","large-width":427,"large-height":464,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","1536x1536-width":427,"1536x1536-height":464,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","2048x2048-width":427,"2048x2048-height":464,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","post_full_size-width":427,"post_full_size-height":464,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-387x420.png","home_baner-width":387,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"809","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"From grove, to paradise, to mystic philosophy\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    In Ecclesiastes 2, the king boasts of all his accomplishments, including his agricultural and horticultural efforts:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201cI multiplied my possessions. I built myself houses and I planted vineyards. I laid out gardens and groves, in which I planted every kind of fruit tree. I constructed pools of water, enough to irrigate a forest shooting up with trees\u201d (2:4-6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Focusing on verse 5, we find an interesting pair of words. While the Hebrew word translated as garden, <\/span>gan<\/span><\/em>, is a very ancient one (going back to the Garden of Eden), the word for \u201cgrove\u201d is a much later word: <\/span>pardes<\/span><\/em>. While it became much more common in later Hebrew, it only appears two other times in the rest of the Bible: Song of Songs 4:13 and Nehemiah 2:8.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    If the word <\/span>pardes<\/span><\/em>\u00a0reminds you of the English word \u201cparadise,\u201d that\u2019s not a coincidence. Both derive from ancient Persian. In one of the Persian languages, the word was <\/span>pairidaeza<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cenclosure.\u201d That word is made up of two parts: <\/span>pairi<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 meaning around (related to the Greek <\/span>peri<\/span><\/em>, as in \u201cperimeter\u201d) and <\/span>daeza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cwall.\u201d It meant a fenced off area.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    There is some debate about when and how the word entered Biblical Hebrew. Some say it was borrowed directly from Persian (which would indicate a later time for the compilation of those books), and others say it came from Persian via Babylonian or Akkadian, which would allow for an earlier composition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The Greeks also borrowed the word from Persia as <\/span>paradeisos<\/span><\/em>. Like in Biblical Hebrew, it meant gardens or parks. The change to the sense of \u201cthe abode of the righteous\u201d or \u201can idyllic place\u201d was a result of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible. The \u201cGarden\u201d (of Eden) was translated as <\/span>paradeisos<\/span><\/em>, and since the Garden of Eden has that utopian connotation, that was the meaning that stuck, as the word made its way into Latin, and then English, as \u201cparadise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In Talmudic Hebrew, <\/span>pardes<\/span><\/em>\u00a0also took on a similar meaning, but not via the Garden of Eden. Based on our verse in Ecclesiastes, in rabbinic Hebrew a <\/span>pardes<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was understood as the kind of orchard where people (like the king) would go to relax and play in. From there it became associated with the more abstract notion of \u201cmystic philosophy.\u201d Famously, the Talmud (Hagiga 14b) mentions four rabbis who \u201centered <\/span>pardes<\/span><\/em>\u201d, meaning they explored esoteric thought. Only one of those rabbis came out unscathed: Rabbi Akiva.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    One might wonder how Kohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, would fare in such an exploration.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96518,"alt":"","title":"ecc2-mystical grove forest","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Pardes Lost","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"From grove, to paradise, to mystic philosophy","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96518,"alt":"","title":"ecc2-mystical grove forest","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc2-mystical-grove-forest-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"809","date":"20281004","wall_id":"809"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"96539","color":"#faeed8","size":"2","name":"Life Is A River ","post_title":"Life Is A River","slug":"life-is-a-river","old_id":"96539","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":96425,"post_title":"Debra Band","slug":"debra-band","old_id":"96425","first_name":"Debra ","last_name":"Band ","description":"Debra Band is a Hebrew manuscript artist residing in Potomac, MD. She is the author and illuminator of six illuminated books and commentaries, including The Song of Songs: the Honeybee in the Garden (2005), I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms (2007, with Arnold J. Band), and Kabbalat Shabbat: the Grand Unification (2016, with Raymond P. Scheindlin and Arthur Green). Her pieces on Ecclesiastes are taken from: Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living, by Debra Band and Menachem Fisch (forthcoming).","short_description":"Debra Band is a Hebrew manuscript artist residing in Potomac, MD. She is the author and illuminator of six illuminated books and commentaries","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":96426,"alt":"","title":"debra band","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","width":267,"height":247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","medium-width":267,"medium-height":247,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","medium_large-width":267,"medium_large-height":247,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","large-width":267,"large-height":247,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","1536x1536-width":267,"1536x1536-height":247,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","2048x2048-width":267,"2048x2048-height":247,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","post_full_size-width":267,"post_full_size-height":247,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/debra-band.jpg","home_baner-width":267,"home_baner-height":247}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"810","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Its origin unknowable, its endpoint obscure, each mirage-like moment subject to fluctuations and eddies we cannot anticipate\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    Qohelet gazes into a garden pond, its basin foreshadowing the golden bowl image at the end of his book, and arrives at the turning-point in his struggle to perceive the individual\u2019s ability\u2014indeed responsibility\u2014to find wisdom, to lead a meaningful life in the face of the transience of human achievement. He realizes that every human moment has its place in cosmic time, regardless of whether the individual can perceive that place.\u00a0 The still water, disturbed only by fleeting ripples, reflects the distant heavens and trees reflecting every season.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The philosopher-king meditates further on how every aspect and moment of life has its converse moment; the destined time for each unknowable to any but God, the master of all existence. He perceives life as a river, its origin unknowable, its endpoint obscure, each mirage-like moment subject to fluctuations and eddies he cannot anticipate, each moment of pleasure or creativity matched by its opposite moment. The wall through which the stream emerges is capped by a mosaic bearing the musical notation of Pete Seeger\u2019s famous song setting of the poem, \u201cTurn, Turn, Turn.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Illumination and commentary by Debra Band from <\/span>Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living<\/span><\/em>, by Debra Band and Menachem Fisch (forthcoming).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96540,"alt":"","title":"Ecc3-DBand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","width":2500,"height":1563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Life Is A River","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Its origin unknowable, its endpoint obscure, each mirage-like moment subject to fluctuations and eddies we cannot anticipate","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96540,"alt":"","title":"Ecc3-DBand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","width":2500,"height":1563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ecc3-DBand-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"810","date":"20281005","wall_id":"810"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"96551","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"\u201cTo Everything\u2026 There is a Season\u201d ","post_title":"\u201cTo Everything\u2026 There is a Season\u201d","slug":"to-everything-there-is-a-season","old_id":"96551","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"810","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And a time for every purpose - individual and national\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    Seven consecutive verses in our chapter stipulate \u201ca time\u201d for a total of 28 \u201cthings\u201d (<\/span>chefetz<\/span><\/em>), with two pairs of contrasting items per verse. There is what is proverbially called \u201cgood news and bad news.\u201d On the positive side, no matter how negative times may be, the cyclical nature of life suggests that they will eventually improve. The downside is that good times will not be permanent; they, too, can pass and be replaced by something worse.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Rashi saw a clear link between this chapter and its two predecessors, writing: \u201cLet not one who accumulates possessions out of vanity rejoice, for although he possesses them now, they will ultimately pass on to the righteous; only the time has not yet arrived, for everything has a set time when it will be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Following Rashi through 26 of the 28 posted items yields a range from the individual to the entire nation:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
    \r\n

    A time to be born \u2013 At nine months.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to die \u2013 The limit of the years of each generation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to plant \u2013 A nation and a kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to uproot \u2013 A time will come for it to be uprooted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to kill \u2013 An entire nation, when the day of its visitation comes, as it is stated, \"and he will slay your remnant [with the sword].\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to heal \u2013 Their ruin, as the matter is stated concerning Egypt, \"and they will repent to the Lord, and He will accept their prayer and heal them.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to wreck \u2013 The wall of the city, when it is decreed upon it, as it is stated, \"and the wall of Jerusalem is breached.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to build \u2013 As it is stated, \"and I will build it up as in the days of old.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to mourn \u2013 In the days of mourning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to dance \u2013 With bridegrooms and brides.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to embrace \u2013 [As it is stated,] \"For, just as a belt is fastened\" [so does an embrace enfold].<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to refrain from embracing \u2013 [As it is stated,] \"And the Lord will drive the people far away.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to rip apart \u2013 The kingship of the House of David, [as it is stated,] \"And I tore the kingship, etc.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to sew \u2013 [As it is stated,] \"And they will become united in your hand;\" [and] \"neither shall they be divided any longer into two kingdoms.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    A time to love \u2013 [As it is stated,] \u201cAnd He will love you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    And a time to hate \u2013 [As] it is stated, \u201cAll their evil is in Gilgal; for there I hated them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

    \r\n

    [A time for war\u2014]<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

    		\r\n

    [A time for peace\u2014]<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Curiously, Rashi offered no interpretations of the last two phrases, suggesting, perhaps, that he assumed they are to be understood quite literally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":79934,"alt":"","title":"ps1-seasons","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","width":1083,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-300x106.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":106,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-768x272.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":272,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-1024x363.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":363,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","1536x1536-width":1083,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","2048x2048-width":1083,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","post_full_size-width":1083,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","home_baner-width":1083,"home_baner-height":384}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"\u201cTo Everything\u2026 There is a Season\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And a time for every purpose - individual and national","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":79934,"alt":"","title":"ps1-seasons","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","width":1083,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-300x106.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":106,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-768x272.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":272,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-1024x363.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":363,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","1536x1536-width":1083,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","2048x2048-width":1083,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","post_full_size-width":1083,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","home_baner-width":1083,"home_baner-height":384}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"810","date":"20281005","wall_id":"810"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"96548","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"God\u2019s Knowledge And Free Will ","post_title":"God\u2019s Knowledge And Free Will","slug":"gods-knowledge-and-free-will","old_id":"96548","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"810","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The difference between God\u2019s universe, and Marvel\u2019s\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    Thanks to Pete Seeger and The Byrds, chapter three of Ecclesiastes is probably the most famous of them all. But beyond the poetic mirroring of the ebbs and flows of the seasons, chapter three posits a deep philosophical question about free will. \u201cHe brings everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity in their mind, but without man ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass\u201d (verse 11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    If God knows the future, then how can man have free will? If God knows everything that comes to pass, how does man have the ability to make independent decisions? According to Solomon, God knows exactly when certain things are meant to happen, and God makes these things occur at precisely the right time. At the same time, God allows humans to be aware of the vastness of space and time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    But when humans are preoccupied with these grand questions, they often overlook the miracles that happen every day.\u00a0 The flow of the seasons and the mundane things that happen all have a real effect on the lives of humans. Free will exists within this structure.\u00a0 In Solomon\u2019s view, God sets things up that keep humans moving on a certain path. Free will is influenced, but not controlled by God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    This view sounds like the TVA in Marvel\u2019s Loki. The TVA is a group whose job it is to secure the sacred timeline, jumping in at certain points to delete any variant. Variants are people who choose to act out of free will in a way that goes against what the timeline requires setting off an alternate dangerous timeline. Is that the same answer that Solomon posits? Or is Solomon\u2019s view different? It seems like in Solomon\u2019s version humans are not restricted from acting out of the timeline, just that God creates a set of circumstances that narrow the options.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Is that free will?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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