Turning to Kohelet This Sukkot
Words of Wisdom with Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar
This week's Dvar Torah was edited from one written by Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman, RJE , education director at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, and a past president of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE).
One of the privileges and responsibilities that I have as a congregational professional is serving on the faculty of the Union for Reform Judaism's summer camps.
Imagine my surprise when three summers ago, my first serving in the unit at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute (OSRUI) that focuses on the arts for students in the seventh through tenth grades-that our topic was Kohelet, the Book of Ecclesiastes.
My immediate reaction was: "It's so dark. This is summer camp where they are supposed to have fun! What are they going to get out of the ramblings of an older person reviewing and lamenting on life?"
Three summers later, the staff members-and even some of the campers-are still talking about the session. The mere mention of the word Kohelet evokes a nod, a knowing utterance, of something that was deep yet accessible, provocative yet distressing, memorable and powerful.
The opening of the scroll introduces the person, Kohelet, as the son of David, king of Jerusalem, implying that the words are attributed to Solomon.
The words of Kohelet read like that of an elder with death in sight reviewing his or her life much like the psychologist, Erik Erikson (1) suggests.
Erikson sees life as a series of psychosocial tasks that involve two conflicting forces for which successful resolution leads to the emergence of a virtue or strength. As with Kohelet in this phase of life, the tension is between ego integrity and despair.
But which is Kohelet filled with? Is it ego integrity-a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with his life? Or is it despair-a darkness and cynicism about his days on earth?
On the one hand, Kohelet says: "every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor; it is the gift of God" (Kohelet 3:13). (2) This statement is uplifting and revealing of Kohelet's deference for God.
Yet, in almost the next breath, he shares the sobering thought that "there is one fate for both man and beast, and it is the same fate: as the one dies, so dies the other . . . and man has no preeminence above the beast; for all is vanity" (3:19).
So what are the connections between Kohelet and Sukkot? Sukkot is a festival that like Kohelet has its contrasts.
In the Torah, we are instructed to "rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days" (Leviticus 23:40). It is the only festival in the Leviticus 23 accounting of the set times, including the holidays and Shabbat, for which "rejoicing" is mentioned.
Yet, Sukkot ends with a "solemn gathering" (23:36). All of this joy is tempered by sadness and soulfulness.
As much as we celebrate the plenty of the harvest, thanking God for our bounty, so too, at least in our custom of our time, do we spend time remembering our ancestors, mourning our dead.
The strongest connection for me between Kohelet and Sukkot has to do with the "booth" that we are instructed to erect in Leviticus to remind us that we lived in these temporary structures in the wilderness after God took us out of Egypt.
Both the scroll and the booth remind us of the fragility of life, the quality of being like havel or vapor that can be seen but seems to have no substance or form; it is elusive and disappears.
Kohelet reminds us upfront that our life is temporary and fragile.
Kohelet pushes us to open our souls, to look deep inside ourselves and humanity, into places that are often not navigated, full of shadows, darkness, and fear, to confront and consider that which may make us feel wobbly and vulnerable.
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Why Did These Teens Find Kohelet So Compelling?
While we are the people of HaTikvah, "The Hope," Kohelet presents life as it really is: not always so pleasant, filled with grief, foolishness, and even futility often of our own making or beyond our control.
In a way, the person, Kohelet, is a sympathetic soul mate for teens as they seek their independence, build their identities, and experience future sadness, loss, disappointment, breakup, obstacles, and struggle.
Kohelet does not pretend that life is always good; Kohelet shares the way life is, truthfully, resonating with their experience.
Teens don't need to be protected, they need to be supported and given the space to grow and flourish.
For that, Kohelet offers much insight to teens and to us as parents, educators, and leaders.
Even at this season of rejoicing, as we sit in our shaky booths and read Kohelet, may we remember the fragility of life and reach out to all, for as Kohelet reminds us: "Two are better than one… For if they fall, one can lift up his comrade. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one to lift him up" (Kohelet 4:9-10).
(1) See The Life Cycle Completed, Erik H. Erikson (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1982) and Insight and Responsibility, Erik H. Erikson (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1964)
(2) The translation for Ecclesiastes is from The Five Scrolls, ed. by Herbert N. Bronstein and Albert H. Friedlander (New York: CCAR Press, 1984)
