It seems like convenience is driving the schedule in a year like this. There’s no Shabbat in the middle of the Chag, so there’s no place to put Kohelet. We squeeze it in on Shmini Atzeret so that we get it in just before everyone moves on. People should know, however, that the Sefer belongs to Shmini Atzeret as much as it belongs to Sukkot. It is another thing the two Chagim share.
Both Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret stand as the final acts before the Torah goes into hibernation. If you look at the schedule of the Chagim, it is clear that the Judaism of the Torah is for the Spring through the Fall. The rabbinical holidays come up in the winter but the Torah hibernates. Consciousness of ths is built into Sukkot. It’s also present on Shmini Atzeret, which is truly the last stop as the physical world goes into disintegration mode. What burst into bloom at Pesach time, and was harvested with Shavuot has now been gathered. Whatever’s left is about to go barren.
There is no better Sefer than Koheles about this passing into oblivion. We know that it understands the seasons, including the season of disintegration. It understands the evanescence of even fine and wonderful things. In fact, it seems to understand little else besides that. This is one of the reasons why it has always struck people as a strange Megilla to include in the Bible. It’s dramatic, if one’s tastes run to the bleak manner of The Iceman Cometh, but is that properly Biblical?
The Rabbis of the Talmud were tempted to leave Kohelet out of the Biblical canon. Too many internal contradictions, they said. It says anger is both good and bad --which is it? There is a bigger contradiction, however, that the Ibn Ezra pointed out. The Torah announces in the first chapter that Creation is good, or even Tov Me’od. Kohelet seems to disagree.
But that is in the beginning of the Sefer. There are many statements of relative value, beginning with the first verses of the second half (the end of Chapter 6). There is a computing principle at work. There are times for anger even for the virtuous even if it is often the tool of the foolish. These distinctions are the stuff of all mature life. Yes, ultimately things disintegrate, but that does not mean that nothing good happens or that nothing good can be accomplished. Yes, evanescence is the rule. But what about the meantime? There is so much to be accomplished. It might not be everything that one wished to do, but that does not make it worthless.
As one stares into the abyss of winter, it can be daunting. But the temptation to despair is short-sighted or immature. There is so much to accomplish over the winter, in the brief but meaningful “meantime.”
