Join us for six Tuesday evening sessions, beginning December 6, 7:00pm, at Kol HaLev
All are welcome for an exploration of Ecclesiastes, "the most honest book in the entire Hebrew Bible" (according to Rabbi Rami Shapiro).
Ecclesiastes is part of the genre of "wisdom literature" and is unlike the rest of the Bible, making no mention of the specific God of the Jews, Jewish particularism, customs and commandments of religious life, reward and punishment, absolute right and wrong, etc. It was included in the canon of sacred writ-despite its unconventional and even contradictory views, its basis in human Reason versus divine Revelation-because of its attribution to Solomon, the wise "assembler" of the people (hence the title in Hebrew, "Kohelet"). It dates from a historical period, the 6th and 5th centuries BCE (post-Babylonian Exile), not unlike our own-worldly, cosmopolitan, corrupt, with economic disparities and displacements... uncertain, insecure and unfair-and its message about finding joy and meaning amidst such circumstances is as relevant today as then.
You may know pieces of Ecclesiastes, such as, "For everything there is a season" or "There is nothing new under the sun" or "All rivers flow to the sea but the sea is never filled." But to really explore Kohelet is to come face to face with the search for meaning in human life in a world that is impermanent and illusory. What gain comes from power, wealth, pleasure, or even knowledge? How best shall we live given the realities of change and impermanence? This book offers both a diagnosis and a prescription.
The book has 12 chapters, and we will carefully read it through, line by line, informing our discussion with commentaries, midrash and other literature from the ancient world. Copies of the text will be provided.
Mark your calendar to join us!
December 6, 13 and 20 January 3, 17 and 24