Sefer Kohelet. Book of Ecclesiastes

third edition, revised and enlarged
Comments from the Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash, Rashi

glossy cover

Kohelet begins with the letter Dalet and ends with the letter ע ain together read: ךע yeah - know. Know your God and serve him. This is called Daath, and knowledge.
This book is based on comments "Meam loez" Rabbi Jacob Cooley (זע"ל) and explanations of Rashi.

Thanks to Pinchas Gil, head of the publishing house "Shamir" in Jerusalem, for allowing to use his translation of the book "Koelet" from Hebrew into Russian, which I processed and brought into line with the explanations of our Teachers.

David Adam

From the Publisher

Before you the book of the wisest of men - Solomon ben David, king in Jerusalem, who ruled for forty years the Jewish state. King Solomon died early, having lived only fifty-three years, but during his short life he managed to reach unprecedented heights of wisdom and piety.

The builder of the First Temple, Solomon built many houses and synagogues, teaching, constantly worrying about the propagation of light of the Torah in the Jewish people. His fame spread far beyond the Land of Israel. His name lives for centuries.

The book "Kohelet" (literally "preaching in the congregation"), written by King Solomon in his old age. In this treasury of human thought, thinking about the world gathered earth (olam ha-ze) and the World to Come (Olam ba-ba), the inquisitive reader will find in it not only obvious but also a secret, hidden wisdom. This book is for those who wish to fill our lives with meaning and to find its place in the world.

"... Havel havalim all havel" («... Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ") - the second verse reads the first chapter. Many reasons to support these words will Koelet in his book. But we should not think that by calling our everyday existence bustle, the wisest izlyudey thereby devalues ​​human life. Actions aimed at the multiplication of pleasures in this world - says Solomon - the essence of steam dissipated in space, and vanity. Human existence is meaningful only when his gaze directed upward, and all his earthly actions are dictated by desire to cleave to God, doing His will, "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole man" (Kohelet 12:13).