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Why do we read Ecclesiastes on Sukot?

The Book of Gatherings

Kohelet is the book of the Bible, one of the Five Megilot (“scrolls”), which the sages relate to the festival of Sukot, and in many congregations is read on the Shabbat of Sukot. It is so named for the pen-name assumed by its author, King Solomon, who refers to himself by this name in the first verse of the book: “The words of Kohelet, the son of David,  king in Jerusalem.” The English name, “Ecclesiastes,” is an ancient Greek translation of its Hebrew name, which means “to gather.”

Commenting on the first verse of Kohelet-Ecclesiastes, Rashi writes:

"Kohelet," because he gathered many wisdoms. Also, elsewhere, he is called Agur ben Ya’keh, as he stored all the wisdom [the etymological root of ‘Agur’] and then spat it out [the etymological root of ‘Ya’ke’]. There is another opinion [that he was called ‘Kohelet’] because he would deliver his discourses in public (hakhel).

Let us now see how both reasons that Rashi gives for the name Kohelet connect this book with the festival of Sukot.

The Festival of Gathering

Sukot is also known as the Festival of Gathering in the Torah¹ because agriculturally it is the time for gathering in the crops that grew during the summer. As the spiritual dimension parallels the physical dimension, Sukot is also the time for gathering the wisdom gained during the summer months.² Thus, Rashi’s commentary here is very pertinent, as the time for gathering and storing one’s wisdom is Sukot.

Yet, here Rashi writes that Agur ben Ya’ke stored all the wisdom, while in his commentary on the verse in Proverbs he writes that “he stored the understanding.” How can we understand the difference between Rashi’s two comments? Additionally, why would Agur ben Ya’ke later spit out the wisdom that he had gathered? To extend Rashi’s metaphor: what is the difference between wisdom that can be digested, and wisdom that has to be spat out?

Wisdom and understanding

In Kabbalah, wisdom and understanding are the two intellectual sefirot about which the Zohar says: “They are like a couple that never parts.” Kabbalah uses holographic (or fractal) thought. What this means is that as you analyze something using Kabbalistic concepts, the same patterns emerge again and again, each time with a little bit of a variation. One of the most basic such holographic repetitions revealed and formulated by the Arizal involves the grouping of the sefirot into partzufim (literally, “personas”), and then the subsequent grouping of the partzufim into olamot (literally, “worlds”). Thus, there are in principle 10 sefirot in every partzuf, and 12 central partzufim in every olam.³

Normally, when we speak of wisdom and understanding, we are referring to these two sefirot as they function in the partzufim of Aba and Ima, which we usually translate as “the father principle” and “the mother principle.” However, wisdom and understanding are also the central sefirot of another pair of partzufim: Yisra’el Saba and Tevunah (abbreviated Yasut).

Whereas Aba and Ima are considered to be the essential partzufim of wisdom and understanding, Yisra’el Saba and Tevunah reflect the more practical and applied aspects of wisdom and understanding that are shaped and changed by external circumstances.

One way to illustrate this difference is to consider the difference between wisdom that is acquired from experience⁴ and wisdom that is acquired through systematic study of a topic. A person with experience may know how to solve certain problems that he has come across already (especially if he has a good memory), but will experience great difficulty when faced by a completely new challenge. But, the person who has studied the theory and foundations of a topic may be able to quickly apply his essential knowledge to solve any number of new problems.

Such is the difference for instance between a car mechanic who specializes in Honda vehicles and finds himself staring at the engine of a Volvo, compared to a mechanic who has a college degree in auto mechanics and understands the theory behind all car engines. The Honda specialist has applied wisdom and understanding (Yashsut), but no essential wisdom and understanding (Aba and Ima).

Similarly, a software and computer engineer can quickly apply her theoretical training in mathematics, programming languages, operating systems, error-correcting codes, integrated circuits, communications protocols, etc. to understand and master any new computer program or technology that she encounters. But, even a very experienced power-user never fully understands a technology, only how to use it. Again, the computer engineer has studied the essential understanding and wisdom (Aba and Ima) while the power-user has learned only from applied experience (Yasut).

This difference between Yasut and Aba and Ima is even more pronounced in the context of Torah study. In order to be applicable in all situations, one has to study the essence of the Torah’s wisdom, Kabbalah, and even more so, Chassidut. Without Kabbalah and Chassidut, a great deal of Torah knowledge cannot be understood as more than just a particular instance, a special case. This is the main reason that it is related in the name of the Gaon of Vilna, that one who does not know the inner wisdom of the Torah should not be a posek (halachic authority).

Gathering and spitting out

Equipped with the preceding explanation, let us look at Rashi’s commentary once more. In Kohelet, Rashi writes that Agur ben Yeke gathered and stored כל החכמה , meaning “all the wisdom.” The additional “all” refers in Kabbalah to the sefirah of foundation.⁵ Thus, in Kabblistic parlance, Rashi is referring to the foundation of wisdom, which is the main part of the wisdom of Aba around which the partzuf of Yisra’el Saba is built. It follows therefore that in Proverbs, when Rashi describes Agur as having gathered and stored all of the understanding, he means understanding as it is in the partzuf of Tevunah.

Thus, we find that Agur ben Ya’ke embodied the quality described in the Book of Formation (Sefer Yetzirah) as “be wise in understanding,”⁶ which is the unification of Yisra’el Saba with Tevunah.⁷

Indeed, the unification of Yisra’el Saba with Tevunah is neither an immutable nor a permanent state of unification, and as we mentioned above it is susceptible to circumstances. Only the unification of Aba and Ima, which captures the essence of wisdom, creates a permanent state of intellectual enlightenment, which cannot be abjured. About this last state, the verse says: “they shall die [all other states of intellect], but not in wisdom.”⁸ This is the reason that Agur ben Ya’ke ultimately “spat out” his wisdom. In Ecclesiastes he writes about the impermanence of his wisdom: “I said I would be wise—yet it remained far from me.” The sages write that “it” refers to the secret of the Red Heifer, which was revealed only to Moshe Rabbeinu, the embodiment of the essence of wisdom, who achieved the unification of higher wisdom with the higher understanding.

The gatherings of Moshe and King Solomon

The second reason noted by Rashi is very clearly related to the festival of Sukot, because the event of Hakhel, which literally means “the gathering,” was held once every seven years during Sukot. We find that Moshe Rabbeinu also held Torah “gatherings,” once every seven days, on the Shabbat. Of Moshe’s gatherings the Torah says: ויקהל משה , meaning “Moshe gathered….”⁹ The numerical value of these two words is 496 = r31. Of King Solomon’s gathering the Bible says: אז יקהל שלמה , “Then Solomon gathered….”¹⁰ The numerical value of these three words is 528 = 32.

There is a simple mathematical equality stating that:

n ┴ (n ┴ 1) = (n ┴ 1)2
I.e., the sum of two consecutive triangular numbers [n and n ┴ 1] is equal to (n ┴ 1) squared.

So, in our case:

31 ┴ 32 = 32²

But, 32 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word for “heart,” לב . Both wisdom and understanding relate to the heart. In another verse in Ecclesiastes, King Solomon says: “My heart saw much wisdom.”¹¹ And from the introduction to Tikunei Zohar we learn that, “understanding is the heart.”

Thus, we may conclude that the gathering of Solomon complemented the gatherings of Moshe Rabbeinu, reflecting as such the manner in which practical wisdom complements theoretical-essential wisdom; or, in the language of Kabbalah reflecting the manner in which the unification of Yasut complements the unification of Aba and Ima.¹²

All is revealed in the sukah

The word “sukah” itself stems from the word meaning “to perceive,” a verb that is used particularly in relation to ru’ach hakodesh (the Divine Spirit of Holiness).¹³ The prophet Jonah (whose story we read at the highpoint of Yom Kipur) received his power of prophecy during the joyful celebration of Sukot; he merited to perceive ru’ach hakodesh on Sukot. The Talmudic phrase “to perceive ru’ach hakodesh” does not only refer to the prophet himself, but can also be read “to perceive [the potential of] ru’ach hakodesh [in others].” Sukot is the time to become aware of the latent power of ru’ach hakodesh that manifests from the innermost point of wisdom in each and every Jew’s heart. The inner quality of wisdom is selflessness, the quality necessary to unite us all in one sukah of peace (sukat shalom).

On Rosh Hashanah, the Almighty is said to survey all, at once, but the results of this survey are kept hidden in the concealed world, the subject of the verse “the hidden is to Havayah our God.” But that same survey is revealed like a clear day during the festival of Sukot.¹⁴

Thus every Jew can merit to see the entire Jewish people as one, sitting under one Sukah—“together all the tribes of Israel.” When every Jew attains a state of self-nullification, which is the experiential equivalent to obtaining permanent wisdom and understanding, we can see how the Talmudic dictum “All the Jews are worthy of sitting under [the roof of] one sukah” becomes possible. Thus, Sukot is the time that we gather together as the students of Moshe and King Solomon.

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