The Power of Hashem

This week, we truly learned the power of Hashem. In the beginning of his reign, Shlomo asks G-d for a gift. He asks for wisdom, and understanding heart, and to know the difference between good and evil. Hashem tells Shlomo that since he didn't ask for anything materialistic, Hashem will give him wisdom and the materialistic things he didn't ask for. Seems like Hashem is proud of Shlomo for not falling into the trap of materialistic goods, doesn't it?

Hashem knew that Shlomo had the potential to be the greatest king ever to live. Hashem would test Shlomo to see if he would live up to the potential. He tells Shlomo that if Shlomo listens to Hashem and follows the laws, he'll get the understanding between good and evil that he initially asked for. If he doesn't listen, he will have the kingdom ripped away from him. Seems more like a test than a reward now, doesn't it?

Shlomo became the wisest person in the whole world. People from other nations and all other countreis were coming to Shlomo for advice. They would bring gifts for Shlomo when they came for advice. Shlomo also became very wealthy. He started to get caught up in his money. He uses his money to buy chariots and horses.

A king has three rules: not to have too many horses or wives, and to not have too much money. Shlomo breaks all the rules. He gets to much money as gifts and uses the money to buy horses. He also falls in love with many foreign women, who end up turning him astray and he builds bamot for them to worship their idols.

Hashem gets angry with Shlomo. He tells Shlomo that he failed the test and that he will have his kingdom ripped away from him and He would give it to his servant in the next generation. Now Hashem's answer to Shlomo's request sounds more like a punishment, doesn't it?

I think what we can learn here is Hashem has all the power in the world. He asks us to follow his laws and He will reward us. If we don't follow his laws, He'll punish us. I think it also shows us there is usually more to a story than we believe. You need to get more in depth to a story before you can draw conclusions. Also, you need to be careful with materialistic goods. You can get caught up in them and forget everything else that is going on in the world.

הכל הבל... or is it?

On Friday, we had a discussion in class about what "Hakol Hevel" could possibly mean. The three proposed translations were that "Hevel" means either ephemeral, worthless, or incomprehensible. We tried to predict what Shlomo might have said about wisdom, wealth, power, and fear of G-d according to each of these three translations. Mrs. Perl's facial expressions during our discussion clearly told us that we were all completely wrong. The reason we were so wrong was that we went into this analysis with our preconceived notion that any Torah book needs to have a good Torah message about coming closer to G-d and not sinning. This is the ideal. Sadly, reality is not ideal.

When Mrs. Perl told us to throw out all preconceived notions about what this book will be like, I immediately stated thinking about how people deal with loss. I mentioned in class that, although Shlomo's punishment would be administered to his children, he probably did feel betrayed by G-d and saddened by the future loss of his kingdom. As anyone who has ever lost anything knows, one of the first impulses is to either try to prove that you did nothing wrong or to shift the blame onto someone else. Shlomo may have written that trying to forge a relationship with G-d is ephemeral, worthless, and incomprehensible because G-d will betray and punish you in the end. Mrs. Perl told us that Kohelet is often extremely contradictory. Maybe the reason for this is that Shlomo was telling over his life experiences through the lens of the particular stage of grief that he was in at the time.

For me, nothing is sadder than seeing people with potential fall and never recover. Shlomo had the potential to be the greatest king ever. As a child, he asked G-d for a bit too much; he asked for the wisdom to correctly discern between right and wrong and the ability to be able to judge accordingly. G-d tested him by granting him this and more. By the end of his lifetime, Shlomo had completely failed the test. Even at that stage in life, he could have changed himself. When G-d told him that he sinned so badly that the kingdom would be torn away from his children, he must have been devastated and confused. From this vantage point, I can totally understand how Shlomo could have been mad at G-d. Having never studied Kohelet before, I can only hope that Shlomo eventually comes to the realization that trying to forge a strong relationship with G-d is not "Hevel" and wisdom, wealth, and power are all good in moderation. The proof that fear of G-d is not "Hevel" is the survival of the Jewish people for thousands of years, overcoming persecution and holocaust to become the nation we are today. We could not have survived if we thought that trying to be close to G-d is "Hevel."

Palestinians and Shlomo

 
              This week we started to learn the introduction to Kohelet. We learned about how when Shlomo was appointed king, Hashem said Shlomo could have anything he wanted to. Instead of asking for wealth or other stuff that would make him a bad king, Shlomo asked for wisdom to be like Hashem. Hashem then rewarded him with not only wisdom, but with wealth, power, and wisdom. Hashem said that if he were to use the wisdom and all the things he had in a good way, he would have a guaranteed spot in Gan Eden. If he would use all of his gifts in a bad way, he would not be rewarded and would be punished. Hashem basically gave Shlomo a test. Not only did he do this to Shlomo, but when the world was first created, he gave a test to Adam and Chava. He told them not to eat from a certain tree and they did. Shlomo was given the test, but failed because he became corrupt. Shlomo took the money Hashem gave him and bought many unnecessary things. He also married to many wives. Because of his corruption, Shlomo was punished and his servant took his spot.

               Earlier in the year, our country was attacked by the Palestinians while they through missiles into various cities of Israel. In a certain way, the Palestinians faced a similar problem just like Shlomo. Back in the day, the Jews gave Gaza a little part of Israel that belonged to us. They gave this the land to stop some problems. Through the years, Gaza and Israel battled, but last year, it became really bad when missiles were being launched very frequently. The reason why they threw these missiles were because they wanted more land. Just like Shlomo, they were given  a little bit of good, but turned it in to something bad.

Welcome to 5 Megillot!

Welcome to our 5 Megillot class. 

In an effort to encourage collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, each week you will be responsible to write one new blog post and to respond to one to two blog posts from your classmates.  In order to hold you accountable, you will be graded on these posts!

If there is a prompt on the blog, you will be required to respond to that particular prompt in your post (the prompt could be a video, article, question, cartoon etc.). If there is no prompt, you can be creative in your post and can bring in your own thoughts or resources concerning the topic that we are studying during that particular week.

I look forward to using this blog as a means to share ideas and reflections as we embark on our study of the megillot.

You will be graded according to the following rubric:

BLOG REFLECTION RUBRIC

OUTCOME ASSESSED	Beginning	Developing	Proficient		Strong	WEIGHT	VALUE
	1	7	9	10
Overall Use of Blogs	Blog entries are few and generally simple retellings of personal events. No comments are made on blogs of others.	Almost all required blog entries and comments have been completed.	A blog entry and comment is submitted, though not all of them may give evidence of a substantial contribution.	A blog entry and comment is submitted, both of which are substantial. Beyond the required post, your blog includes many more reflections.		40%
Intellectual Engagement with Key Concepts	Blog entries make no reference to issues raised through readings and/or class activities.	Blog entries make some reference to issues raised through readings and/or class activities.	Blog entries demonstrate awareness of most of the key issues raised through readings and/or class activities.	Blog entries demonstrate engagement with the important issues raised through readings and/or class activities.		25%
Personal Response to Key Concepts	Blog entries show no personal response is made to the issues/concepts raised in the readings/activities.	Blog entries convey little evidence of a personal response to the issues/concepts raised in the readings/activities.	Blog entries convey evidence of a personal response to the issues raised in the readings/ activities, and demonstrate that the author is capable of reflecting on learning, technology, and society.	Blog entries convey extensive evidence of a personal response to the issues raised in the readings/ activities, and demonstrate the author's growth through reflection on learning, technology and society.		25%
Engaged Writing	Blog entries use incorrect grammar and syntax consistently, making it difficult for others to follow.	Blog entries demonstrate some evidence of correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Audience will have little trouble reading your blog.	Blog entries show a good command of Standard English. No problems for your audience.	Blog entries show a very good command of Standard English and have some flair and originality.		10%