It's My Way, or the Highway

This past week in Megillot, we learned about the final speech of the חכם. As always, he starts his speech by responding to each of the other characters of Kohelet. He first responded to the נהנה. He tells his that he can scream like a fool and stomp his feet, but in the end everyone is going to listen to my quiet words of wisdom. He goes on to tell him that though he is loud, and that may get people to follow him, he is still an idiot because he doesn't have the wisdom. We can learn from this that we cannot be led astray by a loud, and "idiotic" leader.

Next comes the response to the עמל. He tells the עמל that no matter how hard he works to reach perfection, he is not going to because he doesn't have the wisdom. Lastly, we have the response to the יראי אלוקים. The חכם questions him. He asks, how do you know that there will be justice in the next world and it is served when you die. You do not have the ability to look further than life, because only I can do that with my wisdom.

After the חכם responds to everyone else, he gives his final opinions. He tells us that a leader should be noble, but money is also the answer for everything. We see that at the end of the חכם's speech he comes full circle back around, like all the other characters, and says that everything is hevel. He became all of the characters combine and said that once one finds MY wisdom, MY intelligence, and MY insight the world will be perfect.

The חכם did have a realization and in the realization I would like to focus on how much he used the words "I" and "my." He told all of the characters that the only way they can achieve perfection is by finding and applying wisdom to their lives. Nothing else will work. It was either the חכם's way or the highway.