Final Speech of the Yirei Elokim

In his final speech, the Yirei Elokim responds to everyone else's philosophies. 

Response to Chacham: Even in your most private areas where you think no one can hear, don't say bad things about others, because G-d can always hear. You think you know better than everyone else, but you don't. G-d has the ability to know man's thoughts and to see into the most secretive and private aspects of anyone's life. You don't have the access to peoples' private lives like G-d does. You are vulnerable - you can be outsmarted by a little bird -> YOU ARE LIMITED. 

There are things you can't know, the human mind is limited. But just because you don't know something it doesn't mean that everything is Hevel. There is nothing wrong with chachma, you just have to realize that it is limited. The sun sometimes enlightens you and allows you to see, but it's not everything. 

Response to Amal: You need to put certain things aside because there will be bad times in your life. There are two things in this world that you will never know: 1. what the weather will be 2. What is going on in pregnancy. Don't wait for the perfect time, because if you wait for the perfect time, you will never do anything. Take the risk, you have to toil. There are factors of this world that you don't know but you need to try anyways. 

Response to Nehene: If you think that living life is all physical pleasure, you won't find meaning because at some point you will no longer be able to experience physical pleasure. There is nothing wrong with physical pleasure, but you need to recognize G-d. If you can recognize the above the Shemsh world, the Tachat Hashemesh world will become meaningful. 

Response to Everyone: The only thing that man can know is that man can't know everything. The secret of life is that there is a G-d and if you recognize that there is a higher power of man, then you will fins meaning in your life. If everything of your life revolves around perfection, you will be stuck and yo won't find meaning. 

If you recognize that you are human, mortal, finite, and there is a G-d out there, then you can use the Chachma, Osher, and Kavod and you can have a meaningful life

THERE IS NOT YITRON TACHAT HASHEMESH IF YOU ARE LIVING AN ONLY TACHAT HASHEMSESH WORLD. 

The Yirei Elokim gives a lot of insight in his final speech. Something that everyone can learn from him. It's hard and scary to recognize that there is something above us that has all the power in the world and can use that power at any second. What he says is like the way that Charlie Harary answered one of the questions two Shabbatot ago. The question was about shomer and why it's so important. The answer that Charlie Harary gave was that in marriage the physical pleasure and the spiritual pleasure become something so meaningful. When you are married, your two souls become one and you are so strong spiritually. He said that if you waste the physical pleasure throughout your whole life, it will feel wasted and there won't be any significance or meaning to it. If you can wait until the time that you can have the perfect mix of spiritual and physical pleasure together and something becomes meaningful. 

The past week we learned the נהנה's last speech before he leaves Kohelet. Both the עמל and the כחם think that effort or wisdom can help make the world a better place. The נהנה responds to that saying man can't save himself through his actions. He realizes that no matter what you do everyone has the same fate- death. The sinners and righteous have the same fate, the good and the bad have the same fate, the pure and impure have the same fate, so what is the point? Once you are dead you are forgotten and lost. Nothing will happen once you die so you might as well eat, drink, and party. The נהנה has some truth to his words. We don't know what will come after this world, if anything at all.

Calvin and Hobbes

Following in Rachel Tsuna's footsteps, I found a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that seems to encompass the viewpoint of the עמל.
He's happy and building things, and everything is great, but he can't be perfect so it's all worthless...
There you go. Short and sweet.

The Yirei Elokim's Initial Response to the Chacham

In י:כ, we see what could be a potential response to the Chacham's previous rant. He's saying that in his rant he cursed the king and the wealthy. He refers back to what the Chacham said in פרק ז – that everyone curses everyone - and he's telling him that he's not really above that. The Yirei Elokim is telling the Chacham that although he thinks he knows better, he doesn't have access to what G-d has access to (everything). G-d has the ability to know man's thoughts and to see into the most secretive and private aspects of his lief (במדעך and בחדרי משכבך).

In this one פסוק the Yirei Elokim is giving the Chacham a reality check: he's limited by definition. Stop yelling and complaining, you don't have ultimate control! The Yirei Elokim shows the חכם as vulnerable and out-smarted by a little bird. He is limited!

I have a slight problem with this. The Chacham has just proclaimed himself as an agnostic in the previous section. He may not be a complete atheist, but he's not willing to take that leap of faith. How are you going to start talking about G-d if someone doesn't even believe in G-d!? It's not a productive argument! I think the facts the Yirei Elokim are presenting make sense, but only if you are accepting his premise - that G-d even exists and has access to all of these things! I think each person really sees that their own way, but there's something else interesting about this Passuk. It is one pasuk, yet there is so much information in it. So many different thoughts and ideas that come from it. It's pretty fascinating that you can get so much out of 20 words - whether you're an agnostic, atheist, chacham, amal, nehaneh, or yirei elokim!

Is That It?

This week, we FINALLY reached the crux of the Yirei Elokim's philosophy. He FINALLY tells us how to find meaning in life. How do you find meaning in life? Man can follow this basic idea: the only thing that man can know for sure is that man does not know. Man is not in control. In the end, G-d is in control and will hold you accountable for your actions. Man must participate in this world because G-d will hold him accountable. In the end, life is about the journey.

When we first met the Yirei Elokim, I loved what he had to say. In my blog posts, I was literally singing his praises because his philosophy was so human, so real, so tangible. As the other characters attacked the Yirei Elokim's philosophy, I began to doubt his resolve and his "correctness." Honestly, that might be because he has never outright stated his philosophy before now. It has always been said in response to someone else, but never on its own. Now that we know what he's saying, or what he believes the essence of life is, are we supposed to believe what he says without contesting it? Maybe just a little disagreement? Maybe?

I personally agree that accepting the basic fact that man cannot understand is vital to one's search for meaning in life. So what happens when you understand that fact? How are you supposed to behave? You should behave ethically, I hope. If you accept G-d's dominance over man and fail to participate in the world and try, then you have still failed. Although the Yirei Elokim did mention that G-d will hold man accountable for his actions in the end, what about behavior in this world? It seems like morality should be understood, but, alas, some of the other characters in Kohelet clearly seemed to overlook this.

Let's remove this whole idea from the context of Judaism. People of all faiths, denominations, backgrounds, and nations search for meaning in life every day. If you search "meaning of life" on YouTube, you will get a mix of Tibetan Monks, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, and otherwise explaining what they believe is the meaning of life. I stumbled upon this video of the Dalai Lama, one of the world's most recognized religious leaders. What does he say is the key to finding meaning in life? Compassion.

From a global perspective, this sounds amazing. Compassion would help the world out tremendously. Now, given the compassion element, what is the meaning of life? Can this be derived from the Yirei Elokim's core philosophy?

Bacchus and the Smurfy Neheneh

It's funny how you find Kohelet connections in the randomest places. I'm babysitting, and the kids are watching the Smurfs, and there was an episode just now where Lazy takes a nap and dreams of Paradise.
In the episode, he is convinced to go to Paradise instead of gathering firewood like he should be doing, and a big blue Bacchus tells him to "have fun, for life is short." When they take advantage of all that, Bacchus starts trying to trap them to eat them. Maybe this is an indication of what the Neheneh life is really like? Maybe it seems all pretty and awesome and enjoyable, but underneath, once you start living it, it goes bad?
That would make sense... Once you start with one indulgence and then one more and one more, you're on a slippery slope that never stops. It comes to a point where there's never enough. We're never satisfied with what we have, no matter how MUCH we have.
I guess that's the hidden message in the Smurf episode: materialistic paradise might not be quite as lovely as we thought... Just a thought...

We Don't Have to Be Perfect..

From Steinbeck's East of Eden

What does this mean to you?