Kohelet Knows Something About Life We Keep Forgetting | 10@9 | 2026.09.23

Good morning! Today is Wednesday, September 23, 2026. On the Shabbos of Cholhamei Tsukkos, which is a week from this Shabbos, we read Cohele's Ecclesiastes, written by Shlomo HaMela, King Solomon. In the past, we've discussed why we read this, what is its connection to Tsukkos, what are its major themes, and all of those are quite complicated questions that require significant analysis. But today and tomorrow, I'd like to look at a different aspect with you. Scholars refer to Cohele's, along with the book of Mishleh Proverbs and Eov, the book of Job, as wisdom literature. That's a name that's given to these three works. So what I'd like to do today and tomorrow is to point out some of the less well-known but very practical wisdom in Cohele's, and with the eye to helping apply it to our lives. HaChacham enav Baroshu, a wise person has their eyes in their head. Vahaksil, and a foolish person, Ba'akhooshech holech, is walking in the darkness. Now, I mean, everyone has eyes in their head, but the metaphor is meant to suggest that a person has eyes that are looking ahead, not only at the immediate moment in front of them, but planning in advance a little bit. I remember when we first came to Montreal, I took skiing lessons together with some of the members of my family, and we enjoyed it very much. Some members of my family still ski, I do not, but I remember taking lessons, and I was able to get to the level of intermediate, which I was very proud of that. I remember I was taking a lesson, and at that point I was learning to go from side to side down the hill, and I was having some difficulty, especially with the turns, and I would often fall. My instructor said, what you need to do is don't look at your skis, because that's what I was doing. I was looking to try to make sure that I was placing my skis properly and keeping them in line. He said, don't look at your skis, look down hill at where you want to go, and then your skis will just automatically follow where you want to go. It was good advice for skiing, it helped me to get more advanced in skiing, but it's also very good advice about life. I'll just reflect on my own life for a moment. Things are very busy around here. In my personal life, in my work life, if I focus only what I have to do today, I'm not going to make it through this season, because we have, just to talk about work stuff, so we have a major event on Friday and on Chabas and Sunday, and then next week, several major events, and then the week after that, several major events, if I'm only focused on today, I'm not going to make it. I've got to start planning for next week, and the week after that, and the week after that. Ha'chacham enaboroshu. You have to look ahead. You have to think about not only what's immediately in front of you, but you have to start planning in advance, if you wanted to work out okay. Tovim shnayim in a'chad. Two are better than one. Two are better than one in many, many situations. Of course, there are certain situations where one's better than two, but two are better than one. Two are better than one because if I have a partner in what I'm doing, someone together with me, then I can get feedback. I don't have to make all the decisions myself. I have someone that's checking me. I have someone that can spell me. You know, they're amazing people that are single parents, incredible people, takes special people to be able to do that to be a single parent, and it's hard because there are times when there are two parents, one can spell the other. When one gets tired, the other can take over. When one gets a little frustrated, the other can take over. They can share the duties. They should share the duties. If it's one person, okay, yes, I know many, many people who do an excellent job, but they're doing it all alone. Okay, sometimes they have other kinds of help. All right. But in general, be able to do something that takes effort and takes planning and takes skill and takes and where you want excellence to have two people is often better than having one because we need feedback and we need someone to spell us. Very good advice. Altavahel al-picha. Do not be rash with your mouth. Vilebchah al-yemaher lahotsi davril of Neholakim. And don't be quick to speak. Ki huelakim bashrimaim. Because God's in heaven, the atal arets. And you're on the earth. We're on the earth. Al-kayn yudurakim atim. We should make less decisions with our speech, especially altavahel when things are chaotic. When things are chaotic, don't make decisions during a time of upheaval. Don't be quick to make decisions during a time of emotional embroilment. Don't make important decisions at a time of grief. God forbid. Don't make important decisions. Yes, I know certain decisions you have to make. But if you can put it off until there's a calmer time, you'll be better off. People make decisions when they're under pressure and then they regret them. We've spoken about this many times before. Don't make decisions when you're angry. God forbid. Try not to speak because you're not going to have the judgment of calmness to be able to make sure that what you're saying is what you really mean and what you want. Just to use a very, very mundane example, don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry because you'll end up just buying all the snacks that you want and you won't buy the stables that you really need. Be careful about making decisions or speaking at a time of upheaval in any way. Sadness, joy. Make sure your decisions are made. Make sure your words are spoken when you're calm, when you can think about them, when you know that they are the proper things you want to say. Oh, hey, Kasev, loyaispa Kasev, if you love money, you will never be satisfied by money. It's okay to have nice things. It's okay to want nice things as long as it doesn't cause any other problems and as long as it's done properly. The Shrull Salantra said there's nothing wrong with being a wealthy person. There is something wrong with loving wealth because if you love money, you'll never have a month because it's human nature. The more you have, the more you want. It's a much better approach to life. The other lesson that our sages teach us. Be happy with what you have. Count your blessings once you start to love money. It's an endless uphill battle. And connected to that is Masuka Shnas HaOvade. It is much sweeter to eat the food that you have earned whether it is a lot of food or a little food. It's much sweeter than if you're handed a handout to be able to work for something and then enjoy the fruit of your labor either literally or figuratively. It's much more satisfying. It's much more great to be able to work for something. It gives one much more sense of self esteem and control of their life. I earn this. I work for this. And so even if it's not the most expensive thing, even if it's not the most, it's still going to be sweeter than if it's a handout. And this is why we speak about in terms of helping others, it is a much bigger mitzvah. It is a much bigger mitzvah to help someone to be able to earn their own income. Because not only are you helping them to be able to eat to support themselves and their family, but you're giving them a sense of self esteem, a sense of gratification. I earned it. This should be the model, number one of what we individually should try to do. And number two, when we're trying to help others in what the best way is to help others, to be able to support themselves, to earn for themselves. We've talked about this one before. Tov l'alekha salbeis evel mil lechha salbeis mishta. If you have a choice, you have two invitations. At any given moment, you can either go to a funeral or you can go to a wedding. You have a reason to go to both. Shalom amelitiches, go to the funeral. Why would you go to the funeral? I mean, we do believe that a person should live a life of simcha, of joy. To go to a wedding is a beautiful thing. Shalom amelitich explains. Ba'ashayahu sof kala adham because not everybody will get married. We hope people will get married and be happy married. But not everyone will be, and not everyone will stay married. But everybody so far will eventually pass away. Ba'achayitayn el-libo and the living person should take that to heart. In other words, a funeral is supposed to be an event that is inspiring, that we learn something about the person that teaches us how to live our lives more fully, how to appreciate every day that we have, because every moment that we have is a gift. If we go to a wedding, yes, it's beautiful and we're joyous and the people are happy that we're there and the food is delicious and they're singing and they're dancing and they're music, all kinds of good things. But I'm not necessarily going to learn any lessons about life. At a funeral, hopefully, what is supposed to happen, and we've spoken about this many times, what is supposed to happen is I should be learning lessons about life. I should be learning lessons about how to make life count, how to make every moment count, what is important in life and what is not important. If you have a choice, go to a funeral. Ki adham ayn sadik paare tashayah setovalayah kakta. There's no such thing as a person who is righteous in this world who has never done a sin. Doesn't exist. Nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect. And that means you too are not perfect. And I'm not perfect. And if I'm not perfect, then you're not perfect. Let's all try not to be so judgmental, because for me to point out something that you're doing wrong, but the things that I'm doing wrong. So it would be hypocritical. Don't be judgmental. And that also means don't be judgmental about yourself. Have realistic expectations for yourself. I'm not perfect. I know I need to try. I know I need to fix the mistakes that I make. Yes, that is true. But I do have to accept I am going to make mistakes. And as we spoke many times, I have to admit them. I have to try to fix them. But I make mistakes. I made a number of mistakes on young kipper. I made a number of mistakes on the bulletin that we sent out. I made a number of mistakes on Rosh Hashanah. It's early. I'll probably make some mistakes today. Okay, I'll try hard not to. If I do, I'll try to fix them, admit them. But I make mistakes. Be realistic. So far, nobody has a perfect record. Bukhul eis yeyuv v'godechah leveinim. At all times, your garments should be white. This is not to be taken literally, but as a metaphor. Your garments should be white, meaning clean, presentable. You know how there's this cliche that a mother tells their child, make sure you always are wearing clean underwear. Because if God forbid, you get in an accident. You're going to go to the hospital. God forbid, they're going to see what you're wearing. All right, this is a little more serious than that. You should always make sure that figuratively your clothes are clean, presentable. Vashem'en al-Rosh Ha'al-Yaksar. And there should not be a lack of oil on your head. In former times, people used to use olive oil as a conditioner, I guess, in their hair. They still make conditioner with olive oil. It's interesting. You should always be presentable. Rashi says it's a metaphor. Ha'skein atmaqa b'chal shah. You should always prepare yourself at every moment. B'masatov with acting properly, with appearing properly. Sheim tamus hayom. D'khanes b'shalam. If it should happen, God forbid that a person passes away today, they'll be ready. Umashosh shlamah ha'al-Yaksar. Ha'al-Kha'aam as hadabah hazel la'adam shazmin wa malak liyom su'udah. It's as if it can be compared to a person who gets invited to a meal with the king. A very important event. Vulokavala's mom, but the king didn't tell him what time it was. I'm about to be invited to a meal with the king, but I don't know what time I'm going to be invited, so the smart thing would be, m'chakamu, if you're smart. Mi'ad t'chabes kisaso. I would get dressed right now. I would be ready at every moment, so that when I am invited, I will be ready. I won't be stuck in my shorts, in my sweatpants. I'll be ready. A person should live their life like that, because nobody knows how long our lives will live, and nobody will last. And that means a person should live their lives that if God forbid, this would be the last day that I would be able to say, okay, all right, I would have liked it to be longer, yes, but okay, here it is. I'm ready. My things are in order. I've given instructions. I've done the things that I want to do, if that's possible, or at least I've done some of the things that I want to do. The Talmud comments on this in Meseklu Shabbos. Rebeliezer Omer, Rebeliezer says, shu v'yomecha lefnei mi sascha. One day before a person passes away, they should do chuva. They should repent. Amrulo, tamidab, his student said to him, v'chi adam yodey abezim yomlis, how does a person know which day it's going to be? If I knew which day it was going to be, okay, the day before I would do chuva, but how am I supposed to do that? Amrulo, he said to him, ka'al shakayin yashvayom. So assume it's today. It could be today. Shemiyomas, v'nimsa koyama b'chuva. If you do t'shuva today, if you live your life properly today, if you put your things in order today, if before you go to sleep tonight, you have apologized to whoever you upset today, you have put right whatever you made wrong today, you have paid whatever you owed today, if every night when you go to sleep, you know that you have taken care of what needs to be taken care of both materially and socially and spiritually, then whenever something happens, we're as ready as we can be. And Shlomo is telling us a lesson that we've been talking about so often in these last years, life is uncertain and let's learn to live with uncertainty. And that means to make each day count. Would I be at peace if, God forbid, this was my last day, but there will come a day that will be my last day as it will for every single one of us? Will I be comfortable if this was my last day? Can I say, I took care of this, I took care of that, I corrected this, I paid that. Okay. Yes, of course, more. Yes, of course. Yes. It's a way to live. It's an outlook on life and it's a gigantic piece of wisdom that if we can absorb this lesson, these lessons, our lives can be different, our lives can be different. So I have a little bit more to share with you, plus a very, very personal story to share with you with God's help. I plan to do that tomorrow. But for today, just practical wisdom that I think can help us to appreciate life, to live smarter and to live better from the wisdom of Kohela's. My friends, I wish you a great day and I look forward to seeing you soon in person.