We learned on TB Shabbat 13b that the rabbis didn’t
want to include the book of Ezekiel in the biblical Canon.
“Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Truly, that man is
remembered for the good, and his name is Ḥananya ben Ḥizkiya, as if not for
him, the book of Ezekiel would have been suppressed because its contents,
in many details, contradict matters of Torah. The Sages sought to
suppress the book and exclude it from the canon. What did he, Ḥananya
ben Ḥizkiya, do? They brought him three hundred jugs of oil, for light
and food, up to his upper story, and he sat isolated in the
upper story and did not move from there until he homiletically
interpreted all of those verses in the book of Ezekiel that seemed
contradictory, and resolved the contradictions.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Today’s daf TB Shabbat 30 we read that the rabbis also thought to
exclude the books of Ecclesiastes, Kohellet, and Proverbs.
“Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name
of Rav: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes and declare
it apocryphal because its statements contradict each other and it is
liable to confuse its readers. And why did they not suppress it? Because its
beginning consists of matters of Torah and its end consists of matters
of Torah. The ostensibly contradictory details are secondary to the essence
of the book, which is Torah. The Gemara elaborates: Its beginning
consists of matters of Torah, as it is written: “What profit has man of all
his labor which he labors under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3), and the Sages of the
school of Rabbi Yannai said: By inference: Under the sun is where
man has no profit from his labor; however, before the sun, i.e.,
when engaged in the study of Torah, which preceded the sun, he does have
profit. Its ending consists of matters of Torah, as it is written:
“The end of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God, and keep His mitzvot; for
this is the whole man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)” (Sefaria.org translation)
“And, the Gemara
continues, the Sages sought to suppress the book of Proverbs as well
because its statements contradict each other. And why did they not suppress
it? They said: In the case of the book of Ecclesiastes, didn’t we
analyze it and find an explanation that its statements were not
contradictory? Here too, let us analyze it.” (Sefaria.org translation)
After referencing the
different rabbinic citations where the rabbis discuss the status of
Ecclesiastes in Scripture, Michael Fox writes, “In none of their discussions were
the rabbis actually deliberating whether to grant or deny Ecclesiastes
canonical status. This was already a fact for them. These discussions were an
intellectual exercise whose purpose was to raise the difficulties the book
presents in order to resolve them.” (The JPS Commentary, page xv) I think the
same could be said about the book of Proverbs.
In a few more days we
shall be celebrating a Passover like most of us have never celebrate before.
Our Seders will be the smallest ever. There will be no public gathering to
celebrate the holiday in synagogues. The fear and anxiety that the coronavirus
pandemic engenders overwhelms us. The Gemara reminds us that joy is the great
antidote to fear and anxiety and the best way to feel God’s protecting presence
in our lives.
Explaining the verse “So
I commended mirth,” (Ecclesiastes 8:15 ) will that is the joy of a
mitzva. “And of mirth: What does it accomplish?” that is joy that is not
the joy of a mitzva. The praise of joy mentioned here is to teach you
that the Divine Presence rests upon an individual neither from an
atmosphere of sadness, nor from an atmosphere of laziness, nor from
an atmosphere of laughter, nor from an atmosphere of frivolity, nor
from an atmosphere of idle conversation, nor from an atmosphere of idle
chatter, but rather from an atmosphere imbued with the joy of a mitzva.
As it was stated with regard to Elisha that after he became angry at the
king of Israel, his prophetic spirit left him until he requested: “But now
bring me a minstrel; and it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the
hand of the Lord came upon him” (II Kings 3:15). Rav Yehuda said: And, so
too, one should be joyful before stating a matter of halakha. Rava
said: And, so too, one should be joyful before going to sleep in order to
have a good dream.” (Sefaria.org
translation)
Joyously celebrate
Passover by remembering what Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Vitebsker, taught:
“1. Rejoice that you
have an opportunity to sing unto God.
“2. Rejoice that you are
Jew.
“3. Rejoice that you are
able to pray, the study and to perform God’s will.
“4. Before the endlessness
of God the highest saint and the lowest commoner are equal.”
“5. Be contented with
your achievements with the affairs of the spirit, as well as with your worldly
status.
“6. Do not doubt yourself,
but enjoy the light of God.” (Hasidic Anthology, by Louis I. Newman, page 203)
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