20 October, 2024 08:23

All endings are beginnings and All beginings are endings. Just as we end the Torah, we start the Torah. We end with Moses blessings to the Nation. We start with God blessings to the world [and humanity]. We end the harvest season with the celebration of our bounty from the earth and hard work with sukkot… and inside … our wise sages, decided, that even though the Torah itself calls it "tzman simchatanu"… to not let us get too head in the clouds, to keep us grounded in reality to have us read Kohelet on Shabbot of Sukkot. Shabbot a time for peace, a time for reflection.. come our sages and say.. you know what our nation needs? a slap of ice cold Kohelet to the face. And thus every dati shomer shabbot community from here to Alaska, to Japan, South Africa [and formally, Yemen, but that is a different post for a different time]… in all beit knessets, chazal said.. you need to read kohelet. And we do. And funny enough, how does Kohelet end ?? in the end [which is always the beginning] is God.