During Succot, we read Ecclesiastes, King Solomon's (Israel's 3rd king) commentary on life. Since it is largely pessimistic, it is often thought paradoxical that it is read specifically during such a joyous festival as Succoth. Some say it is to temper our joy so that it doesn't get out of hand or cause us to forget its source. But I find reading it at Succoth makes most sense when it is taken as a provocation and challenge to rise above what appears to be a hopeless and vain existence. I can say from experience, as someone who is part of the Project Mind strategy to forever end despair and suffering, that reading the most despondent of material can be joyous if only one can see beyond it.

Although it is quite long, I recommend you read Ecclesiastes in its entirety and gain your own impressions. Below is a smattering of selected verses to give a taste, especially for those who haven't read it in a long time. The "teacher" referred to is none other than King Solomon himself.

Chag Sameach,
David S. Devor
Jerusalem

Eccl 1:3
What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

Eccl 1:7
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

Eccl 1:8
All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

Eccl 1:9
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Eccl 1:11
There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

Eccl 1:12
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Eccl 1:13
I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!

Eccl 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are vain, a chasing after the wind.

Eccl 1:15
What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

Eccl 1:16
I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."

Eccl 1:17
Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

Eccl 1:18
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Eccl 2:10
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

Eccl 2:11
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was vain, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Eccl 2:14
The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.

Eccl 2:15
Then I thought in my heart, "The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?" I said in my heart, "This too is vain."

Eccl 2:16
For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!

Eccl 2:17
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is vain, a chasing after the wind.

Eccl 2:18
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.

Eccl 2:20
So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.

Eccl 2:21
For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is vain and a great misfortune.

Eccl 2:23
All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vain.

Eccl 3:9
What does the worker gain from his toil?

Eccl 3:10
I have seen the burden God has laid on men.

Eccl 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Eccl 3:16
And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment-- wickedness was there, in the place of justice-- wickedness was there.

Eccl 3:18
I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

Eccl 3:19
Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is vain.

Eccl 3:20
All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

Eccl 3:21
Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

Eccl 4:1
Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter.

Eccl 4:2
And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

Eccl 4:3
But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Eccl 4:4
And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is vain, a chasing after the wind.

Eccl 5:8
If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.

Eccl 5:9
The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

Eccl 5:10
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is vain.

Eccl 5:15
Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Eccl 5:16
This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?

Eccl 5:17
All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

Eccl 6:7
All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.

Eccl 6:10
Whatever exists has already been named, and what man is has been known; no man can contend with one who is stronger than he.

Eccl 6:11
The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

Eccl 6:12
For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and vain days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?

Eccl 7:12
Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

Eccl 7:13
Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

Eccl 7:20
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

Eccl 7:25
So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.

Eccl 8:7
Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?

Eccl 8:8
No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

Eccl 8:14
There is something else vain that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is vain.

Eccl 9:2
All share a common destiny-- the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

Eccl 9:3
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

Eccl 9:4
Anyone who is among the living has hope-- even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

Eccl 9:8
Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

Eccl 9:9
Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this vain life that God has given you under the sun-- all your vain days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

Eccl 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Eccl 9:11
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

Eccl 9:12
Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Eccl 10:9
Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

Eccl 10:10
If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success.

Eccl 10:11
If a snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

Eccl 10:20
Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Eccl 11:1
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

Eccl 11:2
Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

Eccl 12:1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"--

Eccl 12:2
before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;

Eccl 12:8
"Vanity! Vanity!" says the Teacher. "Everything is vanity!"

Eccl 12:11
The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails-- given by one Shepherd.

Eccl 12:13
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.