We ended yesterday with a Mishnah that stated in part that we could extinguish a candle on Shabbat to comfort a sick person. I expected a very detailed parsing of the rules of the Mishnah through multiple scenarios. Instead, today we get a great meditation on the book of Ecclesiastes. If you have never read the book of Ecclesiastes know that on first reading you can feel that it contradicts much of what we assume to be true about Judaism. One reading of Ecclesiastes is that nothing we do matters, so we should just have a good time. Verses 2 and 3 of the first chapter state, “Utter futility! said Koheleth. Utter futility. All is futile! What real value is there for a man in all the gains he makes beneath the sun.” The book goes on to note that the fate of the good and the wicked are the same. The book is so troubling that in today’s Daf we learned that some Rabbis thought it should not be added to the Bible, but should be surpressed.

We get to this discussion because Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi was asked publicly if we could extinguish a candle for the benefit of a sick person. Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi does not go straight to the question. Rather, as befits a public audience, he goes for a more dramatic performance. He cries out to Solomon and says that he is supposed to be so wise, and yet he contradicts his father David and also contradicts himself. Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi is referring to this statement from Psalm 115:17, which was composed by King David, “The dead cannot praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence.” He compares that to Ecclesiastes 4:2 (“Then I accounted those who died long since more fortunate than those who are still living”) and Ecclesiastes 9:4 (“For he who is reckoned among the living has something to look forward to – even a live dog is better than a dead lion”).

According to Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi, King David means that when we die we can no longer study Torah or keep God’s commandments. King Solomon disagrees with David because his first statement in Ecclesiastes suggests that the dead are more worthy than the living. As proof, Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi refers to Moses praying for forgiveness for the Jews after the sin of the Golden Calf. God only relents when Moses prays in the merit of our patriarchs, long since dead. However, the second statement of Solomon in Ecclesiastes states the exact opposite!

Rav Yehuda has a different interpretation of Solomon’s first statement from Ecclesiastes above. Rav Yehuda believes that Solomon is praising his father, King David, despite David’s sin with Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the wife of one of David’s loyal soldiers. While the soldier was away fighting, David had an affair with Bathsheba. David begs forgiveness of this sin from God. God promises to forgive David, but will not make his forgiveness known until after David dies. After David’s death, Solomon builds the holy Temple in Jerusalem, but the Ark would not fit into the Holy of Holies. Solomon prayed many times to God, but the Ark would not fit. Finally, in II Chronicles 6:42 we read that Solomon prayed, “O Lord God, do not reject your anointed one; remember the loyalty of your servant David.” When Solomon prayed in the merit of David, the Ark miraculously fit into the Holy of Holies and everyone knew David had been forgiven. This incident is foretold in I Kings 8:66 (“On the eighth day he let the people go. They bade the king good-bye and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart over all the goodness that the Lord had shown to his servant David and his people Israel.”) The Talmud interprets this to mean that everyone went home and conceived a baby boy.

Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi then turns to Solomon’s statement that it is better to be a live dog than a dead lion. But he does not explain this statement directly. Instead, he first refers to Psalms 39:5 (“Tell me, o Lord, what my term is, what is the measure of my days; I would know how fleeting my life is.”) Rabbi Tanchum explains that David asked God exactly when David would die. God refuses to tell David, but does tell David he will die on a Shabbat. David preferred not to die on a Shabbat. but God told David that he could not die one day later or sooner. David makes sure that he is constantly engaged in Torah study every Shabbat because the Talmud notes that the Angel of Death cannot interrupt Torah study. The Angel of Death is tricky and climbed the trees outside of David’s study and shook the leaves. When David went to investigate, a stair collapsed under him and he died when he fell as the surprise caused him to stop studying Torah.

Solomon finds his father dead outside on Shabbat. Of course, we know that Solomon cannot carry his father from the public domain to the private domain on Shabbat. Solomon is worried. however, because his dogs are hungry and his father’s corpse is just lying around outside. Solomon consults the sages of his time. They tell Solomon to cut up meat and put it in front of his dogs . For David’s corpse, they suggest that Solomon place a loaf of bread or a young child upon it and use it to carry the bread or child to a shaded area. A commentator notes that this carrying of the corpse is not actually permitted on Shabbat unless it is expressly for the purpose of preserving human dignity by guaranteeing the integrity of the corpse that would otherwise be in danger if it stays in place until after Shabbat. So, what Solomon actually meant in the second statement from Ecclesiastes was that he was outraged that his dogs were treated with more respect than his dead father (the Lion of Judah).

If you remember, we discussed these stories of David and Solomon because someone asked Rabbi Tanchum of Nevi if we could extinguish a candle on Shabbat for the comfort of the ill. Rabbi Tanchum notes that a soul is also called a candle and we had better be more concerned about the candle made by God than the candle made by people. Therefore, we can extinguish a candle on Shabbat for the care of the sick.

Rabbi Tanchum’s homily leads the Talmud to debate whether Eccclesiastes should be part of the Bible in the first place. The Rabbis are troubled by seemingly inconsistent statements in Ecclesiastes. The Talmud resolves these contradictions by distinguishing between emotions tied to a spiritual experience and emotions tied to a materialistic experience. The discussion of emotions in Ecclesiastes leads to the following, “This comes to teach you that the Divine Presence does not come to rest upon a person through gloom and not through laziness, and not through levity, and not through ridicule, and not through chatter, and not through conversations; but rather through the joy associated with a Mitzvah.”

Solomon allegedly authored Proverbs as well as Ecclesiastes. The Talmud looks for seemingly contradictory statements in Proverbs and tries to reconcile those statements as well. In particular two verses right next to each other trouble the Sages. Proverbs 26:4-5 states, ” Do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly, else you will become like him. Answer a dullard in accord with his folly, else he will think himself wise.” Again. the Talmud resolves this inconsistency by distinguishing when a dullard confronts us on spiritual or mundane matters. This leads to a series of stories of famous Rabbis confronting skeptics, with the most famous of these stories coming in tomorrow’s Daf.