HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF WISDOM AND FULFILLMENT in a far-from-perfect world?

Philosopher Menachem Fisch and artist Debra Band together probe Qohelet’s inquiry into the value of life “under the sun” in this brilliant work—the first illuminated manuscript of the entire biblical text, the first philosophical analysis tracing the coherent path of this biblical thinker’s full argument. Whereas modern readers influenced by the famous declaration, “vanity, vanity, all is vanity,” from the 1611 King James Bible have commonly understood that Qohelet found only futility and hopelessness in human life, Fisch restores the literal meaning, vapor, to Qohelet’s key word, hevel, with implications that reveal Qohelet’s path to wisdom and even serenity. Through linguistic precision and careful unfolding of the book’s philosophical argument, Fisch uncovers Qohelet’s twin concerns; life is short, and situated as we are, far below the heavens, we can never be assured of comprehending our world, or understanding divine will and intent. He reveals Qohelet’s understanding that since we can never fully predict or understand our fortunes or the heritage we leave behind us, the best we can do is to live our lives fully, relating to others attentively, always aware of the limits of human life.

In her glowing, immersive, and discursive illuminated paintings of the entire text, Band imagines Qohelet’s teachings, employing the grandest of palaces, the Alhambra, as the central metaphor for the beauty and impermanence of human life and accomplishments. She fills its halls and gardens with often surprising imagery, symbolism and related poetry, creating a visual midrash that reveals the relationship of Qohelet’s thought to other biblical texts and Jewish lore, and its reverberations across the centuries and cultures of western civilization, from ancient Israel to today’s America. Each illuminated page is complemented by lucid commentary explaining its full meaning.  Renowned scholars Ellen R. Davis and Moshe Halbertal crown the work with a penetrating foreword and preface.

PURCHASING INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE GALLERY PAGE BY CLICKING BELOW

PRAISE FOR QOHELET: SEARCHING FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING

This is an exquisite combination of pictorial imagination with abstract reflections of the most philosophical book of the Hebrew Bible, penned by two experts in their respective domains. Menachem Fisch’s fresh interpretation of the ultimate message of Ecclesiastes as a portrayal of a transient—in lieu of a futile—world is a permanent contribution that will guide any serious reader of the book in the future. A more balanced attitude toward the magnificent worldview that pretends to reflect a king’s experience of life decodes an original type of ancient Jewish religiosity, which has more optimistic valences than previously assumed. 

—Moshe Idel, Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living is an important contribution to philosophical theology, which rereads Qohelet through a philosophical lens.  This book corrects scholarly misperceptions of Qohelet as a strange outlier in the Bible and in ancient Judaism and instead retells the story of its relevance in Western thought.  The contribution of Qohelet as an important voice for reflective and philosophical thinking in ancient Judaism was not lost on the rabbis.  Moreover, this book demonstrates that the voice of Qohelet can now be heard in conversation with the history of Western philosophical reflections.  Fisch and Band weave philosophical commentary, rabbinic reflection, and artistic illumination together into a new inheritance of Qohelet. 

—Hindy Najman, Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford

Of the making of books on Ecclesiastes-Qohelet, there is seemingly no end, and yet this one truly stands out.  Debra Band, a renowned visual artist, and Menachem Fisch, a distinguished philosopher, together explore one of Judaism’s—and indeed, the Western world’s—most provocative and elusive books and offer us new ways of reading the text and imagining the experiences and struggles it evokes.  Whether Ecclesiastes is relatively new territory for you or whether you’ve spent decades studying and puzzling over it, you will undoubtedly find new insight and inspiration in this remarkable book.  Band and Fisch offer us a feast for the eyes, the mind, and the heart.

—Rabbi Shai Held, President and Dean, the Hadar Institute

Click to see more advance praise for Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living