In the final section of chapter 2, King Solomon summarizes the introspection he conducted regarding this world. After describing all that he built, planted, gathered, and amassed, he arrives at a simple question: in the end, what does a person gain from all his material investment? The answer he provides is a bitter truth - pain, frustration, restlessness - and from it he leads us toward a balanced counsel: neither absolute asceticism nor an eager pursuit of physicality, but rather taking from the world what is fitting, knowing that everything comes from the hand of God.
כִּי מֶה הֹוֶה לָאָדָם בְּכָל עֲמָלוֹ וּבְרַעְיוֹן לִבּוֹ שְׁהוּא עָמֵל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃ - For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, with which he labors under the sun?
A simple question arises: earlier Solomon said, "for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor," describing that he had joy in his labor. If so, why does he state here, "For what does a man have of all his labor"? The Kol Ephraim explains: there, it referred to labor in non-material pursuits, things of a more spiritual nature - and regarding those, indeed, "my heart rejoiced in all my labor." Here, however, it refers strictly to material toil, to matters a person must undertake due to livelihood anxieties, eating, drinking, and all that accompanies them. About this Solomon asks in truth: what does a person gain from all of this?
Rashi explains "the striving (ra'ayon) of his heart" as being related to anguish and heartbreak, similar to the word ra'ua (broken, frail). That is to say: what does a man gain from all his labor and from all the heartbreak that breaks his heart over all his endeavors - what comes of all the material investment he toils for here? After all, as we saw earlier, in the end he leaves everything to others.
כִּי כָל יָמָיו מַכְאֹבִים וָכַעַס עִנְיָנוֹ גַּם בַּלַּיְלָה לֹא שָׁכַב לִבּוֹ גַּם זֶה הֶבֶל הוּא׃ - For all his days are pains and his occupation is grief; even at night his heart does not rest; this too is vanity.
The Malbim first defines what ka'as (anger or inner vexation) is: ka'as is an agitation of the heart, not an intent to do harm to another, but the inner resentment of the heart. The person who feels ka'as harbors anger inside and does not express it outwardly. However, if he also seeks to act upon his anger, this is no longer termed ka'as, but rather charon (wrath) and ketzef (fury). Charon af - when a person gets angry, the nose flushes, which is an external expression; likewise, froth (ketzef) on the lips is an external expression. Charon and ketzef indicate that the anger has materialized and been outwardly expressed, whereas ka'as is always internal, without action or external effect. Similarly, "his rage burned within him" - cheimah (rage) is also an internal fire burning inside. Likewise, "and her rival provoked her (ve-khi'asatah)" - she was harboring deep vexation within her heart; and so too "all his days are pains and his occupation is ka'as" in our verse.
The Imrei Shefer explains that here King Solomon further demonstrates that it is better for a person to despair of the pursuits of this world. For why should a person exert himself over coarse matters that are mere futility, a driven leaf? "What does a man have of all his labor" - how much do you invest, and what comes of it all? After all, "all his days are pains."
He offers a wonderful explanation of what "all his days are pains" means: if you observe closely, a person's days resemble a person's physical pains. What do we see regarding human ailments? A person suffering from a headache will tell you that nothing is more agonizing than a headache, nothing drives one more insane than that. The next night he cannot sleep - the headache is gone, but he has a toothache, and then he says: there is nothing worse than a toothache, it is the most terrible thing in the world. So it is with a person throughout his life: at every stage he experiences, he says, "This is the worst," and suddenly he discovers that another abyss lies beyond the one he thought had ended. The bank overdraft grows larger, the damages increase, and as the children grow, the expenses and troubles grow as well. It turns out not to be what you thought: you thought you had experienced the worst of all, and it turns out a person faces new surprises every time.
"And his occupation is anger" - everything he constantly engages in is frustration and vexation. What does this mean? If a person reflects, he sees that everything happening around him bothers him: Why did this person do that? Why is he like that? Why didn't my wife listen? Why did I speak to the child that way? And I haven't been on good terms with the boss for a long time. All his days are vexation. He walks around all the time eating himself up inside. When a person lacks fear of Heaven, lacks the understanding that everything is from Heaven, and lacks the knowledge that there is Divine Providence over everything that occurs - all his days are anger. He becomes an environmental hazard; anyone who moves a thing immediately infuriates him: "Enough! I told you to stop! Why are you doing this to me?" It is dangerous to be around such people.
And do not think it comes only from him: if he is in such a state, the anger becomes mutual - he is angry, his wife is angry with him, his children are angry with him, his boss is angry with him, and his neighbor is angry with him as well. And what does a person have around him all the time? Anger and tension, constant restlessness.
To such an extent that even at night his heart does not rest. You got into bed, you lay down horizontally, now there is supposedly quiet and rest - but the rest is only for the body, while the heart is still working overtime. Why? Because the heart continues to dwell on what happened during the day: What does he think of himself? Does he really think I will give in to him? And now he is brooding over this, and over the argument he had with that one. At night, the heart does not rest, and the vexations of the day continue.
And what is the root of all this? The excessive toil and intense investment in the matters of this world, so that naturally everything disturbs him - this person harmed me, here he caused me a loss, there he did this to me. But someone who treats all the affairs of this world as fleeting futility, saying, "This too is vanity" - such a person lives well, eats well, sleeps well, and everything is good for him. He is not caught in tensions, anxieties, or suffering; whatever happens does not run over him, it simply passes by him. Truly, acquiring such a state and such a mindset is a great virtue. We cannot claim that we will reach perfection in it, but each and every person, in everything that happens to him, can adopt this line of thinking: to understand that for someone bothered by everything - "all his days are pains and his occupation is anger, even at night his heart does not rest."
And all this over what? Over vanity. A fight over this money, over this house, over this inheritance, over this seat, over this business. Notice that eighty percent of quarrels are over money; eighty percent of arguments are about money and livelihood. And if a person would say to himself in advance - what is this, money comes and money goes, will you lose your life over this? Sometimes people wage wars, and suffer heart attacks, ulcers, and what not. Over what? Over money. Is this money worth all this suffering? If a person would reflect and weigh his actions sensibly, he would realize that he is much better off doing as Shlomo said: "And I turned about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor with which I toiled under the sun." It is better for a person to say that everything is vanity - well, so a little more, a little less. The intention is not that one should take his money and throw it away.
There was once a man who went to market day, and the Rebbe looked through the window and saw him there brimming with excitement, buying and selling. The Rebbe saw that he was overly ecstatic over what was, after all, merely financial matters. He called him up quickly, and when he arrived, the Rebbe began to rebuke him: "What is this? What are you making out of money matters? Is this everything in life? I see you down there looking like someone who was just given a shot of pure oxygen - what fervor!" After all this rebuke, the man took out his money, threw it onto the floor, and began trampling on it with his feet. The Rebbe said to him: "No, what are you doing? Pick it up and put it in your pocket, it is money!" The man left confused, not understanding what the Rebbe wanted. The Rebbe told him: "Money is an important thing; with money one can purchase many things, one can acquire the World to Come, one can acquire eternity - but one must give it its proper place and its proper measure of importance. Should you lose your health over it? Should you lose your wife and children over it?"
And see how people lose everything for the sake of money. Over this money he quarrels with his wife, with his children, with his neighbors - and it is all about monetary matters. If a person understood this, he would be willing to concede and say to himself: Leave me be from all this; give me a good life, give me health, give me peace in the home, give me peace in the family.
Sometimes one hears of people living in a divided home: she said she will not contribute this much, and he will not give that much; once he gave and then he stopped giving. There are stories of couples who married at an older age and lived from the outset with divided finances - and you would not believe the absurdities this leads to. One gives a few shekels to the other, saying, "Buy me such-and-such with this," and the other replies, "Wait, this item is bought from the joint account, but that item you must buy from your own money." Master of the Universe, what kind of life is this? These are people in their sixties and seventies - where will you take this money with you? What do you think you will do with it? How much longer will you live with the money you have? And a person who fails to understand this ruins his life right now and lives a life of pettiness: "I gave and she didn't give; I paid the electric bill alone and she didn't pay; I told her this and she tossed two hundred shekels at me." These are stories heard firsthand, and the heart aches. Sometimes one of the spouses is the stingiest of the stingy, which is indeed a very difficult problem. But one must understand that money is not the essence of life; on the contrary, money prevents a person from enjoying a good life, from having peace in the home, peace with his children, with his neighbors, and with his boss. And all of it stems from making this world the primary focus, rather than accepting Shlomo's counsel: "And I turned about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor with which I toiled under the sun." And then, even at night when he sleeps, his heart does not rest. Shlomo says: "This too is vanity." Look and see: what good did all this labor do you? If you did not purchase peace of mind with it, and did not purchase health with it - if this is what you acquired, it is all vanity.
Regarding this, it is written: "The abundance of the rich man will not allow him to sleep" - allow whom? The poor man. Why? Because when the poor man goes to sleep, he thinks about this: Look how satisfied this rich man is, how content he is, while only I am so wretched. The rich man's abundance does not allow the poor man to sleep; the poor man no longer sleeps well, because he is constantly thinking about the rich man's satiety. And this is the meaning of "his heart does not rest" - even when he goes to sleep, ultimately his heart does not rest. One who increases possessions increases worry, and the abundance of the rich man does not allow the poor man to sleep out of sheer agitation: why do others make money while he does not?
אֵין טוֹב בָּאָדָם שֶׁיֹּאכַל וְשָׁתָה וְהֶרְאָה אֶת נַפְשׁוֹ טוֹב בַּעֲמָלוֹ גַּם זֹה רָאִיתִי אָנִי כִּי מִיַּד הָאֱלֹהִים הִיא׃ - There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink, and show his soul good in his toil; this too I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
In Midrash Zuta, Rabbi Nechemiah, Rav Nachman bar Rav Chisda, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman, and some say Rabbi Mayasha and Rabbi Yirmeyah bar Rabbi Yitzchak said: Every mention of eating and drinking in Kohelet refers only to words of Torah, mitzvot, and good deeds, as it is said, "Come, buy and eat," and "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed." If so, "There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink" - the Midrash interprets this as Torah study: Torah study is an aspect of eating and drinking, and that is what is truly good for a person.
And what is "and show his soul good in his toil"? The Midrash explains: The Torah is called good, and good deeds are called good - "Turn from evil and do good." Through this, "he showed his soul" to the life of the World to Come, which is entirely good; in eternal life, he will see good from all the toil he invested here. "This too I saw, that it is from the hand of God" - that if the Holy One, blessed be He, gave a person understanding to walk in the path of good, this is the path that Hashem desires. Hashem asks of you the good path, and gave you understanding to choose - "Hashem desired for the sake of His righteousness" - and therefore gave you a good path to choose, so that it will be good for you.
Rashi explains that the verse is phrased as a rhetorical question: Is there no good for a person to eat and drink and show his soul good in his toil? In other words, would it not be better for you to be content with what you have, eat and drink from what you have, and "show his soul good in his toil" - enjoy what he toiled and labored for, and let that suffice? As it is written, "When you eat the labor of your hands, you are praiseworthy and it is good for you" - praiseworthy in this world, and good for you in the World to Come. He ate, drank, and practiced justice and charity - then it was good for him. Is it not better for you to eat and drink and be content with what you have, rather than going and seeking things too great and wonderful for you, which bring you nothing but heartache and heartbreak, as we saw earlier?
Rav Saadia Gaon explains that here King Solomon comes to bring balance. You might think from what I wrote earlier that I am preaching asceticism, monastic withdrawal, and total detachment from all the life of this world - Solomon says: No, that is not my intention. My intention is that a person should eat and drink and show his soul good in his toil. Meaning: I have come only to preach against excessive eagerness for the material pleasures of this world. Anyone who thinks that by multiplying his possessions, accumulating wealth, buying, building, and doing, he will attain rest, serenity, and peace is sorely mistaken. It is better for a person to eat and drink and show his soul good in his toil. I am not saying that a person should not eat or drink; Solomon comes here to moderate matters and say: Take from this world what you need for eating and drinking, and give each thing its proper due.
The Imrei Shefer explains that human nature is such that at any given time, a person has a complaint and grievance about something else; each time something else bothers him, and each time there is something he claims prevents him from enjoying what he has. Regarding this, Solomon says: "I saw" - I saw that finding a person who is truly content, who eats, drinks, and enjoys his toil, is something exceedingly rare. And if such a person does exist - "for it is from the hand of God," it is like a gift from Hashem. Indeed, the Gedolei Yisrael were asked about this, and one replied: I knew one happy person in life - the Alter of Kelm. And another replied: I knew one happy person in life - Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. That is, they gave very rare examples of whom it could be said was truly happy: everything he has is good for him, he is not a person of meticulous irritation and suffering, and he does not constantly seek to amass more wealth and enrich himself. That is a person who is content - and it is exceedingly rare to find someone whom nothing agitates.
We once related the story of the king's daughter who fell ill, and they told her that she needed to wear the garment of a happy man to emerge from her depression. The king's men went searching everywhere for the happiest man alive, but could not find one. Finally, they saw a shepherd playing his flute, resting peacefully with his sheep. They asked him - having asked everyone, "Are you happy?" and everyone had answered, "No, what happiness?" - whereas he replied: "Yes, there is no one happier than me." They said to him: "Do us a favor, give us your shirt so we can give it to the king's daughter who has fallen into depression; perhaps she will recover." He said to them: "A shirt? I don't own a shirt! If I had a shirt, I would no longer be happy - I would have to worry that it might tear, I would have to wash it, I would have to make sure it stays in style, and who knows, there is always a new fashion, shirts with little running crocodiles and galloping horses. That would start preoccupying me and troubling me. I have no shirt - I am happy." If so, "There is nothing better for a person": we do not find a person about whom it can be said, here is someone for whom everything is good, who eats and drinks and shows his soul good through his toil. And if such a thing does exist, rare individuals who reached this level - "it is from the hand of God," it is a gift from Hashem for whoever merited such good.
The Me'am Loez cites the Kol Yaakov, explaining that here King Solomon comes to tell you: know that whatever good you have in this world - do not attribute it to yourself; it is from the hand of God. This is like a parable of a conversation among beggars: each one began relating where he had been, what place he visited, how much they gave him here and how much there, who was stingy and who was generous. One of them said: "Let me tell you a story that happened to me. Once I arrived in a certain town and entered a certain courtyard. I knocked on the door and realized that wealthy people lived there, so I said: 'May I have lunch?' (Not like today where someone comes and asks for cash - he wanted something to eat.) The homeowner told him: 'Yes, sir, you can receive a hearty lunch here, but for that, there is work.' He showed him logs outside that needed chopping and preparing so they could be put into the oven. He said to him: 'Chop the wood here, and afterward you will receive a proper meal.'"
"I realized," said the beggar, "that this was a serious proposition and worth the effort. For two hours I chopped wood until my hands and back were broken, full of blisters; I don't remember ever working like that. I knocked on the door and said: 'Master of the house, I'm finished.' He came out, surveyed the work, and told me: 'Very nice, very nice indeed. Go to the door across the courtyard and tell them you are entitled to lunch.' I went over and knocked, and I want to tell you: just as I said I don't remember ever working like that, I also don't remember ever eating like that. It was an extraordinary lunch, something truly special. It was worth it."
Suddenly, he saw all the beggars bursting into laughter. They asked him: "Where were you? In that courtyard?" He replied: "Yes." Again they burst into laughter. He asked: "What's so funny?" They said to him: "Understand, in that courtyard there are two wealthy men. There is one wealthy man for whom even if you worked day and night for seventy years, he would not give you a slice of bread; and there is another wealthy man who provides a full lunch at his own expense, truly fit for royalty, to anyone who enters his door." Then he realized his mistake: he had first knocked on the door of the stingy magnate, who made sure he worked for two hours and then sent him to eat at the generous magnate's house - where he would have received his food and sustenance regardless.
This is what is being told to you: "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and show his soul good in his toil" - do not think that the good comes from his toil. The eating and drinking - are they truly "good in his toil"? They are not connected to his toil at all! Chopping the wood here did not bring you the meal there. Know that whatever you think - "I toiled, I put in effort" - how much you will earn has already been decreed for you. What you are required to do is hishtadlut (effort); but to think that "because I exerted myself and worked for two hours, that is why I received it" - no. You received it because it was decreed for you. One must make the effort, and the moment you have made it - that is it, it is enough. And if you received in the end, "for it is from the hand of God": it is a decree from Hashem; what you received is from Him, and do not think that your toil is what gave and granted it to you.
כִּי מִי יֹאכַל וּמִי יָחוּשׁ חוּץ מִמֶּנִּי׃ - "For who can eat and who can enjoy, apart from me?"
The Imrei Shefer says: Here Solomon adds and says - people might say, perhaps Solomon speaks so disparagingly about worldly matters and the pleasures and desires within it, and treats them so negatively, because he did not taste enough of worldly matters. Perhaps he lacks experience, perhaps he did not know all its pleasures well enough, and had he experienced just a little - perhaps different tunes would be heard from his mouth. To this King Solomon comes and says: "For who can eat and who can experience pleasure apart from me?" Who ate anything that I did not eat, and who "experienced pleasure" - enjoying any of the sensory pleasures - that I did not enjoy? Therefore, when I tell you this, understand that someone who knows what he is talking about is speaking to you, a person who experienced it, whose knowledge comes from firsthand experience; these are not mere theories.
כִּי לְאָדָם שֶׁטּוֹב לְפָנָיו נָתַן חׇכְמָה וְדַעַת וְשִׂמְחָה וְלַחוֹטֶא נָתַן עִנְיָן לֶאֱסֹף וְלִכְנוֹס לָתֵת לְטוֹב לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים גַּם זֶה הֶבֶל וּרְעוּת רוּחַ׃ - "For to the man who is good in His sight He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating, to give to the one who is good before God. This too is vanity and a pursuit of wind."
"For to the person who is good in His sight" - who is pleasing before God - "He has given wisdom, knowledge, and joy": Hashem gave him a heart to engage in Torah and mitzvot, and also gave him the ability to rejoice in his portion, just as we saw earlier, that he should eat, drink, and let his soul enjoy the good of his toil. Rashi continues along the same line: this is what is demanded of man - Hashem wants man to have it good here in this world; Hashem does not want man to suffer.
On the other hand, "and to the sinner He gave the task" - meaning He gave him a pattern, that the sinner's habit will be to constantly worry only about gathering and amassing. His entire goal is to gather more and more. And for whom? Ultimately, "to give to the one who is good before God" - everything you gather and amass is so that the one pleasing before God will receive it in the end, as it is written: "For the wicked may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it." All your toil is only so that what is good in God's eyes will reach him, as it says in Esther, "And Esther set Mordechai over the house of Haman." And this too is vanity - that Hashem gave people this toil, and a person exerts himself so that someone else may partake.
The Sforno adds examples: as we find with Yaakov Avinu, "And God took away the livestock of your father and gave them to me" - all of Lavan's livestock passed to Yaakov, and it is written that afterward Lavan lost all his livestock in a bad business, and even in what remained there was no blessing. Similarly, in the story of Yosef Mokir Shabbat, all the toil and wealth of the rich man ultimately fell into the hands of Yosef Mokir Shabbat. So too with Pharaoh's treasures: Pharaoh amassed and preserved immense wealth, which Yosef had begun collecting, and in the end it was all given to the one who is good before God - "The spoils of the Sea were greater than the spoils of Egypt," where each person loaded ninety Libyan donkeys. Thus, all that you toil, you the wicked one, is to give to the one who is good before God. And is this not vanity and frustration of spirit, vanity and a broken spirit - when a person realizes: I toiled, I exerted myself, and look what remains for me from it.
The Ran in his Derashot explains that the two halves of the verse were said about Adam HaRishon: Adam before the sin and Adam after the sin. "For to the person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom, knowledge, and joy" - this is Adam HaRishon in Gan Eden. He gave him wisdom, and it is written that the ministering angels marveled at him and wanted to recite "Kadosh" before him when they saw his wisdom. He gave him knowledge and joy - he was in the most wonderful place, in Gan Eden, "From every tree of the garden you may freely eat," food prepared without any toil, with the ministering angels straining wine and roasting meat for him. What could be better? Everything was good for him. And who is "and to the sinner"? When Adam sinned and ate from the Tree of Knowledge - "He gave the task of gathering and amassing," "Thorns and thistles it shall sprout for you": from now on, you will constantly toil in gathering and harvesting, the harvest season, the reaping season, constantly toiling in labor just to have enough food to sustain himself. Was it not much better before - "to the person who is good in His sight," where Hashem provided everything ready-made? Why did the sinner need to sin and end up having his entire focus be collecting wealth?
The Malbim explains based on Lashon HaKodesh the difference between le'esof (gathering) and lichnos (amassing). The verb asaf always expresses taking something into a designated place, not merely collecting scattered items - collecting scattered items is called kibetz. Asaf is like bringing something into a storehouse (asom), bringing something into a specific location: "And he gathered them into custody" - he placed them in prison; "and no one gathers them into the house" - brings them into his home. The term asaf is also related to the verb kanas: gathering (asifah) denotes bringing something from the outside inward, while storing (kenisah) indicates that once inside, one locks it in a safe, in a treasury, or in a guarded place. From this also comes the verb asaf when something is drawn back into itself, as in "And the Kohen said: Withdraw (esof) your hand" - pull your hand back to your body; and similarly, "and cure him (ve'asafto) of his tzara'at," and "the metzora is gathered" - where the metzora is brought back inside the camp.
The Imrei Shefer explains: What is the reason that "there is nothing good for man"? Since "to the person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom, knowledge, and joy" - the good person who walks in the way of Hashem, to whom Hashem gave wisdom and knowledge, meaning that the purpose a person toils for will remain his own; he will enjoy it and receive it. But such a reality is exceedingly rare, an uncommon occurrence - that a person toils and exerts himself, and it is all purely for himself. We saw that the Sages applied to themselves the verse "and leave their wealth to others," even regarding one who left behind a mere measure of saffron, even the smallest amount: I toiled, yet someone else received it. It is indeed a rare phenomenon, something not commonly found.
"And to the sinner He gave the task of gathering and amassing" - the sinner has an obsession with gathering and amassing, and this is not the ultimate purpose. And he offers an innovative insight: Why did the Holy One, Blessed Is He, give the sinner the task of gathering and amassing? Because otherwise, he would sin even more. So what did Hashem do? He found him occupational therapy - He gave him something to keep him busy: gather and amass money, be occupied twenty hours a day collecting and storing, and you will have no free time for transgressions, no leisure for sins or evil deeds, because you are consumed with gathering and accumulating. For had he had spare time, his entire day would be open to commit sins; therefore Hashem gave him an "task" (inyan) - an occupation to engage with and be preoccupied by, so that through this he would be kept away from sin.
And for whom will all this toil ultimately be? "To give to the one who is good before God" - in the end, all of this labor will be given to the one who is pleasing in God's eyes. And how can one rejoice in something that will ultimately fall into someone else's hands? Therefore, "this too is vanity and frustration of spirit" - vanity and brokenness of spirit, because he will not be able to rejoice in it, since all his exertion and toil will fall into the hands of the one who is deemed deserving of it from Heaven.
At the conclusion of chapter 2, King Solomon presents us with an accounting: one who makes his physical labor his primary focus - "all his days are pains and his pursuit is vexation; even at night his heart does not rest." Everything bothers him, everything stirs up conflict, and most quarrels in the world are over money, which comes and goes anyway. In contrast, one who views worldly affairs as fleeting vanity eats well, sleeps well, and troubles pass beside him rather than overtaking him. Hence the balanced counsel: neither asceticism nor obsessive zeal, but rather "that he eat and drink and let his soul see good in his labor" - to be content with his portion, to partake in the nourishment of Torah and mitzvos, and to know that the good is not the fruit of his own toil, but rather "it is from the hand of God." And for one who does not understand this, Hashem has given him the preoccupation of gathering and amassing, only in the end "to give to one who is good before God" - and therefore this, too, is vanity and pursuit of wind.