Chapter 10 of Kohelet focuses primarily on contrasting the wise man with the fool: in his speech, his conduct, his methods of toil, and his awareness of his own place. In this lesson, we will examine two verses at the heart of the chapter - the verse dealing with the fool's multiplication of words, and the verse dealing with his futile toil. Both verses together teach a single foundation: the fool does not recognize the boundaries of his knowledge, nor does he know the proper path to achieve what he seeks.
"A fool also multiplies words" - Speaking as if the Future is in His Hands
וְהַסָּכָל יַרְבֶּה דְבָרִים, לֹא יֵדַע הָאָדָם מַה שֶּׁיִּהְיֶה, וַאֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה מֵאַחֲרָיו מִי יַגִּיד לוֹ. - A fool also multiplies words; a person cannot know what will be, and who can tell him what will happen after him?
Rabbi Yosef Kara explains: The fool multiplies words - "I will do this, I will act that way, I will go here, and I will travel there." He speaks of his plans as though they have already materialized, with absolute certainty. Yet ultimately - "a person cannot know what will be." He does not know what a day may bring. A sensible person qualifies his statements, takes things with reservation, and says "Im yirtzeh Hashem" (God willing); but the fool is certain that whatever he declares will come to pass, and who could possibly stop him?
And if a person does not know what a day will bring even in mundane matters - one's plans for tomorrow can be upended in an instant. Consider a person who built a luxury event hall, investing millions, expecting to recoup his investment quickly. Then COVID hit, and the place sat desolate; all that was left for him was to pay gardeners so the grounds would not fall into ruin over time, while the banks demanded their money back. For six, nine months, there were no weddings, no events, nothing at all. Or consider a tour company organizing trips abroad: they prepared a Passover program overseas, shipped tons of meat, food, and matzot - everything had to be arranged in advance - spending a fortune just on shipping. Then came the lockdown, flights were canceled, no one flew, and all the food remained there unused, on top of having to settle with the rented hotel and refund the clients who had paid in advance.
It should be emphasized: this is not a critique of those people. Naturally, one has to invest; this is the way of the world, and they had been doing this successfully for twenty years. The point is merely to demonstrate how little a person can plan even a step ahead, because he does not know what will be. And even more so - "and who can tell him what will happen after him": if you do not know tomorrow, what will happen after your lifetime is certainly entirely beyond your grasp and knowledge.
Rashi: Bil'am, Who Boasted of Knowing the Mind of the Most High
Rashi interprets the verse as referring to Bil'am, who boasted that he was one who "knows the mind of the Most High" - claiming to know the thoughts of the Holy One, blessed be He. Yet he did not know what was to come: he subsequently went to collect his reward in Midian, and there he was slain. You boast of knowing the mind of the Most High, yet the simple events that will unfold in just a few short hours - that you are walking toward your own death - you do not know! As Chazal said: "He knows the mind of the Most High, yet he did not know the mind of his donkey" - he could not even understand his own animal and what it wanted.
According to Rashi, "after him" (me'acharav) can be explained in the opposite manner from what was mentioned earlier: not the distant future, but literally what is behind his back. Not only does he not know what will happen later, but even in the present - what is happening right behind him - he is unaware of, and needs someone else to tell him. If he does not even know what is happening here and now, all the more so can he not foretell the future.
Ashmedai and Benayahu ben Yehoyada: What is Beneath You, You Do Not Know
This calls to mind the narrative recounted in the Gemara regarding Benayahu ben Yehoyada when he went to capture Ashmedai. Without elaborating on the entire story, consider only what pertains to our subject: along the way, Ashmedai saw a wedding celebration, and wept. He saw a man telling a shoemaker to make him sandals that would last seven years, and laughed. He saw a sorcerer sitting and performing divinations, and laughed again.
Benayahu asked him: When you saw the joy at the wedding, why did you weep? He answered: This groom is destined to die within thirty days, and the bride who is rejoicing so much does not know that she will become a shomeret yavam (bound to a levirate brother-in-law) - he has a newborn baby brother, and she will have to wait thirteen years for him to either perform yibbum or chalitzah. Now she rejoices, but within thirty days she will realize she is bound as an agunah for thirteen years. And why did you laugh at the man ordering sandals? He replied: That man does not even have seven days left; he appears on my ledger, and within seven days I must take his soul - yet he is ordering shoes to last seven years! And why did you laugh at the sorcerer? He said: That sorcerer is sitting directly on the royal treasury. This was a diviner who truly revealed hidden matters, not like modern illusions; yet while he reveals hidden secrets to everyone else, what lies right beneath him - the very treasure he is sitting on - he does not know.
I always say: There are those who claim to be experts in hidden mysteries - why do you need to make money off people? Discover the lottery numbers, fill them out every week, and become a billionaire! But what is the reality? He knows how to make money off gullible people, and that is the entirety of his "mysteries." This is the meaning of "a fool multiplies words": he talks at length, while ignorant of what is right in front of him and around him.
Failing to See What Is Right Before One's Eyes
I read a story related by a young kollel man who was traveling to New York. He noticed that sitting on the bench in front of him was a man with the appearance of a "baba": a gray beard, a djellaba, and a volume of the Zohar placed prominently on the tray table so it would be clear to all that he was no simple fellow. At a certain point, he began dispensing divrei Torah loudly, making sure everyone realized a great man was present. One of the passengers objected to him, asking why he was making noise, and he replied that it was his right to speak. The kollel man was traveling with his twins, who looked identical in size and everything. The man looked at them and declared with certainty: "This is the older one; he was born first." The kollel man asked in astonishment, "How do you know?" The man adopted a look of grave importance, as if hinting that he could not speak openly about such matters. Then the kollel man said to himself: Look what a fool. He declares who was born first - and fails to see that she is wearing a pink outfit and an earring in her ear, that one is a girl and the other a boy! What is plainly visible to the eyes he cannot see, yet he claims to know hidden secrets. This is "and who can tell him what will be after him?" - you do not even understand what is right in front of your eyes, yet you claim to deal in secrets - and this entire "gamble" was a fifty-fifty chance; what were the odds of being wrong anyway?
The Imrei Shefer: The Fool's Rebuttal - "Who Knows What Will Be?"
The Imrei Shefer explains the verse in another way: If you attempt to rebuke the fool and tell him, "Sir, you are acting foolishly, and in the end you will pay a heavy price and suffer harm" - he will immediately retort: "Man does not know what will be!" How do you know that damage or sorrow will result from what I am doing? Try to explain to him that even if he is not caught here, he will certainly face judgment in the World of Truth - and he will immediately answer: "And who can tell him what will be after him?" Do you already know what is up there? Did anyone return from there and tell about it? This is the ultimate dismissive question to which you have no visible, empirical proof to show him on the spot.
Regarding matters in this world, you still have tangible evidence: look at people who engaged in such foolishness and got involved with the underworld - some ended up in prison, and others are already six feet under, pushing up daisies. But when you try to speak with him about the World to Come, he casts doubt on everything.
A wise person aptly framed this with a proverb: A fool can ask a question that seven wise men cannot satisfy. This is the mindset known as skepticism - whose essence is to cast doubt on everything. To whatever you say, he asks: Who says so? What is the proof? And whatever proof you bring - is never proof enough. Try to prove to such a person that COVID exists. There are people convinced it does not. Tell him that millions died worldwide - he will answer that every year there is flu and every year people die. Tell him that in Italy thousands of bodies were being cleared and in America they were clearing bodies - he will answer that the numbers are inflated. And when you ask him: Who has an interest in destroying the economy, harming the public, and causing billions in losses - the prime minister? The minister of finance? The media? - he will tell you that to explain it, he needs three hours. I told such a person: Then do not explain; I have no desire to listen for three hours either. People speak nonsense without paying attention to what they are saying.
"Wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer sensibly": Everyone says otherwise, all the Gedolei Yisrael say otherwise, all the professors and experts - yet in his opinion, everyone is being deceived and fails to understand; and he has one obscure professor pulled out of mothballs, and that is his definitive authority, the true expert, the witness, the judge, and everything. There is no point in arguing with such people: he will always find arguments, theories, and explanations, and will cast doubt on everything. It is a waste of time.
"The Toil of Fools Wearies Him" - Roundabout Paths Instead of a Paved Road
עֲמַל הַכְּסִילִים תְּיַגְּעֶנּוּ, אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַע לָלֶכֶת אֶל עִיר. - "The toil of fools wearies him, for he does not know how to go to the city."
The Pesikta Zutreta explains: The fool cuts through thorns and briers. He has a paved road, but he abandons it and walks through vineyard paths - ending up weary for nothing. This is "the toil of fools wearies him."
This reminds me of when my daughter was five years old and said to me, "Abba, come see a shortcut - between the buildings!" Never mind that our walk was three times harder and in the end made the way even longer; to a child, if you cut "through" something, it must be shorter. Such is the fool: Will you take the straightforward path? No. He proposes a convoluted scheme: register this under that person's name, then transfer it there, and then do that - all kinds of toil that wear him out for nothing.
Another explanation: he does not go to the city to do his work so that he will have profit and rest, but rather goes here and there, toiling and wearying himself in his foolishness, as it is said, "The eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth." A fool has grandiose plans. A sensible person knows: if you want to advance, you start from the bottom. Perhaps you would like to be appointed vice president in your very first year, but in life one must start working from the bottom. Perhaps you would like to be appointed rosh yeshiva immediately, invited to serve as head because they need you and recognize your greatness - but reality proves otherwise. Start as a Rebbe teaching bekiyut, even as a substitute; people will get to know you, you will receive a regular shiur, then you will deliver an iyun shiur, and at the next stage you might become a rosh yeshiva. Things develop slowly. But the fool - his eyes are on the ends of the earth; he wants to be there right now. He is not willing to work hard and climb up from the bottom; he wants to be dropped in right at the top.
There was once a rosh yeshiva whose yeshiva was not successful and whose staff was not successful, whereas another rosh yeshiva had a truly outstanding staff and his yeshiva was superb. The first met the second and asked: What is your secret, how are you so successful? He replied: The difference between you and me is that in my yeshiva, I choose the Rebbeim, whereas in yours, your daughters chose the Rebbeim. Whomever one of them decided to marry became a Rebbe in your yeshiva. And what can you do, you have to support him, he is your son-in-law; even if he is unsuitable and the students deserve someone better, a position must be found for the son-in-law. And that in itself brings no praise to the yeshiva.
An Instant Generation
We are an instant generation. We want everything at the push of a button - and in fact, even pressing a button belongs to the previous generation; today everything is by "touch," because even pressing a button might be too tiring. In this exact manner, a person of our generation wants to know the entire Torah: with a gentle touch, with minimal effort, and immediately become the gadol hador. And this is the difference between our generation and previous generations: back then, people toiled, gave their fat and blood, and grew to become great. But "the toil of fools wearies him" - to him, toil is exhausting and wearisome, so he searches for shortcuts and wants everything in a single moment. "For he does not know how to go to the city" - to reach the city, one must walk. Things done hastily never truly achieve their proper quality and excellence.
It was once noted what a great person said: a person wants to go to sleep, have an angel come at night to teach him the entire Torah, downloading the entire treasury of wisdom into his brain like a USB drive - and on that very same night, still get a full night's sleep. As he put it: and manage to sleep as well! That is, we are unwilling to give up even our basic comforts. This reflects how we search for shortcuts rather than pursuing the path where a person exerts himself to attain his goal.
"To the City" - To the Rav and to the City Entrances
Chazal expound further: "The toil of fools wearies him" - this refers to a student who exerts himself studying halachah on his own, yet does not go to his rebbe who is in the city; and this is the meaning of "for he does not know how to go to the city." Another explanation: "city" (ir) is related to irin kadishin (holy masters); he has a holy rebbe yet does not go to him to learn Torah, exerting himself alone instead, so that his attainments remain meager and his capabilities small. From here we see that a person must always have a shiur, must always go to hear from others and receive from others. So too with a yeshiva student: at every stage he has someone to receive from - here a rebbe, then a rebbe in yeshiva ketanah, then in yeshiva gedolah, and later a rosh kollel. When a person receives, he is filled; but one who does not go to his rebbe toils in vain.
Rashi explains: "The toil of fools wearies him" - their foolishness causes them wearisome toil, because they did not learn to go to the entrances of the city, and they exhaust themselves trying to enter through pits, their feet sinking in the mud - similar to what we saw in Pesikta Zutreta. And what is the underlying meaning? Rashi says: the laziness of those who abandon the Torah causes them the exhausting toil of Gehinnom, "for he did not know how to walk along the path of truth" to withdraw from sin, because he did not study Torah. Had he studied Torah, he would have known the path of truth and the path of falsehood, the straight path and the crooked path, and he would have reached the city. For the Torah illuminates man's path, as it is written, "Your word is a lamp to my feet" - illuminating my feet so that I know where I am going. But he is unwilling to toil, preferring to do everything according to his convenience, and consequently he fails to achieve what he could have achieved, inheriting Gehinnom.
Yiftach: The One Who Did Not Know How to Go to Pinchas
Chazal expound: "The toil of fools wearies him" - this refers to Yiftach; "for he does not know how to go to the city" - should he not have gone to Pinchas so that he would annul his vow? Chazal find fault in him for not going to have his vow annulled, and this is "wearies him" - ultimately bringing immense grief and anguish upon him, as he had to banish his daughter and brought her to a terrible fate. And Chazal say there that each of them said: Let the other come to me; he needs me - and in the end, that unfortunate girl perished.
The Imrei Shefer: Toil Devoid of Wise Resourcefulness
The Imrei Shefer explains: sometimes a person toils over a simple matter, whereas if he possessed resourcefulness or wisdom, he would know how to accomplish that very same thing without exhausting himself. Today, with computer software and technology, this is very common. An inexperienced person needs to modify files on a computer, and works for hours and days modifying each file one by one; while someone who is savvy and understands the matter writes a single command and changes everything all at once - work that another person toiled over for weeks file by file. So too with machines versus manual labor: an operation that manually takes hours or weeks, a machine performs in a very short time. This is "the toil of fools wearies him" - a person toils and wears himself out simply because he is a fool, lacking the wise ingenuity of how to accomplish the task.
And what is added by the phrase, "who does not know how to go to the city"? Wisdom is acquired in two ways - through study and through experience. A person can study anywhere, but where is experience gained? By seeing as many people as possible and observing their actions. One person is seen handling a matter one way, a second acts cleverly in another way, a third operates differently - from many people, one acquires rich experience. That is why when people describe someone as lacking basic sense, they ask: "Where did he come from, the jungle?" Meaning, he was never among civilized society. One who lives among people acquires wisdom from them and learns from their experience, without having to reinvent the wheel every time.
Experience is acquired "in the city" - in a place populated by people. This is the meaning of "The toil of fools wearies him": the fool does not study, even though study is something one could do on his own; and if he has not acquired experience either, he is truly one "who does not know how to go to the city." Had he known how to go to the city, he would have mingled among people, observed their ingenuity and how they act, and they would have taught him understanding so that he would at least gain some wisdom. But if he grew up in the fields and among the thickets like wild beasts, it is no wonder he is far from wisdom. Had he observed human conduct and known how to walk to the city, he too would have grown wise.
In summary:
These two verses paint the portrait of the fool: he multiplies words and speaks of his future with certainty, when in truth "man does not know what will be" - neither tomorrow, nor what follows his hundred and twenty years, nor even what lies behind his back or directly beneath him. Bil'am boasted of knowing the knowledge of the Most High, yet walked straight to his death in Midian; the "soothsayer" sits atop the king's treasure and remains oblivious; and the one who claims to reveal hidden mysteries cannot see what is right in front of his eyes. When the fool is rebuked, he grasps at that very same "who can tell?" to cast doubt on everything, unable to offer a sensible answer like seven discerning counselors. And the verse continues: "The toil of fools wearies him" - he abandons the paved road, looks for shortcuts and detours, wants to be at the ends of the earth at once, and is unwilling to toil, to climb from the bottom, to go to his rebbe and into the company of people from whom one acquires Torah and life experience. "Who does not know how to go to the city" - to reach the city one must walk, step by step; and that path, in material pursuits and all the more so in spiritual life, is the only road that truly arrives at the destination.