Vanity of Vanities and the Angel of Death

Kohelet Rabbah 7:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·March 24, 2026

“I returned and saw vanity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 4:7). “I returned and saw vanity under the heavens” – this is the banner of the angel of death.

Themes

Angels Solomon Death

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Legends of the JewsBoaz Among the Heavenly HostTheir story, a evidence of love, loyalty, and unexpected blessings, unfolds against a backdrop of moral decay, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews. The Legends of the JewsSolomon Confronts His Own MortalityThe ancient wisdom tradition understands that feeling all too well. It reminds us, "O son of man, let not time deceive thee; thou must wither away, and leave th Legends of the JewsLuz and the AngelsKing Solomon, the wisest of all men, certainly tried. And the story of his scribes, Elihoreph and Ahijah, is a fascinating, if ultimately sobering, tale about j Midrash TehillimGod Made Everything Beautiful in Its Time(Ecclesiastes 3:11) tells us, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." But what about death? Where's the beauty in that? Rabbi Berechiah, in the name of Sifrei DevarimDeath of Moses of MiriamThe ancient rabbis certainly understood that feeling. They saw it reflected in a particularly difficult year for the Israelites, a year marked by a triple trage Sifrei DevarimMoses the Servant of God Died by God's Own WordThe verse says that Moses, "the servant of the L-rd," died "by the word of the L-rd" (Deuteronomy 34:5). But the ancient rabbis saw layers of meaning here. The