What a rereading of this fascinating scripture! Menachem Fisch’s decades of study, in which he has worked to combine rigorous and self-critical philosophy, immersion in rabbinic Judaism, and perceptive attention to life, have been distilled into this profound interpretation of the book of Ecclesiastes. The portrayal of types of foolishness ring uncomfortably true, and Qohelet’s positive wisdom is something each of us needs to learn—for the sake of our personal, political, economic, intellectual, and religious lives. Not only that: because of Debra Band’s accompanying visual illuminations, this is a new seeing as well as a new reading.

—David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Cambridge

 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

 This wonderful book offers a biblical, philosophical, artistic, and (ultimately) theological account of one of the deep treasures of wisdom in Scripture, Ecclesiastes. Seeing the tension between the absolute timeless norms of divine expectation and the inherent transience of all human reckoning and understanding in Qohelet’s account, Fisch offers us a deeply reflective account of the book, which takes both the urgent divine call and the limits of human knowing just as seriously. Only a philosopher and text scholar of Fisch’s extraordinary calibre could offer so rich a commentary and, moreover, do so beautifully in partnership with Debra Band’s art and calligraphy.

—Tom Greggs, Marischal Chair of Divinity, University of Aberdeen

Qohelet is the one book in the Hebrew Bible that is essentially a philosophic meditation, written, like all genuine philosophy, in the first person. Only a genuine philosopher like Menachem Fisch could enter the mind of this unique biblical author by making the author’s questions his own. Debra Band’s illuminations and commentary beautifully complement Fisch’s meditation on Qohelet.
—David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies and Philosophy, University of Toronto

 Band and Fisch’s Qohelet commentary is a feast for both eyes and mind. Qohelet, roughly a contemporary of Aristotle, jumps off the page into the interstices of our own struggle to make sense of how God wants us to understand ourselves and how we had best conduct our lives. These two religious Jews let Qohelet speak from the Jewish canon, not about, or on behalf of, Judaism but about the human condition. The calligraphy is clear yet absorbing in both Hebrew and English, with the Hebrew fully vocalized and with Masoretic cantillation marks. Qohelet urges us to enjoy life’s pleasures fully, being ever mindful of their evanescence in the face of inevitable death.
—Ellen T. Charry, Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

This inventive, probing, and thought-provoking volume argues that the biblical book of Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) is a singly authored composition propounding a coherent philosophy of life, one that is highly pertinent today. The accompanying artwork, drawing imaginatively and learnedly upon Jewish and non-Jewish traditions alike, enriches the reader’s appreciation of this enigmatic ancient text.
—Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard Divinity School

Debra Band’s illuminations in Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living illustrate her outstanding ability to marry art with text. Her intriguing paintings balance the rich commentary in an elegant embrace. Her vision rests upon Menachem Fisch’s accompanying analysis of the biblical text. Band’s artistic view illuminates the book and sets forth in a compelling visual narrative the words of both biblical text and the other sources upon which the paintings draw.  We are fortunate to have such a wonderful display of art interpreting the written word.

—Laura Kruger, Curator Emerita, Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, Hebrew Union College, New York

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” wrote the mysterious author of the biblical Qohelet—Ecclesiastes, in English, from the Greek. “There is nothing new under the sun.” For generations, the meaning of this haunting outlier text seemed clear and even merciless: in its endless cycling, nothing in the cosmos lasts, so nothing matters. Even if God is real, human life is, in the end, unreal and can have no real purpose.  Resignation is the only valid response: at best, “living for the moment”; at worst, existential despair.  But what if there were something new under the sun?  In this fresh approach to Qohelet, philosopher Menachem Fisch and scholar-artist Debra Band radically re-vision a text whose interpretation was “settled.”  Through exciting exposition that ranges from the history of rabbinical thought to analytical philosophy to the pain of personal loss, and illumined by Band’s glowing paintings, the authors return us to the original Hebrew word on which Qohelet pivots: hevel.   When hevel is not read figuratively but is restored to its literal meaning as “vapor” or “mist,” an unexpected theology is revealed. What if the text were never a meditation on absurdity, after all, but instead “a vivid portrayal of the limits of human knowledge”? These limits can inspire us to return to our deepest human challenge: How should we live?   Fisch and Band show how we can take up the question again in fascination—and even more, in hope.  An unforgettable book.
—Kimberley C. Patton, Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion, Harvard Divinity School

Illuminated manuscripts have a rich tradition, to which this gem adds creatively. Not only do Debra Band’s exquisite micrography, calligraphy, and artwork invite us to marinate in and meditate on Qohelet’s suggestive composition; Menachem Fisch adds a unique and penetrating philosophical analysis. This work takes us from the ancient world of the Bible through medieval traditions of illumination and into a reading of Qohelet as a harbinger of postmodern thinking. What a ride!
—The Rev. Peter A. Pettit, Teaching Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa

If our life seems to go nowhere, our enjoyment of things seems shallow, our understanding of things seems thin, our attempt to pursue justice seems to get nowhere, where do we go? We could always read Ecclesiastes, with this illuminating commentary. Among the many studies of the book, it is like no other in offering two Jewish perspectives, a philosopher’s and an artist’s, and incorporating a wondrous profile of artwork with which one could sit for a long time.
—John Goldingay, Senior Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary

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