The Book of Qoheleth, also known as Ecclesiastes, deals with both happiness and unhappiness. The sage notes that the human condition is made up of many "crooked things" that will remain so, and many voids that will remain impossible to fill. He himself is often reduced to contemplating, without being able to provide a remedy, the evils that doom human projects to failure and prevent man from attaining fully satisfying happiness. The question of the "why" of evil and misery arises irresistibly. While the non-believer will say, "If God existed, there would not be so much evil on earth," Qoheleth persists, quite the contrary, in discerning divine goodness in the portion of happiness that man receives. It is God who makes the days of happiness and the days of unhappiness; it is therefore He who, in particular, gives us all the good that life brings us.
This commentary, intended for the general public, has been designed to be as readable as possible, but it does not evade the technical questions useful for the elucidation of the text. The Book of Qoheleth aims to teach a wisdom of life. Its message, in direct contact with the concrete reality of existence, quite naturally leads to multiple applications.