Commentary for Ecclesiastes 7:25
סַבּ֨וֹתִֽי אֲנִ֤י וְלִבִּי֙ לָדַ֣עַת וְלָת֔וּר וּבַקֵּ֥שׁ חָכְמָ֖ה וְחֶשְׁבּ֑וֹן וְלָדַ֙עַת֙ רֶ֣שַׁע כֶּ֔סֶל וְהַסִּכְל֖וּת הוֹלֵלֽוֹת׃
I turned about, and applied my heart to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know wickedness to be folly, and foolishness to be madness;
Rashi on Ecclesiastes
So I turned about. To know and to search out and to seek the wisdom [=meaning] of the section dealing with the Red Heifer58The numerical value [gematria] of “והיא רחוקה” equals 341, the same as “פרה אדומה.” 59The Gemara in Maseches Yoma 14a states, that verse 7:23 above “I said, ‘I will be wise but it proved far beyond [והיא רחוקה] me,’” is referring to the Red Heifer, whose ashes render ritually clean one who has become contaminated by contact with a corpse, and yet these same ashes contaminate one who is ritually clean. and the computation of the End [of exile] for Redemption.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
And to know that wickedness is folly. To foresee the ultimate end of heresy, and “foolishness is madness,” [i.e.,] the confusion and madness therein.
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