전도서 7:6 해설: Rashi, Kohelet Rabbah & Tze'enah Ure'enah

For like the crackling of thorns. Thorn wood, espines in O.F.

“For like the crackling of brambles under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool; this, too, is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 7:6).
“For like the crackling of brambles under the pot” – Rabbi Levi son of Rabbi Ze’eira would state a request of permission:⁴³He would do so at the beginning of his addresses, requesting the audience’s permission. All the trees, when they are ignited, their sound does not carry; however, these brambles when they are ignited, their sound carries. They are saying: We, too, are trees.⁴⁴He was saying, in his humility: Even those who are not wise want to have their voices heard. Therefore, please grant me permission to speak.

Under a pot. Under a copper pot turned over a fire of thorns, and they rattle into it.¹⁸The crackling of thorns in the fire lasts only a brief moment and then is gone. So, too, the laughter of the fool has no useful purpose or lasting value. Or, the verse conveys the thought that the wise grieve because they are fearful that they are lacking in their service to God, whereas fools are generally satisfied and happy because they feel they have totally fulfilled their obligation in their service to God. Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Leivi said, that all [other] woods when they are kindled, their sound does not travel [far], but when thorns are kindled, their sound travels [far], as if to say, “We, too, are of wood”. They publicize, “We too are wood, and we are needed.” So do fools speak excessively, [as if] to say, “We, too, are important.”

This too is vanity. And it is labor, which the Holy One, Blessed Is He, gave the people to toil in and to be vexed with.