Quotation do Koheleta 7:30

According to the Zohar, “R. Yehudah said, why is it written, ‘even this God made corresponding to that?‘²⁵Eccle. 7:14.God made the earth to correspond to the firmament. Everything [below] alludes to what is above. For when R. Abba would see a certain tree whose fruit would change into a bird that flew from it, he would weep and say, ‘if human beings only knew to what this alludes….’ As R. Yose said, these trees from which wisdom can be learned,²⁶I.e., their nature alludes to some characteristic of the divine world of the sefirot. such as the carob, palm, pistachio, and the like were all borne in one chariot.²⁷or, “were all compounded in one compounding.” All those [trees] that bear fruit, except the apple tree, allude to one supernal mystery…. And all the small ones, except for the hyssop, are the offspring of one mother. In heaven, powerful intermediaries are placed over each of the earth’s plants, and each has its own mystery, just as above.”²⁸Zohar, Shemot, 15b.

The theme of this section is that the value of life lies in what is accomplished, so that it is more appropriate to celebrate the end of a person's journey than its beginning. However, external accomplishment is not emphasized -- building, acquiring or even planting -- but rather the transformation of one's character which can be accomplished using the challenges and opportunities which are afforded to us. Hence, by paying attention to what looks important in death, one can improve the heart.

The sound of burning thorns is all crackle without much useful energy.

The sound of burning thorns is all crackle without much useful energy.

This phrase seems to indicate the awe of God can come from either side of a dilemma. The phrase could also be translated, "Do not relax your grip, since awe of God can go out with all of these." In other words, the sentence simultaneously indicates that reverence for God could dissipate (go out) as well as it could flow from one or the other.

Here the word "Kohelet" is used with a feminine verb, so the meaning seems to be "a gathering of women" rather than Kohelet, "the gatherer".

In the Book of Numbers, it is hinted that no living being will be exculpated before Him, that even precious souls, "there is no righteous in the land who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20), as in this portion it is written "consuming at the edge [katze] of the camp"(Numbers 11:1)—the elite [ketzinim] of the camp (see Sifri Numbers 85), and in parashat Shelah is written the sin of the scouts "all of the men being heads of the Children of Israel,"(Numbers 13:3) who were "mistaken hearted... and not knowing the ways [of God]" (Psalms 95:10), and so, in the section of the gatherer [of sticks of Shabbat], and in parashat Korach, "who was clever... and his eyes misled him” (Bamidbar Rabba 18:8, Midrash Tanhuma Korach 5, Rashi on Numbers 16:7), and in prashat Hukat is written “the waters of conflict” (Numbers 20:13) about Moses and Aaron, and in parashat Balak about Zimri ben Salu [who was killed for improper relations with a Midianite woman] that he was a chieftain (see Numbers 25:14). This hints to what was said “Remember, do not forget how you angered God your God in the wilderness”(Deuteronomy 9:7) because ‘wilderness’ indicates the destruction and the desolation that is in every individual, as how there were worlds that were destroyed before the world of building (see Kohellet Rabba 3:11:1, Zohar 3 292b:2). And this hints to the strength of humans over the demonic and wild forces within them that want to mislead them in youthful sins, and thus also in all lofty matters, are found deriving from the force of the wilderness, as the wilderness indicates the whole world, because before the creation of the form of humanity the whole world was a wilderness, because settlement [the alternative to wilderness] is only from people, and anything before the complete finishing of the formation of humanity is called wilderness.