“Knesset bloviations of Knesset bloviations” rolls off the tongue or quill with a distinct lack of smoothness.
Jerusalem, June 8 – The author of a profound, dark Biblical philosophical work admitted today that he made painful compromises in the composition of his signature work, chief among them a choice of wording that, while necessary to preserve readability and poetic rhythm, fails to convey the full force of uselessness that could have been carried instead by invoking people speechifying in Israel’s parliament.
King Solomon, one of whose masterpieces includes the book of Ecclesiastes, with its famous refrain, “All is futility” – rendered in more archaic translations as “vanity” – lamented the necessity he felt in writing the book to sacrifice evocative depth for the sake of readability. Specifically, he pointed to the opening rhetorical salvo, havel havalim, “Futility of futilities,” as an excellent, alliterative, memorable phrase that nevertheless falls short in evocative force compared to the imagery Solomon aimed to use, but “Knesset bloviations of Knesset bloviations” rolls off the tongue or quill with a distinct lack of smoothness.
“It’s a shame,” the king reflected. “All growth and creation in this world involve sacrifice and pain. You would know that if you studied my book, which extensively explores the phenomenon.”
He then turned circumspect. “I should have expected things not to turn out perfect,” he acknowledged. “Considering the focus of this book is an extended reflection on how nothing good ever lasts, and that even good things go unappreciated, so just relish the quotidian, precious little things if you want joy, however fleeting it may be, well – expecting a different outcome calls to mind someone foolish enough to keep electing corrupt narcissists to Knesset and then expressing disgust at the results.”
The futility of politics gets no specific or deep treatment in Ecclesiastes, but Solomon’s father David had his own documented encounter with politics complex enough for insanity to become relevant: when fleeing King Saul, David sought refuge in the Philistine city-state of Gath – when the Philistines had no affection for any Israelites, let alone the very man who had given them so much trouble in battle. David therefore drooled and wrote nonsense on the walls, prompting King Akhish to lambaste his men: “Do I lack lunatics that you bring this one to me as well?!”
“I couldn’t be that explicitly sardonic in a hoity-toity philosophical work,” he conceded. “Certainly not one that I composed with divine inspiration. A prophet chastising the people can get vicious and sarcastic. Not me. But I can point to a few legislators who could give the prophets a lesson or two on that kind of rhetoric.”
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