“Vanity (Hebrew, hevel) of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2)!”
Depending on the English translation of the Sacred Scriptures, the Hebrew word hevel (sorry, no Hebrew alphabet yet ... it is coming) is various translated as futility, vanity, worthlessness. The Hebrew root of hevel is related to “air” or “breath” but not in the same sense as the Hebrew word ruah. In Genesis for example, ruah hovers over the abyss preparing chaos to receive the effective word of God (dabar) that initiated an ongoing growth from chaos to order. Ruah is also the life-wind, the life-spirit that is breathed into “dust (adamah)” resulting in a living being, Adam.
Hevel is “air” or “breath” in the sense of not being able to possess or capture. It is here. It is there. It is here today, gone tomorrow and there is nothing that humanity, alone or corporate, can do to definitely capture it to possess it permanently.
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