Handles for the Torah
Before Shlomo, the Torah was like a basket without handles; through his parables, everyone could take hold of it.
On the verse in Koheles that Shlomo weighed and searched and set many parables in order, the Midrash teaches that until Shlomo arose there were no parables, and the Torah was hard to grasp. The chachamim compare it to a great palace with many doors where everyone lost his way, until a wise man tied a string along the path; to a basket of fruit with no handles, until someone made handles; and to a deep well of sweet, cold water, until someone tied rope to rope and drew it up. Do not think little of a parable, the Midrash concludes. A king who loses a gold coin or a fine pearl in his house finds it with a wick worth a penny, and with a simple parable a person can reach the depths of Torah. The Gemara adds that through his parables Shlomo gave the Torah handles.
Source: Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:1:8 (on Koheles 12:9); Gemara, Eruvin 21b
Shlomo knew that a small parable can light the way to deep Torah. The next time you explain an idea to a child, a student or a friend and see their eyes glaze over, stop and reach for a simple picture from daily life: a key, a recipe, a phone that needs charging. Prepare one such example tonight for something you plan to teach or share this Shabbos, and watch how much more of the Torah your listener can hold.