mammele-thanks for your posting.
It is not a question of “being enthralled”- it is a question of the truth and loshon horah (and motzi shem ra and rechilus). Shlomo zz’l clearly had his faults but(at least for me), his qualities and achievements, his influence and “chessed’ (attested by every one!) far outweigh his sins. I do not put much faith on some of the more lurid accusations.
Now, I am only a plain jew and I have no idea how they treat him in the heavens (please note that the gemoro has stories that sinners , when doing just one great thing, go straight to gan eden)but my point was that , if indeed he was considered a sinner “bashomayim”, how can his influence and nussach spread so widely? I do believe that everything is “min hashomayim”- if you deny that ,then you deny one of the “Ikrei hadas”-foundations of faith. See the first Ani maamin !
And yes, the fact that the greeks had a great civilization was allowed by HKBH and the fact that “achar” became “achar” did not diminish his Torah and influence on R’Meir (see gemoro-taking the good and rejecting the bad).
The question is not whether anyhting in this world is “min hasomyaim”- it must be, otherwise, we are all “kofrim” by denying HKBH’s direction. We CAN ask why? why was there a Holocaust? (rachmono litzlon), Why was greece so succesful? Why is there a medinah? Those are legitimate questions and some have no answers (Holocaust) but you just cannot say that something is “koach hasoton” and decide that HKBH had no input. THAT is Kefirah!