Kommentar zu Kohelet 12:5
גַּ֣ם מִגָּבֹ֤הַּ יִרָ֙אוּ֙ וְחַתְחַתִּ֣ים בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ וְיָנֵ֤אץ הַשָּׁקֵד֙ וְיִסְתַּבֵּ֣ל הֶֽחָגָ֔ב וְתָפֵ֖ר הָֽאֲבִיּוֹנָ֑ה כִּֽי־הֹלֵ֤ךְ הָאָדָם֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית עוֹלָמ֔וֹ וְסָבְב֥וּ בָשּׁ֖וּק הַסֹּפְדִֽים׃
Auch fürchten sie sich vor jeder Anhöhe, und Schrecknisse sind auf jedem Wege, und es verschmähet die Mandel, und es zeigt sich träge die Heuschrecke, und es versagt das Reizmittel, denn bald geht der Mensch in sein ewiges Haus, und die Klageleute halten einen Umzug auf dem Markte.
Rashi on Ecclesiastes
Also when they will fear heights. From the mounds and bumps in the streets; [i.e.,] he is afraid to go outdoors because he might stumble on them.8Alternatively, they fear heights because they feel that they do not have the energy to climb them. (Ibn Ezra)
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Kohelet Rabbah
“They will also fear heights, there will be obstacles on the way, the almond tree will blossom, the grasshopper will be burdened, the caper berry will fail. For the man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners will circle in the streets” (Ecclesiastes 12:5).
“They will also fear heights” – An elderly man, when they would call him to a place, he says to them: ‘Are there thorns there? Are there ascents there? Are there descents there?4He does not want to attend if traveling will be difficult, for example if there are thorns or he will have to go uphill or downhill. “There will be obstacles [ḥatḥatim] on the way” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana and Rabbi Levi: One said: The fear [ḥititei] of the way descends upon him, [so that he says:] Shall I go or shall I not go; and he [eventually] says: I shall not go. The other said: He begins delineating subdivisions along the route. He says: Until this street, until this place, I am able to go, but until that place I am unable to go.
“The almond tree will blossom” – Rabbi Levi said: This is the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed and his name expunged, asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya; he said to him: ‘From where does a person blossom in the future?’5When a person comes back to life at the resurrection of the dead. He said to him: ‘From the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column.’ [Hadrian] said to him: ‘Show me.’ What did [Rabbi Yehoshua] do? He brought him the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column. He placed it in water, but it did not dissolve; in fire, but it did not burn; in a mill, but it was not ground. He placed in on an anvil and struck it with a hammer. The anvil split, the hammer split, but it was to no avail.
“The grasshopper will be burdened” – these are one’s ankles. “The caper berry will fail” – this is the desire that sustains peace between a man and his wife;6The desire for marital relations. it will cease. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta was accustomed to ascending to our Rabbi.7He would go to see Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi on a monthly basis. When he grew old, he was unable to do so. One time, he ascended. Our Rabbi said to him: ‘Why have we been privileged to see the radiant countenance of the rabbi today?’ He said to him: ‘The distant have become close, the close have become distant, two have become three, and what sustains peace has ceased.’
“For the man goes to his eternal home” – it is not written here, “to the eternal home,” but rather, “his eternal home.” Reish Lakish said: [This is analogous] to a king who entered a province, accompanied by dukes, governors, and military commanders. Although all of them enter through one gate, each and every one stays in a place corresponding to his status. So too, although all taste the taste of death, each and every one has a world in and of himself. “And the mourners will circle in the streets” – these are the worms.
“They will also fear heights” – An elderly man, when they would call him to a place
“The almond tree will blossom” – Rabbi Levi said: This is the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed and his name expunged, asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya; he said to him: ‘From where does a person blossom in the future?’5When a person comes back to life at the resurrection of the dead. He said to him: ‘From the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column.’ [Hadrian] said to him: ‘Show me.’ What did [Rabbi Yehoshua] do? He brought him the nut-sized bone at the top of the spinal column. He placed it in water, but it did not dissolve; in fire, but it did not burn; in a mill, but it was not ground. He placed in on an anvil and struck it with a hammer. The anvil split, the hammer split, but it was to no avail.
“The grasshopper will be burdened” – these are one’s ankles. “The caper berry will fail” – this is the desire that sustains peace between a man and his wife;6The desire for marital relations. it will cease. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta was accustomed to ascending to our Rabbi.7He would go to see Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi on a monthly basis. When he grew old, he was unable to do so. One time, he ascended. Our Rabbi said to him: ‘Why have we been privileged to see the radiant countenance of the rabbi today?’ He said to him: ‘The distant have become close, the close have become distant, two have become three, and what sustains peace has ceased.’
“For the man goes to his eternal home” – it is not written here, “to the eternal home,” but rather, “his eternal home.” Reish Lakish said: [This is analogous] to a king who entered a province, accompanied by dukes, governors, and military commanders. Although all of them enter through one gate, each and every one stays in a place corresponding to his status. So too, although all taste the taste of death, each and every one has a world in and of himself. “And the mourners will circle in the streets” – these are the worms.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
And terrors on the road. The road’s many fears and terrors.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
Terrors. This is a word is of a doubled language, as in גַּלְגַּלִּים [=wheels], קַּשְׂקַּשִּׂים [=scales], זַלְזַלִּים [=tendrils].
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
[And the almond tree] will blossom. וְיָנֵאץ is] an expression of, “the pomegranates have blossomed הֵנֵצוּ,”9Shir Hashirim 7:13. for the ‘aleph’ in it is silent. Our Rabbis said, this is the haunch, hanche in O.F., into which the hip bone is thrust, and in his old age, the flesh becomes thin and the bone protrudes, like when a tree blossoms, it protrudes.10See Rashi in Maseches Shabbos 152a.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
The almond tree. An almond tree, i.e., old age will spring upon him just like this almond tree, which hastens to blossom before all the other trees.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
And the grasshopper will be a burden. These are the buttocks, for his buttocks will seem to him to be as one who bears a heavy burden.11Alternatively, if a grasshopper alights upon him, he will feel it as a burden. (Metsudas Dovid)
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
Will be a burden. Ed ert sorfeisiez in O.F.
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Rashi on Ecclesiastes
And the desire will fail. The desire for women; for he will have no need to be intimate with women. ‘אֲבִיּוֹנָה’ [means] desire,12Alternatively, and understanding [האביונה=בינה] will fail. (Metsudas Dovid) as in, “But you did not desire אֲבִיתֶם,”13Devarim 1:26. [and as in,] “I yearned תָּאַבְתִּי for Your salvation.”14Tehillim 119:174.
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