Musar zu Kohelet 2:78

I have previously referred to an allusion contained in the words: אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו וכו'. The vestments for the priests were to be לכבוד ולתפארת, "for dignity and adornment." These were to symbolize the כתנות אור, garments of light, which Adam and Eve wore before they had to exchange them for כתנות עור garments of skin, after the sin. Onkelos translates כתנות עור as לבושין דיקר, "precious garments" (Genesis 3,21). At first glance it seems that Onkelos equates כתנות אור with כתנות עור and בגדי כהונה. There is a mystical dimension to this comparison which is rooted in Kohelet 2,13: כיתרון אור מן החושך, "as the advantage of light over darkness." The message there is that G–d makes purity emerge even out of impurity. I have dealt with this at length in one of my addresses on שבת הגדול, the Sabbath preceding the festival of Passover. You will find it in my tractate Pesachim.

It is well-known that this world is all emptiness, that every amusement is worthless, and woe is anyone who pursues vanity, which is worthless. And don't envy the rich, for "riches are hoarded by their owner to his misfortune" (Koheles 5:12); "As he had come from his mother's womb, naked will he return...exactly as he came he must depart, and what did he gain by toiling for the wind?" (ibid. 14, 15); "Even if he should live a thousand years twice over, but find no contentment - do not all go to the same place?" (Ib. 6:6); "Even if man lives many years, let him rejoice in all of them, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is futility" (ib. 11:8); "And of joy, what does it accomplish?" (ibid. 2:2). Tomorrow you will cry for having laughed today. Do not lust after imaginary honor, for it is worthless and time is a traitor: it is like scales, which lift the light and lower the weighty. The world is like one who drinks salty water: he thinks it quenches his thirst, but it only makes him thirstier. No one leaves the world with even half his cravings fulfilled (Koheles Rabbah 1). "What profit does one have from all his toils under the sun" (Koheles 1:3)? Remember our predecessors, all of whose love, desire and joy have ceased to exist (see Koheles 9:6), but who are being judged severely for them. And of what benefit is gratification to man - whose end is dust, maggots and worms, as he is bound to die - when all his enjoyments turn to bitterness in the grave? And what is this world, whose days are full of anguish and pain which prevent one from sleeping? Neither is death a mikveh. Man will be judged for everything he says; even the slightest expression is not overlooked.

Hence we are obligated to be grateful to Him for everything that He has conferred upon us and for the goodness which He has allotted us. We are also obligated to implore His help to do what is right in His eyes, to tell His greatness, and attain the utmost felicity through our performance of His Commandments. For it is for this that we were created. Not to (achieve) that which is (desirable) or useful of His own. As it is said (Job 35:6, 7), “If thou hast sinned what doest thou against Him? and if thy transgressions be multiplied what doest thou unto Him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? Or what receiveth He of thy hand?” Indeed He created us (only) to show forth and serve His glory and to make manifest the force of His power and His great worth, as it is said (Isaiah 43:7), “Everyone that is called by My name whom I have created for My glory.” Therefore I entreat Him to accept my work. Perhaps He will reward me in proportion to my desire and not in accordance with the inadequacies of my capacity and performance. For how can a lowly and transitory man conceive the greatness of his Creator? For what can man do that cometh after the King? (See Ecclesiastes 2:12).

This was said by King Shlomo, peace be unto him: "I said of laughter, it is madness; and of merriment, what use is it?" (Ecc. 2:2). And the Sages of blessed of memory, said: "laughter and light-headedness habituate a person to illicit relations" (Avot 3:13). For even though sexual immorality is regarded as severe by every man of faith, and his heart fears approaching it, due to the vivid picture that has been imprinted in his mind of the enormity of the sin and the severe punishment it incurs, nevertheless, laughter and light-headedness draw him on little by little, advancing him nearer till the fear of sin leaves him bit by bit, degree after degree, until he reaches the sin itself and commits it.

You can observe that man's nature weighs very heavily upon him. For the earthiness of the physical is gross. Therefore a man does not want to exert himself and labor. But he who wants to merit to the service of the Creator must strengthen himself against his own nature, mustering strength and zeal.

Behold, Shlomo repeatedly exhorted many times on this in seeing the evil of laziness and the greatness of the harm resulting from it. He said "a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Then shall your poverty come as a traveler" (Mishlei 24:33). For behold, even though the lazy person is not doing evil actively, nevertheless he brings evil on himself through his very inactivity.

The Temple was the focus where all G–d's blessings were first received; thence they were distributed to the seventy nations of the world corresponding to the seventy "princes" in the Celestial Regions. All these nations received a "reward" from Jerusalem, i.e. all mankind benefited from the Temple of the Jewish people. This was a promise G–d had already made to Abraham in Genesis 12,3: "And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you." Solomon knew how G–d directed these blessings via various conduits, and this is why he made gardens, planted orchards and trees etc. as described in Kohelet 2,5. It was patently impossible for Solomon to have planted all these various plants in a single location, [many require different climates in order to grow properly. Ed.] Solomon knew which of the various conduits led to which part of the earth. He therefore strategically placed the various plants near these different conduits so that their seeds would be carried to those areas of the earth where they could flourish best. This is the deeper meaning of Psalms 50,2 quoted earlier. Zion is perceived as the foundation of the earth. The שכינה dispatches blessings to various parts of the earth, to each in accordance with the deserts of its inhabitants.

Why then should we now adopt new decrees which they did not see fit to enact? Furthermore, there is no end to this matter. Thus, a man would soon be desolate and afflicted, deriving no enjoyment whatsoever from this world, while our sages, of blessed memory, said: "a person will in the future be held accountable before G-d on all that his eyes beheld and he did not want to eat from it" (Yerushalmi Kidushin 4:12). This is even though it was permitted to him and he had the ability to do so. They brought support for this from scripture: "all that my eyes desired I did not deprive them" (Kohelet 2:10).

Separation in the laws is to always be stringent in them. To be concerned even for the view of the solitary opinion if its reason has grounds, despite that the Halacha does not follow this opinion. The condition, however, is that his stringency not become a leniency.

The eleventh thing a man should remember is how alert he is and how he hastens in his business in order to make money and how he thinks about this night and day and he is not anxious to love any man except him who helps him accumulate gold and silver. All of his labors in the pursuit of wealth may be for nothing and there is always the possibility that he will lose all he has, or that his money will be his undoing, or that he will die before long, yet in spite of all this he exerts himself in this way. If this is the case, what should a man do for the sake of his soul which lives forever? Moreover, how obliged a man is to mend his ways and be constantly alert to remember to purify and cleanse his soul with a cleansing that lasts forever and ever. Now, see what a difference there is between the two worlds, and the excellence of one over the other is like that of light over darkness.

Therefore he whose eyes are on his head (Kohelet 2:14), should be more watchful to scrutinize the deeds of someone who he wishes to acquire as a friend, advisor, or workers over his household than he is watchful to scrutinize his food and drink. For his food and drink can only damage his body while his friends and workers can destroy his soul, belongings and all of his honor. King David peace be unto him said: "He will not dwell within my house, he who practices deceit. He who follows the way of the innocent, he will serve me" (Tehilim 101:6-7).

We may understand the word שלי as referring to what is material, whereas the word שלך in the Mishnah in question refers to the mind, the abstract. When a person proclaims: שלי שלי ושלך שלי, it is as if he said: The body and the mind both belong to the secular, to earth-bound values. This is typical of the wicked person who wants to make life a totally physical experience and to drag down the spiritual part of man to the level of the merely physical. When a person declares: שלך שלך וגם שלי שלך, he is described as pious because he expresses his striving to elevate what is physical to the level of the spiritual. The person who says: שלי שלך ושלך שלי is similar to the person of whom Solomon said in Kohelet 2,24: "Is it not good for a man to eat and drink and enjoy?" Solomon refers to the person who wishes to partake of "both tables," i.e. life in the here and now as well as life in the Hereafter. When he refers to the enjoyment, he refers to the joy of studying Torah. Whereas some of our sages consider this attitude as average, i.e. tolerable, others consider it as the attitude espoused by the people of Sodom. The Rabbis who see in this attitude an average attitude believe that a philosophy of זה נהנה וזה לא חסר, "The fact that one person derives pleasure but not at the expense of his fellow," is something morally tolerable. It is similar to someone who lights his candle from another candle. He secures light for himself without diminishing the existing light for others. These rabbis compare such conduct to the verse in Psalms 34,11: ודורשי ה' לא יחסרו כל טוב, "Those who turn to the Lord are not failing to do something wholly good." The motto of: "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine," is equivalent to turning the laws of nature upside down. When a person turns the weekday into the Holiday by denying himself all physical pleasure on weekdays, whereas he uses the Holidays for unbounded physical enjoyment, he reverses the order G–d has established for this world and is clearly ignorant of G–d's plans. The Torah has spelled out that only certain activities are allowed on the Holidays in order to ensure our minimal physical comfort on such days. This is the meaning of Exodus 12,16: אך אשר יאכל לכל נפש הוא לבדו יעשה לכם, "Only what every person has to eat, that alone may be prepared for you." When we examine what the author of Emek Berachah writes in connection with the above Mishnah we find that the desire to enjoy both the physical parts of this world as well as the spiritual ones is not enough for a person who wants to qualify as pious. People such as the prophets Elijah and Chanoch learned how to cope while availing themselves of less and less of the comforts available for the body in this world. In order to establish the closest possible ties with G–d the physical part of this world cannot be enjoyed in its own right. The enjoyment of the Holiday should comprise the life-force of the body, נפש הגופני, as well as the life-force of the soul, נפש הרוחני, through the study of Torah and engaging in prayer.