Comentario sobre Eclesiastés 9:10

Whatever you are able to do. The will of your Maker— as long as you have your strength—do.²⁶See Mishnayos Avos 2:2.

“Everything that you are capable of doing with your strength, do, as there is no action, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
“Everything that you are capable of doing with your strength” – Rabbi Menaḥama in the name of Rabbi Bon transposes this verse: If you know that “there is no action, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where you are going,” “everything that you are capable of doing with your strength, do.”
Rabbi Aḥa desired to see the face of Rabbi Alexandri.³¹He had died, and Rabbi Aḥa sought to see him in a dream. He appeared to him in his dream, and showed him two matters: Those executed in Lod,³²A princess was found killed. The Romans blamed the local Jews and the prefect decreed that they should all be killed. Pappos and Luleyanus, who were innocent, took the blame for the murder and were executed, thereby sparing the entire community (Rashi to Ta’anit 18b). there are none closer than their partition.³³The area in which they are located in heaven is among those closest to God. Blessed is He who removed the shame of Luleyanus and Pappos.³⁴The Roman official who executed them was himself executed immediately afterward, as a heavenly sign pointing to the innocence of Luleyanus and Pappos. See Kohelet Rabba 3:17. And happy is he who comes here [to heaven] with his studies in his possession.³⁵One whose studies are in his possession is one who remembers the Torah he has studied.
Zavdi ben Levi desired to see the face of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. He appeared to him in his dream and showed him people whose faces were uplifted and people whose faces were downcast. [Zavdi ben Levi] said to him: ‘Why is this so?’ He said to him: ‘Those whose faces are uplifted, their studies are in their possession; those whose faces are downcast, their studies are not in their possession.’
Reish Lakish, and some say Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, desired to see Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great [in a dream]. They said to him: ‘You are not worthy.’³⁶The Jerusalem Talmud (Kilayim 9:3) explains that he had fasted many times in order to see Rabbi Ḥiyya in a dream, and it did not work, whereupon the other Sages said that he was not worthy to see Rabbi Ḥiyya (Etz Yosef). He said to them: ‘Why, have I not toiled in Torah study like him?’ They said to him: ‘You did not teach Torah like him. Moreover, he would travel from place to place.’³⁷Rabbi Ḥiyya would travel in order to teach his Torah to a wider audience. He said to them: ‘Did I not travel?’ They said to him: ‘You traveled to learn, he traveled to teach.’ He observed three hundred fasts and [Rabbi Ḥiyya] appeared to him in his dream. [Rabbi Ḥiyya] said: ‘Someone who is something, who conducts himself as though he is something, it would be preferable for him had he not been created.’³⁸Even if one is accomplished in his Torah studies, if he treats himself with honor, he has thereby abrogated the good he has accomplished (Rabbi David Luria).
Rabbi Asi fasted thirty days in order to see Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great [in a dream] but did not see him. They said to him: ‘You are not worthy.’³⁹And if you do see him, it will be an overpowering experience and you will be adversely affected. He said to them: ‘I will see him, and whatever will be will be.’ He saw his platform, and his eyesight became dim.⁴⁰Rabbi Asi saw the platform on which Rabbi Ḥiyya’s chair rested in heaven and he was blinded by its glow. If you say that Rabbi Assi was not a great man, [the following incident proves that he was:] A certain weaver came before Rabbi Yoḥanan and said: ‘I saw in my dream the sky falling and one of your students supported it with his hand.’ He said: ‘Would you be able to identify him?’ He said: ‘Pass them before me, I will identify him.’ When he reached Rabbi Asi, he said: ‘This is he.’
Rabbi Huna, the Exilarch, said to them:⁴¹He said to the members of his household. ‘When I die, take me up [to be buried] next to Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great.’ When he died, they took him up to the Land of Israel. They said: ‘Rabbi Huna is worthy to be brought here for burial alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great. Who will enter [the burial cave] and place him there?’⁴²They were concerned that whoever would enter the cave might not be worthy to be in the presence of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great, and might die. Rabbi Ḥagai said: ‘I will take him.’ They said [of Rabbi Ḥagai]: ‘When he was eighteen years old, he was expert in his studies, and he never experienced a seminal emission.’⁴³This was a testament to Rabbi Ḥagai’s greatness. At the time of this incident, however, he was already an old man. They said to him: ‘You are seeking to enter because you are an old man, and if you die there, you do not care about losing your life.’⁴⁴You are volunteering to enter the cave because you do not mind dying now and being interred in the cave alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and Rabbi Huna. He said to them: ‘Do the following to me. Bring a rope and tie it around my legs. If I emerge, fine. If not, you will pull me out by my legs.’ It was done to him. He entered and found three sitting in judgment:⁴⁵Rabbi Ḥiyya had been buried along with his sons, Ḥizkiya and Yehuda, who were also very righteous. Many commentaries interpret the phrase “three sitting in judgment” non-literally, to mean that the following sentence was written on the wall of the cave. ‘Yehuda, my son, there is no one your equivalent after you. Ḥizkiya, my son, there is no one your equivalent after you. Joseph, son of Israel,⁴⁶This is a reference to the biblical Joseph. there is no one your equivalent after you.’ [Rabbi Ḥagai] lifted his eyes to look. [A voice] said to him: ‘Lower your face.’ He heard the voice of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great saying to Yehuda his son: ‘My son, make room for Rabbi Huna the Exilarch to be placed alongside me.’ He did not accept upon himself to be placed there; ⁴⁷Rabbi Huna did not want to be buried in between Rabbi Ḥiyya and his son. therefore, his descendants will never cease. [Rabbi Ḥagai] emerged from there eighty years old, and his years were doubled.

For there is neither deed, etc., in the grave. For your merit after you die, and if you did so, you have no reckoning in the grave to worry about. The [text of the] verse is transposed [meaning], “for there is neither deed nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave for the wicked,²⁷Alternatively, whatever charity and good deeds you are able to do, do them with all your strength. (Targum) nor reckoning for the righteous, when the wicked give an accounting and reckoning, and so is it expounded in the Midrash. And one who interprets it without transposing it, but according to its apparent meaning, interprets ‘חֶשְׁבּוֹן’ as an expression of “thought,” what more can he still do²⁸For them to use as an excuse for their sins. to exempt himself from judgment.²⁹I.e., once one is in the grave, there is nothing more he can think of doing to exempt himself from judgment.