Pensamiento judío sobre Eclesiastés 11:2

The Talmud Eyruvin 40, quotes two interpretations on the verse "give a portion to seven and also to eight." (Kohelet 11,2) Rabbi Eleazar says "seven" refers to the seven days of creation, whereas "eight" refers to the eight days before circumcision. Rabbi Joshua says that the seven days are the seven days of Passover, the eight days are the eight days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, whereas the words "and also" in the verse, refer to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Since G'd in His wisdom saw fit to make man a mixture of matter and spirit, He had to make the earth and the Heavens to provide a home for the spirit. This is expressed in Isaiah 45,12, by the words "I have made earth and Heaven and created man on it." The meaning is that earth and Heaven were needed for the sake of man. We have to conceive of rakiyah, the horizon as the dividing curtain between the purely spiritual "upper" regions, and the "lower" physical part of the universe. That this is so can be confirmed by the motion that we observe in the part of the universe inhabited by our bodies. For this reason Solomon in Kohelet, keeps referring to the state of things as "under the sun." By this he wants us to understand that he speaks only about the physical part of the universe. Since spiritual beings are not subject to time, they are also not subject to motion, since motion is measured by time. Not only are spiritual beings not bound by time, but, on the contrary, time and its "carrier" are subservient to them. Celestial bodies, (sun and planets) are in a category in between. Inasmuch as their very function is motion, they are affected by it; they are, however, not dominated by time. Their motion commenced before a time frame had been established, but ever since such time frames exist, they exist side by side with time. On earth, things are different, as Solomon said: "everything has its time and season under the sun." (Kohelet 3,1) Man is subject to the dictates of time. Israel the nation, assured as it has been by G'd of arichut yamim, a timeless, i.e. infinite future on holy soil however, can demonstrate by its history that there are aspects to its existence which set it above and beyond the limits imposed upon man by time. All this, providing Israel acts as Israel should. When Kohelet refers to eyt lechol chefetz, "there is a time frame for every desire," the reference is to an intellectual achievement. The message is that since we are in a human shell, a body, the workings of the mind are somewhat impeded. If we did not have a body to contend with, our mind would comprehend immediately things which require time for us to be able to understand them now. The body acts as a brake for the intellect.

The seven days of consecration which Aaron and his sons spent in isolation, away from their respective families, prior to assuming their priestly functions, were to prepare them spiritually for their task. While they had to remain on the threshold, they were neither to enter the sanctuary nor to leave the holy courtyard. This clearly demonstrated that these seven days were preparatory to their sacred task, but that until the eighth day their preparations would not be complete. Symbolically, these seven days represented the entire life cycle. Just as life on this earth is viewed as an antechamber to the world to come, (Rabbi Yaakov Avot 4,21) so Aaron and sons were to view themselves as dedicating themselves for their lives' destiny. Wherever and whenever we encounter the number seven, it is to remind us that perfection is capable of being achieved at the end of a cycle of seven. Even when we observe a period of mourning, we do so for a seven day period. We have learned this from G'd Himself, who had observed seven days of mourning for mankind when He brought the deluge upon the earth. (Genesis 7,4. see commentary of Rabbi Zeyra in Moed Katan 3,5) He who fails to observe the seven days of preparation, is as if he were already mourning his own demise during the seven days that should have prepared him to attain his goal, his purpose.