Comentario citado sobre Eclesiastés 6:6

וחיה. The stress is on the first syllable, just as in shavah from shav. We encounter the use of this term in Genesis 11,12 where the Torah, when telling us about the age of Arpachshad when he sired children, writes: ארפכשד חי, ”Arpachshad had lived, etc.” The parallel construction in the feminine mode is chayah. However, in a verse in Kohelet 6,6 אילו חיה אלף שנים, “if he were to live for 1000 years,” the stress is on the last syllable of the word chayah and is in the masculine mode, just like עשה or עלה, which being verbal modes are in the masculine mode, the letter ה at the end notwithstanding.

And she will live ( וְתִחְיֶה ). Rashi is answering the question that וְחָיָה (lit. “and he will live”) is in the masculine form, as is seen in many places, [and thus it does not fit the subject (girl) of the verse]. But this וְחָיָה is in the feminine form, and is like the term וְתִחְיֶה . For there is a difference. The word in our verse has the accent on the next-to-last syllable, on the ח , thus it is in the feminine form. But when the accent is on the last syllable, on the י , it is in the masculine form. We find [examples of the masculine form] in Megillas Esther (4:11) where it is written: אֶת שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב וְחָיָה [the accent is on the י ]. And the same is in Koheles (6:6): וְאִלּוּ חָיָה אֶלֶף שָׁנִים . Another explanation: [Rashi is emphasizing that] since the letter ו begins the word וְחָיָה , this switches it to the future tense.

‘LU’ (O) THAT ISHMAEL MIGHT LIVE BEFORE THEE. The meaning of this word lu everywhere is as the word im (if), and it is also found combined in the word lulei, which means “if not.” [The Hebrew word lulei, ordinarily written with a yud at the end] is sometimes written with an aleph at the end.⁴⁴⁹See Hebrew text of Scripture, ibid., 43:10. It is also combined into the form of ilu, as in the verses: ‘Ve’ilu’ (But if) we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen;⁴⁵⁰Esther 7:4. ‘Ve’ilu’ (And if) a thousand years twice told.⁴⁵¹Ecclesiastes 6:6. The purport of this word ilu is “even if,” and its meaning is as if it said, “if if,” the double use of the word being for the purpose of emphasis, as in the expressions: Is it only through Moses alone;⁴⁵²Numbers 12:2. The words “only” and “alone” (harak; ach) are redundant and used for emphasis. Was it because there were no graves;⁴⁵³Exodus 14:11. The Hebrew words hamibli ein are both negatives. Again the redundancy is for special emphasis. and other similar cases. Abraham thus said: “If Ishmael live before Thee, I will be pleased with this blessing with which Thou hast blessed me, namely, with seed from Sarah.” For since He promised him at first, One born of your own body is to be your heir,⁴⁵⁴Above, 15:4. and the heir was to be one person, he [Abraham] had thought that this referred to Ishmael. But now that he was told that he will beget a child from Sarah and he understood that this child was to be the heir, he feared lest Ishmael die. Therefore, he said this: [O that Ishmael might live before Thee].
Live before Thee. Rashi explained: “Live in reverence of Thee, similar in meaning to Walk before Me,⁴⁵⁵Verse 1 here. which Onkelos renders, ‘Worship Me.’” But this is not correct, since He said, And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee.⁴⁵⁶Verse 20 here. If the sense of Abraham’s prayer is, as Rashi explained, that Ishmael live in reverence of G-d, how could G-d assure him of that, since, as the Sages express it, “Everything is by hand of Heaven except the fear of Heaven,” (Berachoth 33 b) which is in the hands of man to be determined by his free choice. (Mizrachi.) Instead, its meaning is that he live and his seed will always exist.