Commento su Ecclesiaste 2:20

And [so] I turned my heart to despair. Neither to toil nor to labor.

“I turned my heart to despair regarding all the toil that I toiled under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:20).
“I turned my heart to despair” from toiling, but I reconsidered and said: Just as others toiled on my behalf, so, I will toil on behalf of others. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, was passing on those paths of Tiberias and saw an elderly man digging holes in rocky ground to plant trees. He said to him: ‘Old man, old man, how old are you today?’ He said: ‘I am one hundred years old.’ He said to him: ‘You, one hundred years old, are standing and digging holes in order to plant trees. Do you believe that you will eat of them?’ He said: ‘If I merit, I will eat. If not, just as my ancestors toiled on my behalf, so, I will toil on behalf of my children.’ He said to him: ‘By your life, if you merit and eat of them, let me know.’ After a period of time, it produced figs. He said: The time has come for me to inform the king. What did he do? He filled a basket with figs, ascended, and stood at the gate of the palace. They said to him: ‘What is your business [here]?’ He said to them: ‘Go and say to the king that the old Jewish man whom you passed wishes to greet you.’ They went and told the king: ‘There is an old Jewish man who wishes to greet you.’ He said to them: ‘Show him in.’ When he entered, [Hadrian] said to him: ‘What is your business [here]?’ He said to him: ‘I am the elderly man whom you passed while I was digging holes to plant trees. You said to me: If you merit and eat of them, let me know. I merited and ate of them, and these are figs from their produce.’ Hadrian said at that moment [to his servants]: ‘I command you to empty this basket and fill it with dinars.’ His servants said to him: ‘Are you going to give all this honor to this old Jewish man?’ He said to them: ‘His Creator honors him; will I not honor him?’
His neighbor’s wife was an imbecile. She said to her husband: ‘Senseless one, senseless one, see that this king loves figs and exchanges them for dinars.’ What did he do? He filled his container with figs and stood before the palace. They said to him: ‘What is your business [here]?’ He said to them: ‘I heard that the king loves figs and exchanges them for dinars.’ They entered and said to the king: ‘There is a certain old man standing at the palace gates laden with a container filled with figs. We said to him: What is your business [here]? He said to us: I heard that the king loves figs and exchanges them for dinars.’ [Hadrian] said: ‘I command you to stand him at the palace gates, and anyone who enters or exits will throw one of the figs at his face.’ Toward evening, they released him and he went home. He said to his wife: ‘I have to pay you back for all the honor [that I received at the palace].’ She said to him: ‘Go and boast to your mother that they were figs and they were not citrons, that they were ripe and were not unripe.’⁶⁶Ripe figs are softer than citrons or unripe figs.