Commento su Ecclesiaste 12:1

So remember your Creator. There¹Mishnayos Avos 3:1. we learned, Akavya the son of Mahalalel says, reflect upon three things, etc. And he expounded it from this verse, “so remember your Creator [=בּוֹרְאֶךָ,” that you will give an accounting and reckoning before Him; and remember your pit, your grave [=בּוֹרֶךָ, a place of earth, maggots, and worms; and remember your well [=בְּאֵרֶךָ, the well that flows from its source, that is, the putrid drop of semen and whiteness.

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years arrive when you will say: I have no desire in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
“Remove anger from your heart” (Ecclesiastes 11:10) – Rabbi Levi said: Every lad is hot-tempered, and every hot-tempered one is a fool. Solomon said: Since “childhood and youth are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 11:10), therefore, “remember your Creator [in the days of your youth].” We learned: Akavya ben Mahalalel says: Reflect on three matters: From where you came – from a putrid secretion; to where you are going – to a place of dust, maggots, and worms; and before whom are you destined to give an account and a reckoning – before the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi of Sikhnin said: Akavya expounded the three of them from one word: Borekha, be’erkha, boraakha.¹All these are expounded from the word “your Creator [bore’ekha]” in the verse. Borekha, your pit, this is a putrid secretion; be’erkha, your well, this is maggots and worms;²In the Jerusalem Talmud (Sota 2:2) this statement is reversed to read: Borekha, your pit, this is maggots and worms; be’erkha, your well, this is a putrid secretion. and boraakha, your Creator, this is the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He. That is why it is stated: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth” – when you are still in possession of your strength; “before the evil days come” – these are the days of old age; “and the years arrive [when you will say: I have no desire in them]” – this is suffering. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Neḥemya said: These are the messianic times, when there is neither merit nor liability.

The evil days. The days of old age and feebleness.²The days of old age are referred to as “evil days” because it is more difficult to serve God in those days than it is during one’s youth. (Metsudas Dovid)