Midrash su Ecclesiaste 7:1

(Exod. 35:1:) THEN MOSES ASSEMBLED…. (Exod. 35:30:) AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: SEE, THE LORD HAS CALLED <BEZALEL…> BY NAME. This text is related (to Eccl. 7:1): A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN GOOD OIL; for in the case of good oil, how far does its fragrance travel?¹Exod. R. 48:1; Eccl. R. 7:1:1; M. Sam. 23; Parashiyyot miMidrash Tanhuma K.Y., in A. Jellinek, Beth ha-Midrasch (Leipzig: C.W. Vollrath, 1853–77, vol. 6, pp. 104–05. One or two miles?²Lat.: mille. But a good name travels the earth from one end to the other. Ergo (in Eccl. 7:1): A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN GOOD OIL.

(Fol. 16) GEMARA: In the days of Rabbi Dosa b. Horkinass the marriage of the daughter's Tzara was declared [in R. Dosa's name] to be legal. It seemed too hard a task for the sages [to give their consent or to protest against it]. Since he was considered a great scholar, and since because of his blindness, he stopped attending the house of learning, they refrained from taking action in his absence], the sages appealed: "Who will go and inform him [of our contradictory opinion?"]. "I shall go," replied R. Joshua. "And who else [will go]?" To which R. Elazar b. Azaria responded: "And who else [will go]?" To which R. Akiba responded. They finally went, and upon reaching his house they stopped at the door, where his servant noticed them. She entered and informed him: "Rabbi, the sages of Israel are coming to visit you." "Let them come in," was his reply. They then entered. R. Dosa immediately greeted R. Joshua and bade him sit down upon a gilded couch. To which R. Joshua replied: "Rabbi, bid your other disciple also to sit down." "Who is he?" inquired R. Dosa. "He is R. Elazar b. Azaria," came R. Joshua's reply. "Has then our friend Azaria a son?" inquired R. Dosa. He applied to him the following passage (Ps. 37, 25) I have been young and now I am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread. He then took him and bade him sit down upon another gilded couch. "Rabbi," said R. Joshua again, "tell your other disciple to sit down." "Who is he?" inquired R. Dosa. "He is R. Akiba b. Joseph," replied R. Joshua. Whereupon R. Dosa exclaimed: "Art thou that Akiba b. Joseph whose fame reaches from one end of the world to the other? Sit down, my son, sit down. May there be many like thee in Israel." Thereupon he read the following passage concerning him, (Ecc. 7, 1) A good name is better than precious oil. They then began to beset him with various legal questions until they finally propounded the question: "What is the legal statute concerning a levirate marriage of the Tzara of one's daughter?" "In this law there is a dispute between the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel," was his reply. "And in accordance with whom does the law prevail?" they again asked. "Of course, in accordance with the school of Hillel," was his response. "But it was said in your name that the law prevails in accordance with the school of Shammai." "How were you informed, Dosa or Ben Harkinas?" "We can swear that we heard it anonymously." "If so," responded R. Dosa, "then I shall explain it to you. I have a younger brother, Jonathan, who is both sharp and persistent, and who is a disciple of the school of Shammai. Be careful that he does not catch and overwhelm you with citations of traditions, for he knows three hundred arguments to prove that the levirate marriage of the Tzara of one's daughter is legal; but I summon as witness the heavens and earth to testify that while Hagai had been sitting upon this mortar-shaped seat, he decided the following three things: (a) the levirate marriage of the Tzara of one's daughter is prohibited; (b) Jewish inhabitants of the land of Ammon and Moab must give the poorman's tithes on the Sabbatical year; (c) that we may accept proselytes from the Gardyenians and the Tarmodites (Palmyra)." We are taught in a Baraitha: "Although on their arrival they entered through one door, yet when they left they went out through three doors." R. Akiba was met by that Jonathan and the latter asked him such questions that he was unable to give answer. Thereupon Jonathan said: "Art thou that Akiba whose fame extends from one end of the world to the other? Happy mayest thou be that thou hast acquired such a name, although thou hast not reached [in scholarship] to be even an oxherd." Upon which R. Akiba remarked: "Not even a shepherd of small cattle."

Scripture states elsewhere: A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth (Eccles. 7:1). They asked Solomon: Why is a good name better than precious oil? He replied: When a man is born, no one knows what he will become, but when he leaves this world with a good name, good deeds become abundant because of him. The Israelites attend him, they perform deeds of charity, they extol him with praises, and they exclaim: “How righteous was so-and-so, and how wholeheartedly he fulfilled the law and performed good deeds.” May his sleep be with the righteous.