Talmud su Ecclesiaste 1:78

¹⁶The same text appears in Peah 1:6 (Notes 104–109,פ) and Ḥagigah 1:8 (Note 189,ח). Rebbi Ḥaggai in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman: Things have been said orally and things have been said in writing, and we do not know which ones are preferred. From what is written¹⁷Ex. 34:27.: by the mouth of these words I concluded a covenant with you and Israel, it follows that the oral traditions are preferred¹⁸This argument is somewhat specious since the full verse reads: The Eternal said to Moses, write down these words for yourself, because by the mouth of these words I concluded a covenant with you and Israel. In Babli Giṭtin 60b, R. Simeon ben Laqish explains the verse as part of the covenant and states that written verses may not be recited by heart and oral traditions not written down as declared here at the end of the previous paragraph.. Rebbi Joḥanan and Rebbi Yudan bar Rebbi Simeon. One said that if you kept what is oral tradition and kept what is written I will conclude a covenant with you, otherwise I shall not conclude a covenant with you. The other one said, if you watched all that is oral tradition and kept all that is written you will receive your reward, otherwise you will not receive any reward. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said¹⁹The reference is to Deut. 9:10: The Eternal gave to me the two stone tablets, written by the Divine Finger, and on them like all the words that the Eternal spoke to you on the mountain on the day of assembly. The three underlined expressions are all unnecessary for the understanding of the sentence; these are interpreted as referring to the three divisions of oral law contained in the complete Torah. Babli 19b.: On them, and on them; words, the words all, like all;; Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah. Even what a competent student²⁰Arabic ות֗יק “strong, safe, secure, dependable, reliable”. The interpretations of the untrained and incompetent are worthless. will discover²¹Since a student may not rule, or teach, before his teacher, the root of the word להורות must be “to become pregnant,” in this case, with an idea. before his teacher was said to Moses on Sinai. What is the reason? There is something about which one would say, look, this is new! His colleague will answer, it already has been forever²²Eccl. 1:10..

“One makes it rectangular in the four directions of the world^2,Since the Sabbath domain of a built-up area is a rectangle oriented NS-EW one starts measuring from a line, oriented NS or EW, which touches the built-up area but leaves the area entirely to one side of the line. In mathematical terminology the completion of the town is the area enclosed on a map of the town by its support lines oriented NS and EW.⁷²Babli 56a, Tosephta 4:6. R. Yose here is the Tanna, ben Ḥalaphta., so that its Western direction be in the West of the world and its Southern direction be in the South of the world. Rebbi Yose said, if he does not know how to determine the directions let him go and learn from the solstices. From the place where the sun rises on the day of the summer solstice to the place where it rises on the day of the winter solstice is Eastern direction; from the place where the sun goes down on the day of the winter solstice to the place where it goes down on the day of the summer solstice is Western direction; the remainder are North and South. That is what is written⁷³Eccl. 1:6., it goes to the South and turns to the North. It goes to the South during the day and turns to the North during the night; all around in circles goes the wind, to its circuits returns the wind, these are Eastern and Western directions⁷⁴The main directions of the wind..”

R. Joshua b. Levi said: Great is peace, for peace is to the world as leaven is to dough. Had not the Holy One, blessed be He, given peace to the earth, the sword and the beast would have robbed the world¹So H; V reads ‘man’. of its children. Whence²So GRA; V reads ‘why is it written?’ [do we know this]? From what is written, And I will give peace in the land … and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land;³Lev. 26, 6. The Heb. for earth and land is the same. and land means nothing else than Israel, as it is stated, And all nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land.⁴Mal. 3, 12. The identification of land with Israel is here evident. V and H add: ‘And it states, And, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest’. [And so Solomon declared,] One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever:⁵Eccl. 1, 4. Solomon said:⁶So GRA. V reads: ‘A kingdom comes and a kingdom goes, but Israel endures for ever. But Solomon, although’. Although a generation passes away and another generation comes, one kingdom goes and another kingdom comes, one decree passes away and a new decree is imposed upon Israel,⁷lit. ‘upon the enemies of Israel’, a euphemism. the earth abideth for ever, i.e. Israel will abide for ever,⁸Earth refers to Israel. [Cf. Midrash ad loc., Sonc. ed., p. 15.] they are not forsaken nor will they be forsaken, they are not destroyed nor will they be destroyed, as it is stated, For I the Lord change not; and ye, O sons of Jacob are not consumed⁹Mal. 3, 6.—as I have not changed nor will I change, so you, the House of Jacob, are not destroyed and will not be destroyed, but [as it is stated], But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.¹⁰Deut. 4, 4.

Concerning flatterers, liars and workers of iniquity,¹³So GRA. V repeats from §1, ‘Sadducees, informers, flatterers’ and adds ‘profaners of God’s Name’. Instead of the Scriptural passages which are cited GRA substitutes Job 13, 16, and Ps. 101, 7, in agreement with Soṭah 42a (Sonc. ed., p. 206). Scripture declares, The wicked shall return to the nether-world,¹⁴Ps. 9, 18. and it further states, That which is crooked cannot be made straight.¹⁵Eccl. 1, 15.

Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said¹⁰⁷The reference is to Deut. 9:10: “The Eternal gave to me the two stone tablets, written by the Divine Finger, and on them like all the words that the Eternal spoke to you on the mountain at the day of assembly.” The three italicized expressions are all unnecessary for the understanding of the sentence; these are interpreted as referring to the three divisions of oral law contained in the complete Torah. {The same derivation is found in Megillah fol. 74d, and in very shortened form with different emphasis in Babli Megillah 19b.}: On them, and on them; all, like all; words, the words; Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah. Even what a competent¹⁰⁸Arabic ות̇יק “strong, safe, secure, dependable, reliable”. The interpretations of the untrained and incompetent are worthless. student will discover¹⁰⁹Since a student may not rule, or teach, before his teacher, the root of the word להורות must be “to become pregnant,” in this case, with an idea. before his teacher was said to Moses on Sinai. What is the reason? (Eccl. 1:10) “There is something about which one would say, look, this is new!” His colleague will answer, “it already has been forever.”

MISHNAH: Someone who did not bring his holiday sacrifice on the first day of the holiday may bring it during the entire festival including the last day of the festival¹⁴⁰Even though the last day is a full holiday with all the restrictions imposed on such a day; the only day not suitable for the holiday sacrifice is the Sabbath.. Once the festival has passed he is not liable for its warranty¹⁴¹While in general the Temple has the power to force people to perform the sacrifices due, this does not extend to the holiday sacrifice even though it becomes a fixed obligation with the votary’s entry into the Temple domain. The neglect of the duty cannot be made up by a later sacrifice. On Pentecost which is one day only the festival sacrifice may also be brought during the six days following.. On that it was said¹⁴²Eccl. 1:15., the distorted cannot be repaired and the deficient cannot be made whole.

¹⁸¹Eccl. r. 2(3), Tanhuma Aḥare Mot 1, Tanhuma Buber Ahare Mot 2, Pesiqṭa dR. Cahana(Buber) Ahare Mot 168b–168a.
Most of the verses quoted in these paragraphs are also quoted in the Babli, 21b. Cf. also Cant. rabba 1(10). It is written¹⁹³Eccl. 2:2.: To amusement I said, be praised. The Holy One, praise to him, said to Solomon: What is this crown on your head? Descend from My throne! Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina said, at that moment an angel came down looking like Solomon, removed him from his throne, and sat in his stead. He was going around in synagogues and houses of study, saying I am Ecclesiastes, I used to be king over Israel in Jerusalem¹⁹⁴Eccl. 1:12.. They were telling him, the king sits on his chair of honor¹⁹⁵Latin bisellium; cf. Löw in Krauss’s Lehnwörter. and you say, I am Ecclesiastes? They hit him with a stick and brought a dish of split beans before him. At that moment, he said: that is my part¹⁹⁶Eccl. 2:10.. Some say, a staff. Others say, a rod. Others say, with his belt. ¹⁹⁷Cant. r. ad 5:10, Lev. r. 19(2), Ex. r. 6(1). Solomon is accused of wanting to remove the imperative from Deut. 17:17. Who had accused him? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, י in יַרְבֶּה¹⁶⁰2S. 23:15–16; 1Chr. 11:17–18. accused him. Rebbi Simeon ben Ioḥai stated: The book Deuteronomy ascended, bowed down before the Holy One, praise to Him, and said to Him: Master of the Universe, You wrote in Your Torah that any disposition¹⁹⁸Greek διαθήκη “will, disposition”. which is partially invalid is totally invalid, and now Solomon wants to uproot a י from me! The Holy One, praise to Him, said to it: Solomon and a thousand like him will disappear but nothing from you will disappear.

A person came to Rebbi Ismael ben Rebbi Yose and said to him, I saw in my dream that it was said to me, throw your fingers, descend. He said to him, give me my fee and I shall tell you. He said to him, I saw in my dream that it was said to me, blow with your mouth. He said to him, give me my fee and I shall tell you. He said to him, I saw in my dream that it was said to me, straighten your fingers upwards. He said to him, did I not say to you, give me my fee and I shall tell you! When it was said to you [first], [the rain] dripped down on your wheat. When it was said to you next, they became swollen. When it was said to you next, they sprouted¹⁸⁰In Qohelet Rabbati 1(15), the same story is much more wordy, finding R. Ismael in competition with a Samaritan interpreter of dreams. In the Babli, Berakhot 56a/b, there is a story about a Babylonian interpreter who took money and came to a bad end..

¹⁸⁹In Qohelet Rabbati 1(17), the author is R. Joḥanan. The last story, of the student, is told in the Babli, Berakhot 56b, of Bar Qappara and Rebbi. A person came to Rebbi Aqiba and said to him, I saw in my dream my foot shrinking. He said to him, holiday¹⁹⁰A holiday of pilgrimage, which in biblical Hebrew is called “foot”. is coming but you will not eat read meat¹⁹¹As Sifry Deut. 141 explains, the biblical command of rejoicing on a holiday can only be fulfilled by the consumption of meat from animals acceptable as holiday sacrifices.. Another person came and said, I saw in my dream my foot swelling. He said to him, holiday is coming and you will have plenty of red meat. A student of Rebbi Aqiba was sitting making a queer face. He said to him, why is that? He said to him, I saw in a dream three hard things: In Adar you will die, Nisan you will not see, and what you will sow you will not collect. He said to him, all three are good. In the glory¹⁹²A pun of אדר and הדר is possible only if ה has lost all sound. of the Torah you will be lifted, wonders you will not see¹⁹³In Qohelet Rabbati and Babli Berakhot, “you will not undergo temptations”., and what you will sow you will not collect, what you will have born to you you will not bury.

MISHNAH: Rebbi Eliezer said, a person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukkah, one during daytime and one in the night. But the Sages are saying, there is no fixed amount except only for the night of the first day of the holiday⁷⁶The start of the holiday of Tabernacles, when the benedictions for the sukkah have to be recited. At all other times one may not eat a meal outside the sukkah, but no meals are prescribed.. In addition, Rebbi Eliezer said, one who did not eat on the first day of the holiday makes it up in the night of the last day of the holiday⁷⁷The holiday is seven days, with a full holiday at the beginning; also the obligation of sukkah is seven days (Lev. 23:34,42). The eighth day is a separate holiday (Lev. 23:36, Num. 29:35). R. Eliezer counts the meal in the evening of the Eighth Day as making up for the missed one on the First day even though it cannot be valid in the sukkah.. But the Sages are saying, this cannot be made up, and on this it was said⁷⁸Eccl1:15., what is distorted cannot be fixed, and a deficiency cannot be filled.

Rebbi Judah the Prince¹³⁹R. Judah II, the grandson of Rebbi. sent Rebbi Ḥiyya¹⁴⁰R. Hiyya bar Abba., Rebbi Assi¹⁴¹His Babylonian name. In the Yerushalmi he usually appears as R. Yasa., and Rebbi Immi to tour the towns of the Land of Israel in order to give them Bible and Mishnah teachers. They came to one place where they found neither Bible nor Mishnah teacher. They said to them, bring us the watchmen of the town. They brought them the stewards¹⁴²Identified by S. Liebermann as Latin saltuarius, administrator of an agricultural domain. of the town. They told them, these are not the watchmen of the town, they are the destroyers of the town¹⁴³Since they did not include the wages of elementary school teachers in the communal budget.. They asked them, and who would be the watchmen of the town? They told them, the Bible and Mishnah teachers. That is what is written, if the Eternal would not build the house¹⁴⁴Ps. 127:1., etc.

BARAITHA. One should not be joyous when in the presence of those who weep, or weep in the presence of those who rejoice. One should not be awake among those who sleep or asleep among those who are awake.
GEMARA. On what grounds does the Baraitha first teach, ‘One should not be joyous’? Let it first teach, ‘Or weep’, etc.! Firstly, because one should not begin with unfortunate circumstances,²¹lit. ‘matters of punishment’, here people who have cause to weep. but on the contrary, priority should be given to the majority.²²And the majority rejoice rather than weep. [The Baraitha] follows the teaching of Solomon [who wrote], It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting.²³Eccl. 7, 2. Here mourning is mentioned first. Here is an additional proof: [The Baraitha] reads, ‘One should not be joyous’ and not ‘One should not make merry’, and then ‘or weep’ and not ‘be serious’.²⁴The wording of the Baraitha proves that, like Ecclesiastes, it does not deal with ordinary merry-making and seriousness, but with rejoicings at a marriage-feast and the anguish one feels in a house of mourning.
BARAITHA. One should not be impatient at meals.
GEMARA. One should not be [impatient] at meals; [is it then to be inferred from this] that in giving an exposition [of Torah], in studying and in other matters one may be [impatient]? Did not Beth Hillel cite this and say to Shammai, ‘Although you are hot-tempered and consequently overawe your fellow-beings, yet do not display impatience [towards the members of your household]²⁵On terrorizing one’s household, cf. Giṭ. 6b-7a (Sonc. ed., p. 21). lest you hinder them from performing good deeds’?
²⁶For the story, cf. Shab. 31a (Sonc. ed., pp. 138f.).It once happened that two²⁷V has ‘three’. men made a wager with each other, saying, ‘He who goes and makes Hillel angry shall receive four hundred zuz’. Said one, ‘I will go and incense him’.²⁸V has ‘etc.’ The anecdote is here reproduced in full from the Soncino version. That day was the Sabbath-eve, and Hillel was washing his head. He went, passed by the door of his house and called out, ‘Is Hillel here, is Hillel here?’^28a(28a) He spoke rudely, without addressing Hillel by his title. Thereupon he robed and went out to him, saying, ‘My son, what do you require?’ ‘I have a question to ask,’ he said. ‘Ask, my son,’ he prompted. Thereupon he asked, ‘Why are the heads of the Babylonians²⁹Hillel was a Babylonian, and so the question was intended as a personal insult. round?’ ‘My son, you have asked a great question,’ replied he; ‘because they have no skilful midwives.’ He departed, tarried a while, returned and called out, ‘Is Hillel here, is Hillel here?’ He robed and went out to him, saying, ‘My son, what do you require?’ ‘I have a question to ask,’ said he. ‘Ask, my son,’ he prompted. Thereupon he asked, ‘Why are the eyes of the Palmyreans bleared?’ ‘My son, you have asked a great question,’ replied he; ‘because they live in sandy places.’ He departed, tarried a while, returned and called out, ‘Is Hillel here, is Hillel here?’ He robed and went out to him, saying, ‘My son, what do you require?’ ‘I have a question to ask,’ said he. ‘Ask, my son,’ he prompted. He asked, ‘Why are the feet of the Africans wide?’ ‘My son, you have asked a great question,’ said he; ‘because they live in watery marshes.’³⁰To enable them to walk with ease. ‘I have many questions to ask,’ said he, ‘but fear that you may become angry.’ Thereupon he robed, sat before him and said, ‘Ask all the questions you have to ask’. ‘Are you the Hillel who is called the Nasi’ of Israel?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘If that is so,’ he retorted, ‘may there not be many like you in Israel.’ ‘Why, my son?’ queried he. ‘Because I have lost four hundred zuz through you,’ complained he. ‘Be careful of your moods,’ he answered, ‘Hillel is worth it that you should lose four hundred zuz and yet another four hundred zuz through him, yet Hillel shall not lose his temper.’
³¹For a parallel to the story, cf. Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, I, 1, §4 (Sonc. ed., pp. 74f.).It once happened that R. ‘Aḳiba, accompanied by an Athenian, went on a journey and chanced to stay with a Gentile. He prepared for them four beds, laid an abundant meal before them and gave them wine to drink. They said, ‘We discern that this wine [has the flavour of]the dead’. He brought them meat and they said, ‘This meat is dog’s flesh’. He brought them pickle and they said, ‘It contains urine’. He brought them mustard and they said, ‘It contains beetles’. [The host] went to the tavern-keeper and asked, ‘What happened to the wine?’ He replied, ‘Nothing’. He said, ‘I adjure you to tell me’. He replied, ‘The wine comes from my father’s vineyard where he is buried’. He went to the butcher who told him, ‘It was the meat of a lamb whose dam died and I made her suck from a bitch’. He went to the pickle-maker who told him, ‘One night I was drunk and [my family] locked me in. I wanted to pass water but was unable to go out, so I opened this [jar of pickle] and poured the urine into it’. He went to the mustard-maker who told him, ‘One night I left [the mustard] uncovered and beetles got into it’. He then took the trouble to prepare [another] meal for them. They said one to another, ‘We notice that the host’s legs are like those of a clown’. The host overheard this and said [to himself], ‘Perhaps these men speak the truth’. So he pretended to be very ill and people came to visit him. He said to his mother, ‘If you disclose to me the name of my father I will recover’. She told him, but he said to her, ‘You are telling a lie’. Since she noticed that he was grieved she said to him, ‘My son, once my husband brought a clown to me; I misconducted myself with him and conceived you’. He went and embraced them, bowed to them and exclaimed, ‘In truth you are the people of the Holy God’. This is what Solomon said, For in much wisdom is much vexation; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.³²Eccl. 1, 18. The information which he obtained from his mother caused him sorrow.
³³Cf. Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, I, 1, §7 (Sonc. ed., p. 77).A man once entered a school and said to a child, ‘Take this money and bring me something of which we can eat our fill and leave some over to take home’. He brought him salt and said to him, ‘Sir, you may eat your fill and leave some over to take home’.

And why do we not fast in the month of Nisan? Because on the first of Nisan the Tabernacle was erected⁴Cf. Ex. 40, 2. and twelve princes offered their sacrifices during [the first] twelve days, a day for each tribe,⁵Cf. Num. 7, 1ff. and everyone held a festival on his day.⁶Between the twelfth of Nisan and the fifteenth, on which Passover begins, only two days intervene; therefore they, too, are regarded as festival days. The Passover ending on the twenty-first (in the land of Israel) or on the twenty-second (in the Diaspora), only eight or nine days of the month remain. As by far the greater part of the month was made up of festival days, the entire month is treated as a festival season in which fasting is prohibited. Furthermore, in the time to come the Sanctuary will be rebuilt in Nisan, to confirm what is stated, There is nothing new under the sun.⁷Eccl. 1, 9.

Solomon had six names: Shlomo, Yedidya, Kohelet, Ben Yakeh, Agur, and Lemuel.