Talmud su Ecclesiaste 7:2

Rebbi Zeïra bent down during a eulogy. They wanted to straighten him up and found that he tarried. They said to him, what is this? He said to them, because we will go there, following (Eccl. 7:2): “Let the one who is alive take it to heart.”

Rebbi Zeïra bent down¹¹⁹Most commentators explain that Rebbi Zeïra fell down. But the parallels quoted in Levy’s dictionary show that Aramaic שרע is the parallel of biblical Hebrew סרח, “overhanging”. The speaker was leaning down over the railing of his pulpit. during a eulogy. They wanted to straighten him up and found that he tarried¹²⁰The Aramaic עני may mean 1) to become poor, 2) to take one’s time, tarry, 3) to empty oneself. In Yerushalmi sources, the form איעני is found only in meaning 2). The verse quoted reads in full: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a wedding. Since that is the end of all humanity, let the one who is alive take it to heart.”. They said to him, what is this? He said to them, because we will go there, following (Eccl. 7:2): “Let the one who is alive take it to heart.”

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’.

The following was the practice of the Brotherhoods¹⁶Associations organized for the purpose, inter alia, of attending to the dead and mourners. Cf. Krauss, Talmudische Archäologie, II, p. 63 and p. 480, n. 459. in Jerusalem: Some went to the house of mourning, others to the house of feasting,¹⁷A marriage feast. some went to a circumcision¹⁸lit. ‘the week of the son’, a disguised term for the circumcision ceremony which was adopted during the Hadrianic persecution when the rite was prohibited; cf. B.B., Sonc. ed., p. 246, n. 8. and others to gather bones. [In the choice between going] to the house of mourning and the house of feasting, the house of feasting takes precedence; to a circumcision and to gather bones, the circumcision takes precedence. The pious men of olden days, however, gave precedence to the house of mourning over the house of feasting, for it is stated, It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.¹⁹Eccl. 7, 2. Whoever follows the bier should say, ‘I, too, will follow this one [to the grave]’.