전도서 6:6의 주석

Though he live. And if he had lived two thousand years,⁸Alternatively, one million years [אלף פעמים=1000 x1000]. (Ibn Ezra) what advantage would he have, since he did not experience any pleasure. Will he not ultimately return to the dust like all the poor people?

“Were he to live one thousand years twice, but did not see good, does everything not go to one place? All the toil of man is for his mouth, but the soul, too, is not filled” (Ecclesiastes 6:6–7).
“Were he to live one thousand years…all the toil of man is for his mouth.” Rabbi Shmuel said: All a person’s toil to amass mitzvot and good deeds in this world does not suffice for the breath that emerges from his mouth.¹³All this toil is still insufficient to repay God for the ability He bestows on us to simply inhale and exhale. Alternatively, all this toil is insufficient to make up for the sin of even a single instance of improper speech (Rabbi David Luria). “But the soul, too, is not filled” – even its removal does not fill the hole.¹⁴Even the pain experienced at the time of death does not repair the damage caused by one’s sins (Midrash HaMevo’ar). How is the soul removed? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is like a rope [pulled] through a small hole.¹⁵Literally, like a rope pulled through the esophagus. Rabbi Ḥanina said: It is like a knotted rope [pulled] through a small hole. Rabbi Shmuel ben Rabbi said: It is like a moist, inverted thorn [pulled] from the esophagus.
Rabbi Ḥanina ben Yitzḥak said: All a person’s toil [to amass] mitzvot and good deeds, it is for his mouth, and not for the mouth of his son and not for the mouth of his daughter.¹⁶One’s spiritual merit can benefit one’s descendants in this world, but not in the World to Come (Etz Yosef). “But the soul, too, is not filled” – as the soul knows that in everything that it toils, it toils for itself; therefore, it is never sated with Torah and good deeds. This is analogous to a villager who married a princess. Were he to bring her everything in the world, it would still be worthless to her. Why? It is because she is the king’s daughter.¹⁷Nothing the villager can bring her meets the standard she is used to as a princess. So, too, the soul, [even] if you were to bring it all the delicacies of the world, it is nothing to it. Why? Because it is from the heavens.
There are three who do not feel a sense of gratitude to their keepers: the soul, the earth, and the woman. From where is this derived [regarding] the soul? It is as it is stated: “But the soul, too, is not filled.”¹⁸It is never sated in this world from its desire for physical pleasure, or, in accordance with the homily above, from its desire for spiritual attainment (Midrash HaMevo’ar). Land, as it is written: “The earth that is not satisfied with water” (Proverbs 30:16). Woman, as it is stated: “She eats and wipes her mouth” (Proverbs 30:20).¹⁹She wants more. Three give bountifully and take bountifully, and they are: the sea,²⁰The sea takes water from rivers which then evaporates and provides water for the clouds. the earth,²¹The earth takes rainwater and gives produce. and also the kingdom.²²The kingdom takes taxes and gives services. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said: “Soul” is written in it six times,²³The word soul [nefesh] is written six times in the Torah portion of Vayikra regarding sin (Leviticus 4:2, 4:27, 5:1, 5:15, 5:17, 5:21). corresponding to the six days of Creation. The Holy One blessed be He said to the soul: Everything that I created during the six days of Creation, I created for you, yet you rob, sin, and commit acts of violence.