Komentarz do Koheleta 10:8

He who digs a pit. גּוּמָּץ is] a pit.

“One who digs a pit will fall into it; and one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8).
“One who digs a pit will fall into it” – this is the wicked Pharaoh, who said: “Every son who is born [you shall cast him into the Nile]” (Exodus 1:22). “He will fall into it” – as it is stated: “He shook Pharaoh and his people in the Red Sea” (Psalms 136:15).
Another matter: “One who digs a pit” – this is Haman, as it is stated: “To destroy, to kill, and to eliminate” (Esther 3:13). “Will fall into it” – as it is stated: “His wicked intentions will return […upon his head, and he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows]” (Esther 9:25).
“One who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him” – this is Dina. When her father and her brothers were sitting in the study hall, she went out “to see the daughters of the land” (Genesis 34:1). She brought upon herself that Shekhem ben Ḥamor the Hivite, who is called a serpent,³⁷Hivite is related to the Aramaic word ḥivya, which means serpent. consorted with her and bit her, as it is written: “Shekhem ben Ḥamor saw her…” (Genesis 34:2). “He took her” (Genesis 34:2) – he seduced her with words, as it is stated: “Take words with you” (Hosea 14:3). “He lay with her” (Genesis 34:2) – with natural intercourse; “and he raped her” (Genesis 34:2) – with unnatural intercourse.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai and Rabbi Elazar his son went into hiding in a cave in Pekiin for thirteen years during a period of religious persecution. They would eat carobs and dates. At the conclusion of thirteen years, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai emerged and sat at the entrance to the cave. He saw a trapper placing his traps to trap birds. He heard a Divine Voice saying: ‘Success,’ and [a bird] was trapped. He heard a Divine Voice a second time, saying: ‘Failure,’ and [a bird] escaped. He said: Even a bird, without a divine decree, will not escape; all the more so the soul of a person.³⁸Rabbi Shimon was saying: Since it is in God’s hands whether or not we will be caught, we do not need to continue hiding in the cave (Etz Yosef).
[Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said to his son:] ‘Let us descend and be healed in the water of the hot springs of Tiberias.’³⁹Apparently conditions in the cave led them to suffer from skin ailments, and they hoped the hot springs would heal their skin (Etz Yosef). They descended and were healed in the water of the hot springs of Tiberias. They said: We must do good, and benefit the residents of this place, just as Jacob our patriarch did, as it is stated: “He encamped [vayiḥan]⁴⁰This is expounded as a reference to both market [ḥanut] and favor [ḥanina]. before the city” (Genesis 33:18), [indicating] that he established a market and sold to them at low prices. They established a market and sold to them at low prices. He said: We must purify Tiberias.⁴¹During the Roman conquest there were many casualties who were buried in unmarked graves, causing Tiberias to lose its presumptive status of purity. What did he do? He took lupines and scattered them in the street, and any place that a corpse was buried, it rose.⁴²It became visible on the surface of the ground.
A certain Samaritan saw him. He said: Am I not able to ridicule this Jewish elder? What did he do? He took a corpse and buried it in a street that they had purified. Some say it was [in the market] of the barrel makers and some say in the market of the sack makers. He came and said to [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai]: ‘Did you purify such and such street?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘And if I produce a corpse for you from it?’ He said: ‘Pull it out and show me.’ Immediately, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai saw through divine inspiration that he had buried it there; he said: ‘I decree that the one who is lying shall stand and that the one standing will lie.’ Some say [that he said]: ‘I decree that the one above will descend and the one below will ascend.’ And so it occurred to him.
He departed and passed before that synagogue in Migdal and heard the voice of Nakai the scribe: ‘Did ben Yoḥai purify Tiberias?’⁴³He was mocking Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai because of the corpse found on the street he had already purified. [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai] said: ‘ , let [such and such] come upon me if I do not have traditions as numerous as the hairs on my head that this [city of] Tiberias is destined to be purified and will be available to those who partake of teruma, with the exception of this and that.’⁴⁴Only these streets will remain impure. He did not believe him. [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai] said to [Nakai]: ‘You have breached the fence of the Torah scholars, “and one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him,”’ and so it occurred to him.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai was passing by during the Sabbatical Year; he saw a certain person who was harvesting aftergrowths⁴⁵These are grain and vegetables that grow on their own without cultivation. of the Sabbatical Year. He said to him: ‘But is it not the Sabbatical Year?’ He said to him: ‘But is it not you who permits it? Did we not learn: [Rabbi Shimon says:] All aftergrowths are permitted except for the aftergrowths of cabbage, because there is nothing corresponding to them in the growths of the field?’⁴⁶Mishna Sheviit 9:1. Since cabbage does not grow wild in the field, one must assume that it was cultivated in violation of the laws of the Sabbatical Year. [Rabbi Shimon] said to him: ‘But do my colleagues not disagree with me?’⁴⁷The Sages in the Mishna prohibit consumption of even uncultivated annual crops that grow during the Sabbatical Year. He read in his regard: “And one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him,” and so it occurred to him.

Will fall into it. Sometimes he falls into it, i.e., sometimes you have a plotter of evil, and ultimately he is trapped by his own plot, for Nevuchadnetzar’s seed was destroyed through the vessels of the Beis Hamikdosh, as it is stated, “you exalted yourself against the Lord of Heaven.”¹⁰Daniyeil 5:23. The verse continues, “and the vessels of His House were brought before you, and you, your nobles, your consorts and your concubines drank wine from them, etc.”

He who breaks down a fence. The fence [established] by the Sages, to transgress their ordinances.¹¹The Gemara in Maseches Avodah Zarah 27b, applies this verse to those who break down the “fences” established via Rabbinic ordinances which serve to safeguard the Torah; such individuals “will be bitten by a snake,” i.e., death at the hands of Heaven. The destruction caused by such people comes gradually without it being sensed and continuously grows. Its effect is similar to a snake’s venom which continues to spread without realization until it results in death. See Mesilas Yeshorim Chapter 6.

He who breaks down a fence. The fence [established] by the Sages, to transgress their ordinances.¹¹The Gemara in Maseches Avodah Zarah 27b, applies this verse to those who break down the “fences” established via Rabbinic ordinances which serve to safeguard the Torah; such individuals “will be bitten by a snake,” i.e., death at the hands of Heaven. The destruction caused by such people comes gradually without it being sensed and continuously grows. Its effect is similar to a snake’s venom which continues to spread without realization until it results in death. See Mesilas Yeshorim Chapter 6.

Will be bitten by a snake. Death at the hands of Heaven, and because he spoke with an expression of breaking a fence, he mentions his recompense with an expression of the biting of a snake,¹²Alternatively, whoever breaks down a fence which acted as a barrier to protect others from being bitten, will himself be bitten. This theme is a repetition of the first phrase, “he who digs, etc,” and continues into the next verse, to stress that these occurrences happen often. (Metsudas Dovid) who nestles in the cracks and holes of the walls of dilapidated houses.