Comentário sobre Eclesiastes 10:1

Dead flies decay and pollute, etc. E.g., in the winter season, flies have no strength, and are near death; nevertheless, if it falls into a perfumer’s oil and becomes mingled with the perfumes, it causes it to become putrid and it assumes a foam, which is called escume in O.F., and a sort of bubbles appears in it, and this is the meaning of ‘יַבִּיעַ.’ So an insignificant thing¹I.e., a fly. spoiled a precious thing.²I.e., the perfumer’s oil. So does a little foolishness outweigh wisdom and honor, for it outweighed them all. Suppose that a man was equally divided with transgressions and merits, and he came and committed one transgression, which tipped the scale [causing him] to be guilty. The result is that this foolishness which is small, is heavy and weighs, and is heavier than all the wisdom and honor that he possessed, for behold, it outweighed them all.

“Dead flies spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil; a little folly is weightier than wisdom, than honor” (Ecclesiastes 10:1).
“Dead flies spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil” – ben Azai and Rabbi Akiva: ben Azai said: One fly that dies does not spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil; but a single sin that one performs will cause him to lose much good.
Rabbi Akiva expounded: “Therefore, the netherworld has expanded itself, and opened its mouth without limit [ḥok]” (Isaiah 5:14). It is not written ḥukim, but rather “without ḥok,” one who does not have mitzvot to tip the scales in favor of his virtues.¹The word ḥok (plural, ḥukim) can mean limit or statute. Rabbi Akiva interprets the verse according to the second meaning, such that the verse means that the netherworld takes a person who is missing just one mitzva that would have tipped the scales in his favor.
Those who engage in allegorical interpretations of the Torah say: A person is judged on the basis of the majority of his [deeds]. A person should always assess himself as though he is half virtuous and half guilty; if he performs one mitzva, happy is he, as he tipped his scales in favor of virtue, if he performs one transgression, woe is he, as he tipped his scales in favor of guilt. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Because the individual is judged on the basis of the majority of his [deeds], and the world is judged on the basis of its majority, with the single transgression that this one [individual] performs, he causes himself and the world to lose much good.

[Are] outweighed. An expression of weight. It is heavy and weighs more than the wisdom that he possesses. The Midrash Aggadah [states], that [Scripture] compares the evil inclination to dying flies.