Comentário sobre Eclesiastes 9:10

Whatever you are able to do. The will of your Maker— as long as you have your strength—do.²⁶See Mishnayos Avos 2:2.

“Everything that you are capable of doing with your strength, do, as there is no action, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
“Everything that you are capable of doing with your strength” – Rabbi Menaḥama in the name of Rabbi Bon transposes this verse: If you know that “there is no action, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where you are going,” “everything that you are capable of doing with your strength, do.”
Rabbi Aḥa desired to see the face of Rabbi Alexandri.³¹He had died, and Rabbi Aḥa sought to see him in a dream. He appeared to him in his dream, and showed him two matters: Those executed in Lod,³²A princess was found killed. The Romans blamed the local Jews and the prefect decreed that they should all be killed. Pappos and Luleyanus, who were innocent, took the blame for the murder and were executed, thereby sparing the entire community (Rashi to Ta’anit 18b). there are none closer than their partition.³³The area in which they are located in heaven is among those closest to God. Blessed is He who removed the shame of Luleyanus and Pappos.³⁴The Roman official who executed them was himself executed immediately afterward, as a heavenly sign pointing to the innocence of Luleyanus and Pappos. See Kohelet Rabba 3:17. And happy is he who comes here [to heaven] with his studies in his possession.³⁵One whose studies are in his possession is one who remembers the Torah he has studied.
Zavdi ben Levi desired to see the face of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. He appeared to him in his dream and showed him people whose faces were uplifted and people whose faces were downcast. [Zavdi ben Levi] said to him: ‘Why is this so?’ He said to him: ‘Those whose faces are uplifted, their studies are in their possession; those whose faces are downcast, their studies are not in their possession.’
Reish Lakish, and some say Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, desired to see Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great [in a dream]. They said to him: ‘You are not worthy.’³⁶The Jerusalem Talmud (Kilayim 9:3) explains that he had fasted many times in order to see Rabbi Ḥiyya in a dream, and it did not work, whereupon the other Sages said that he was not worthy to see Rabbi Ḥiyya (Etz Yosef). He said to them: ‘Why, have I not toiled in Torah study like him?’ They said to him: ‘You did not teach Torah like him. Moreover, he would travel from place to place.’³⁷Rabbi Ḥiyya would travel in order to teach his Torah to a wider audience. He said to them: ‘Did I not travel?’ They said to him: ‘You traveled to learn, he traveled to teach.’ He observed three hundred fasts and [Rabbi Ḥiyya] appeared to him in his dream. [Rabbi Ḥiyya] said: ‘Someone who is something, who conducts himself as though he is something, it would be preferable for him had he not been created.’³⁸Even if one is accomplished in his Torah studies, if he treats himself with honor, he has thereby abrogated the good he has accomplished (Rabbi David Luria).
Rabbi Asi fasted thirty days in order to see Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great [in a dream] but did not see him. They said to him: ‘You are not worthy.’³⁹And if you do see him, it will be an overpowering experience and you will be adversely affected. He said to them: ‘I will see him, and whatever will be will be.’ He saw his platform, and his eyesight became dim.⁴⁰Rabbi Asi saw the platform on which Rabbi Ḥiyya’s chair rested in heaven and he was blinded by its glow. If you say that Rabbi Assi was not a great man, [the following incident proves that he was:] A certain weaver came before Rabbi Yoḥanan and said: ‘I saw in my dream the sky falling and one of your students supported it with his hand.’ He said: ‘Would you be able to identify him?’ He said: ‘Pass them before me, I will identify him.’ When he reached Rabbi Asi, he said: ‘This is he.’
Rabbi Huna, the Exilarch, said to them:⁴¹He said to the members of his household. ‘When I die, take me up [to be buried] next to Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great.’ When he died, they took him up to the Land of Israel. They said: ‘Rabbi Huna is worthy to be brought here for burial alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great. Who will enter [the burial cave] and place him there?’⁴²They were concerned that whoever would enter the cave might not be worthy to be in the presence of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great, and might die. Rabbi Ḥagai said: ‘I will take him.’ They said [of Rabbi Ḥagai]: ‘When he was eighteen years old, he was expert in his studies, and he never experienced a seminal emission.’⁴³This was a testament to Rabbi Ḥagai’s greatness. At the time of this incident, however, he was already an old man. They said to him: ‘You are seeking to enter because you are an old man, and if you die there, you do not care about losing your life.’⁴⁴You are volunteering to enter the cave because you do not mind dying now and being interred in the cave alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and Rabbi Huna. He said to them: ‘Do the following to me. Bring a rope and tie it around my legs. If I emerge, fine. If not, you will pull me out by my legs.’ It was done to him. He entered and found three sitting in judgment:⁴⁵Rabbi Ḥiyya had been buried along with his sons, Ḥizkiya and Yehuda, who were also very righteous. Many commentaries interpret the phrase “three sitting in judgment” non-literally, to mean that the following sentence was written on the wall of the cave. ‘Yehuda, my son, there is no one your equivalent after you. Ḥizkiya, my son, there is no one your equivalent after you. Joseph, son of Israel,⁴⁶This is a reference to the biblical Joseph. there is no one your equivalent after you.’ [Rabbi Ḥagai] lifted his eyes to look. [A voice] said to him: ‘Lower your face.’ He heard the voice of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great saying to Yehuda his son: ‘My son, make room for Rabbi Huna the Exilarch to be placed alongside me.’ He did not accept upon himself to be placed there; ⁴⁷Rabbi Huna did not want to be buried in between Rabbi Ḥiyya and his son. therefore, his descendants will never cease. [Rabbi Ḥagai] emerged from there eighty years old, and his years were doubled.

For there is neither deed, etc., in the grave. For your merit after you die, and if you did so, you have no reckoning in the grave to worry about. The [text of the] verse is transposed [meaning], “for there is neither deed nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave for the wicked,²⁷Alternatively, whatever charity and good deeds you are able to do, do them with all your strength. (Targum) nor reckoning for the righteous, when the wicked give an accounting and reckoning, and so is it expounded in the Midrash. And one who interprets it without transposing it, but according to its apparent meaning, interprets ‘חֶשְׁבּוֹן’ as an expression of “thought,” what more can he still do²⁸For them to use as an excuse for their sins. to exempt himself from judgment.²⁹I.e., once one is in the grave, there is nothing more he can think of doing to exempt himself from judgment.

Rabbi Ze’eira desired to see Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Ḥanina [in a dream]. He appeared to him. [Rabbi Ze’eira] said to him: ‘Alongside whom are you situated [in heaven]?’ He said: ‘Alongside Rabbi Yoḥanan.’ [Rabbi Ze’eira asked:] ‘And Rabbi Yoḥanan, alongside whom [is he situated]?’ ‘Alongside Rabbi Yonatan ben Amram.’ ‘And Rabbi Yonatan ben Amram, alongside whom?’ ‘Alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great.’ ‘And Rabbi Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great, alongside whom?’ ‘Alongside Rabbi Yoḥanan.’⁴⁸The last exchange is omitted in the portrayal of this dream in Bava Metzia 85b. That version appears to be more accurate, given the next sentence. [Rabbi Ze’eira asked:] ‘But Rabbi Yoḥanan is not alongside Rabbi Ḥiyya?’ [Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Ḥanina] said to him: ‘In a place of fiery sparks and burning fires, who can bring the son of Nappaĥa⁴⁹Son of a blacksmith, an appellation for Rabbi Yoḥanan. there?’
When Rabbi Naḥum, the man who was holy of holies, died, they covered the faces of the statues with mats. They said: Let him not see in his death what he did not see in his lifetime.⁵⁰Rabbi Naḥum would not look at statues in his lifetime, which he considered idolatrous or semi-idolatrous, and they did not want him to see them as his funeral procession passed by. Is it possible that he would see them [when he was dead]? Rabbi Ashyan said: The difference between the righteous [after death] and the wicked [while alive] is only with regard to speech.⁵¹Even after death, the righteous see and hear what is happening on earth. Rabbi Shimon ben Levi said: The difference between the righteous and us is only with regard to speech. Rabbi Ze’eira said: The dead hears his accolades from inside his bier like a dream. Why was he called Naḥum, the man who was holy of holies? Because he never looked at the image engraved on a coin in his life. Rabbi Ḥiyya said: “Do not turn to false gods” (Leviticus 19:4) – do not turn [to them] to worship them. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] said: Do not turn to see them, in its plain sense. Why was [Rabbi Yehuda haNasi] called our holy Rabbi? Because he never looked at his circumcision in his life. Antalimus⁵²Antoninus. was circumcised. He said to Rabbeinu [Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi]: ‘Look at this circumcision of mine.’⁵³He was proud that he had converted. He said to him: ‘At my own I have never looked, will I look at yours?’

When Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] was dying in Tzippori, the residents of Tzippori were saying: ‘Anyone who comes and says that Rabbi died, we will kill him.’ Bar Kappara⁵⁴He was one of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s disciples, and was with him as he died. went to the window and looked outside, and his head was covered and his garments were rent. He said: ‘Our brethren, descendants of Yedaya,⁵⁵Beginning in the Second Temple period, the members of the priestly watch of Yedaya resided in the city of Tzippori. hear me, hear me. Angels and righteous people grasped the Tablets. Angels overcame the righteous, and they snatched the Tablets.’⁵⁶This was his way of saying that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s soul had ascended to heaven. They said to him: ‘Has Rabbi died?’ He said to them: ‘You said so, I did not say so.’ Why did he not say? Because it is written: “One who utters a negative report is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18). They rent their garments until the sound of the rending reached Gufteta, at a distance of three mil. It was read in his regard:⁵⁷Regarding bar Kappara. “The advantage of knowledge is that wisdom [preserves the life of its possessors]” (Ecclesiastes 7:12).
Rabbi Neḥemya [said] in the name of Rabbi Mona: Miraculous acts were performed on that day. It was Friday and all the cities gathered for Rabbi’s eulogy. They stopped his [burial procession to eulogize him] at eighteen synagogues and took him to Beit She’arim,⁵⁸That was Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s home. Several years earlier he had taken ill and he moved to Tzippori. and the day lasted until each and every one of the people of Israel reached home and kindled a lamp for himself, roasted a fish for himself, filled a barrel of water for himself, until the last of them did so; [then] the sun set and the rooster crowed.⁵⁹The rooster crowed signifying daybreak, which came just after sunset because sunset had been miraculously delayed for so long. [The people] began to become agitated and said: ‘Alas, we have desecrated Shabbat!’ A Divine Voice called out and said: ‘Anyone who was not indolent in the eulogy of Rabbi is destined for life in the World to Come except for the launderer, who was there, but did not come.⁶⁰He was in the town but did not come to the funeral. When [the launderer] heard [this], he ascended and cast himself from the roof, and he fell and died. A Divine Voice called out and said: Even the launderer is destined for life in the World to Come. Yerushalmi Gittin, Ketubot, and Avoda Zara, all the incidents involving the pious>.