Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Eclesiastes 9:9

According to the simple interpretation, we can say that two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. This is because a good wife adds life to her husband, as it is said See life with the wife (Ecclesiastes 9:9), and a good son also adds life to his father, for anyone who raises a righteous son is as if he has not died, all the more so while still alive. Therefore, from Isaac’s birth until Sarah’s death, there was a threefold cord, as Abraham received additional vitality both from his wife and from his son Isaac. During all these days, he remained in one steady state without experiencing the typical weakness of the elderly, for these were days of joy and blessing for him. However, before Isaac’s birth, he only had joy from his wife, and after Sarah’s death, he only had joy from his son. Therefore, these two periods were equivalent — just as it was [before] Isaac’s birth, so it became after Sarah’s death. This is why the same expression is used for these two time periods, even though there was a great distance between them. Therefore, he immediately sought to find a wife for Isaac, thinking perhaps his wife would fill Sarah’s place and he would be happy with her just as with his own wife. And so it was — before Sarah’s sun had set, Rebecca’s sun rose, and she became exactly like Sarah, as Rashi explains regarding the verse and he brought her into Sarah his mother’s tent — that she became like his mother, etc. This provides a proper connection between this verse and Isaac’s marriage.

THE STUDY OF TORAH WITH A TRADE [Heb. talmud torah `im derech eretz]. Maharal explains in Derech Chaim that the mishna uses the language talmud torah `im derech eretz, implying that trade comes first, because the learning of a trade usually chronologically precedes the study of Torah.⁶⁴And not because it is primary in importance, as it’s placement before the word `im would seem to imply. I found that Rash, in his commentary to the mishna in Taharot 4:7, compares this usage to re’eh chaim `im isha, “enjoy life with the wife that you love” (Ecclesiastes 9:9), in which “life” is certainly primary in importance—accordingly, “the study of Torah” in our phrase would be primary.