אוֹצָ֤ר ׀ נֶחְמָ֣ד וָ֭שֶׁמֶן בִּנְוֵ֣ה חָכָ֑ם וּכְסִ֖יל אָדָ֣ם יְבַלְּעֶֽנּוּ׃
אַ גלוסטיקער אוצר און אײל איז אין דער װױנונג פֿון דעם חכם, אָבער דער נאַרישער מענטש שלינגט עס אײַן.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Considering all that we have described, it is clear that man progresses in an ascending manner from one world to the next, from good to better to best. The first world man lives in is dark. The second world man lives in is illuminated by two luminaries, the sun and the moon. In the third world man will attain is full of unbounded brilliant light. That world knows no boundaries and no darkness.
Solomon alludes to all these three worlds in a single verse (Kohelet 7,1) when he says: “a good name is better than fragrant oil, and the day of death than the day of birth.” This verse has to be understood in the following manner: “the treasures” i.e. accumulated merits man acquired while alive on earth, and in store for him in the celestial regions are superior to even the most fragrant oils on earth; oil, i.e. body-oil for rubbing, is perceived as a means to make the body feel good and to enhance the quality of life on earth. Solomon says that what is in store for the soul in the world to come is better than the best of what the body can experience here on earth. He also uses the word “oil” as a commodity similar to “money,” saying that all the money in this world cannot compete with the spiritual treasures in the next world. His meaning is similar to that in Proverbs 21,20: “precious treasure and oil are in the house of the wise man.”
The words: “and the day of death is better than the day of his birth,” mean that that day is better than the world the fetus spent in his mother’s womb. Solomon’s point is that just as the terrestrial world is superior to the fetus’ existence within the womb of his mother, so the world to come is superior to life on terrestrial earth. That life is the follow-up of death in the world of the womb. In other words, leaving behind the life in the womb, “dying” from it, is an improvement on what went before; similarly leaving behind life on this earth ushers in an even better life for the person concerned, hence “the day of death is better than the day of entry into that life which one leaves behind.” Solomon follows the principle that phenomena with which we are familiar, i.e. life in the womb and life on earth and their relative pleasures provide us with a clue to what is ahead and has not yet been experienced.
Solomon alludes to all these three worlds in a single verse (Kohelet 7,1) when he says: “a good name is better than fragrant oil, and the day of death than the day of birth.” This verse has to be understood in the following manner: “the treasures” i.e. accumulated merits man acquired while alive on earth, and in store for him in the celestial regions are superior to even the most fragrant oils on earth; oil, i.e. body-oil for rubbing, is perceived as a means to make the body feel good and to enhance the quality of life on earth. Solomon says that what is in store for the soul in the world to come is better than the best of what the body can experience here on earth. He also uses the word “oil” as a commodity similar to “money,” saying that all the money in this world cannot compete with the spiritual treasures in the next world. His meaning is similar to that in Proverbs 21,20: “precious treasure and oil are in the house of the wise man.”
The words: “and the day of death is better than the day of his birth,” mean that that day is better than the world the fetus spent in his mother’s womb. Solomon’s point is that just as the terrestrial world is superior to the fetus’ existence within the womb of his mother, so the world to come is superior to life on terrestrial earth. That life is the follow-up of death in the world of the womb. In other words, leaving behind the life in the womb, “dying” from it, is an improvement on what went before; similarly leaving behind life on this earth ushers in an even better life for the person concerned, hence “the day of death is better than the day of entry into that life which one leaves behind.” Solomon follows the principle that phenomena with which we are familiar, i.e. life in the womb and life on earth and their relative pleasures provide us with a clue to what is ahead and has not yet been experienced.