Introduction: Between Envy and Laziness
In the verses before us, King Solomon continues to examine man's race through his world. In the previous verse, we saw that all toil and all skillful enterprise are merely "envy of a man for his fellow" - that one bought, so I will buy too; that one achieved, so I will achieve too; I will not be left behind. Now, Solomon presents the other extreme of that same spectrum: the person who does nothing, folds his hands, and eats his own flesh. And from these two extremes, the middle path becomes clear, as does what is truly "good" in life's ultimate reckoning.
"The Fool Folds His Hands" - What Is the Eating of Flesh?
הַכְּסִיל חֹבֵק אֶת יָדָיו וְאֹכֵל אֶת בְּשָׂרוֹ׃ - The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
"Folds his hands" refers to what we would call today crossing one's arms. And what is "eats his own flesh"? The Midrash brings several parables regarding this. It is like two men who toiled in Torah: one toiled in Torah and thrived, while the other toiled in Torah and departed - ultimately abandoning it. In the World to Come, one stands among the company of the righteous, and the other stands among the company of the wicked. When the latter sees this, he folds his hands and eats his flesh: I too could have been like him, I too could have engaged in Torah, and what a fool I was to have abandoned it all. "Eats his flesh" is an expression for a person eating himself up with regret.
The Pesikta Zutreta explains: the fool folds his hands because he is lazy and does not labor in the world, and out of his laziness, he looks at what others have and envies them. This connects to the previous verse - "for it is a man's envy of his fellow": since the fool folds his hands and does nothing to advance or make something of himself, nothing remains for him but to watch what his neighbor is doing and envy him.
The Pesikta Zutreta offers another parable: two brothers stole together and plundered together. One of them repented before his death, made amends, and restored what he had stolen, while the foolish brother did not repent. On the Day of Judgment, he sees his brother in Gan Eden while he is in Gehinnom, and he thinks there is favoritism at play - after all, we were both thieves, so why is he in Gan Eden and I am in Gehinnom? They say to him: there is no favoritism here, but this one repented during his lifetime and that one did not. Immediately, he folds his hands, eats his flesh, and throws himself down. Solomon comes to express to us how much anguish a person will experience the moment he realizes it is no longer possible to repair the damage.
The Parable of the Dubno Maggid: He Eats of His Own Flesh
The Dubno Maggid offers a similar insight regarding the question of how it is possible that an evildoer succeeds so greatly in this world. A parable is told of a man who committed great treason against the king. Since he had once been a beloved confidant of the king and had exploited that affection to spy and act against him, the king said: an ordinary punishment will not suffice; a special punishment is required. They placed him in a glass cell in the city square, to slowly starve there before everyone's eyes, so that all might see what happens to one who rebels against the king. A visitor arrived in town, heard about the man, and went to the square to see him. Looking into the glass cell, he saw the man eating meat. He said: but they said he is starving to death, yet I see him eating meat! They told him: fool, the man reached such dreadful hunger that he carved slices of flesh from his own thigh and began to eat; that was the only way left for him to sustain his life. In the same way, says the Dubno Maggid, when a person sees a wicked person flourishing in this world - he is eating his own flesh, consuming what is his. He is eating up his reward for the World to Come.
A man once debated a talmid chacham regarding matters of this world and the World to Come, saying to him: look, see, I have this world - and showed him everything he possessed. The scholar replied: everything you have shown me so far is your World to Come. Where is your this world? They pushed your entire World to Come right here - they gave you a mansion and luxuries; but what about this world? Where are you truly enjoying yourself now? This is what the verse means: the fool, when it becomes clear to him how much of his life he squandered, eats his own flesh - he will eat himself up inside, and realize that all his days here, he was eating his own flesh.
Rashi: He Has Nothing Except from Robbery
Rashi explains: the fool is the wicked person; he folds his hands and eats only through robbery. "Folds his hands" - he takes no action to earn a livelihood, so from what does he sustain himself? From robbery. "And eats his own flesh" - on the Day of Judgment, when he sees the righteous in their glory while he is condemned, as expounded in the Sifrei. He sees all that is bestowed upon those people there, while nothing remains for him, and he is judged.
Ibn Ezra: The Other End of the Spectrum
Ibn Ezra sees this verse as a direct continuation of what preceded it. We learned about the envious person who frantically strives to acquire, buy, and possess - a terrible character trait. Yet know that there is an equally destructive trait at the opposite extreme: a person who harbors no envy whatsoever and refuses to engage in any productive labor to support himself, but simply folds his hands and consumes whatever he has until nothing remains. Since he never toils to build upon what he possesses, merely devouring his existing resources, it is as though he consumes his own flesh. What happens to a person during a famine or a severe starvation diet? He consumes his own flesh; the body burns through its own reserves, and he steadily wastes away, emaciated and miserable. Thus, while envy and the relentless pursuit of wealth are corrupt, one who says, 'If so, I will withdraw from it all and do nothing' - this, too, is ruined. Clearly, the proper path is the golden mean.
Erev Shabbat and Shabbat
The Midrash states: This world is comparable to Erev Shabbat, and the World to Come is comparable to Shabbat. One who prepares on Erev Shabbat eats on Shabbat; and one who failed to prepare on Erev Shabbat gnashes his teeth and consumes his own flesh. This is our verse, reflecting the very same principle: when the time arrives for a person to receive his reward and he sees what he has squandered, nothing will remain for him to do but gnash his teeth and consume his own flesh.
"Better Is a Handful of Quietness" - A Little of Your Own
טוֹב מְלֹא כַף נָחַת מִמְּלֹא חׇפְנַיִם עָמָל וּרְעוּת רוּחַ׃ - Better is a handful of quietness than two fistfuls of labor and pursuit of wind.
The Midrash offers several explanations for this verse, all sharing the same core principle presented from different angles. First: Better is one who studies Halachot, becomes thoroughly versed in them, and observes them, than one who studies both Halachot and Middot without mastering them, doing so only for re'ut ruach - his desire (*retzon*) being that people call him a master of the Mechilta. That is, better is one who learns Halachot, reviews them diligently, and puts them into practice, than someone who learns Halachot superficially without mastering them. And why does he study? 'And pursuit of wind (*re'ut ruach*)' - for his personal ambition; and what is his ambition? That people hail him as a master of the Mechilta, proclaiming how filled with Torah he is. In practice, he fulfills almost nothing, performing barely a quarter of what he preaches, yet he hungers to be revered as a great scholar.
The Midrash illustrates this with a proverb: 'Better is one bound bird than a hundred flying away' - the equivalent of our saying, 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' The same applies here: a person who learns a modest amount and faithfully lives by it is far superior to one who studies expansively but fails to put it into practice.
A Little Charity from Your Own Means
The Midrash offers another explanation: Better is one who gives a modest amount of charity from his own honest earnings than one who robs, plunders, and extorts, and then distributes lavish donations. You gave a single shekel - but it is your own honest shekel; that is infinitely better than someone giving a fortune amassed through theft and oppression. There are individuals who show up at the synagogue once a year, purchasing the opening of the Ark for fifty thousand dollars, while Heaven protect us from the origins of those funds - gathered from all sorts of dubious dealings throughout the year. Such a person imagines he is tossing a bribe to the Master of the Universe, assuming that from now on he will enjoy only success, blessing, and prosperity - in what? In shady businesses and criminal enterprises? And why does he do all this? For 'pursuit of wind' - his desire is to be hailed as a great philanthropist, to be honored and praised: 'What a generous benefactor, do you know how much he gives?' The Sages cite a biting parable: 'She commits adultery for a wage of apples and distributes them to the poor' - a woman who engages in disgraceful deeds, accepts apples as her payment, and then hands them out to the destitute as a great benefactress. Just like that 'philanthropist' who lends with usury, extorts others, runs protection rackets, and then arrives with an open checkbook at the synagogue. It is far better not to engage in any of that: give a little, but ensure that little is truly your own.
Why Does Theft Lead the Prosecution?
It is taught that the sin of theft (*gezel*) steps forward first to prosecute a person, and there are two explanations for this. The first, if memory serves, is from the Chafetz Chaim: a person creates an accusing angel that mirrors the exact nature of the sin he committed. Theft is a transgression rooted in sheer brazenness - striding in, seizing what belongs to another, and snatching it away. Therefore, when many accusing angels gather to prosecute a person, it is the sin of theft that leaps to the front, because it is the brazen one that boldly shouts while the others still hesitate. As is well known, when a business begins to collapse financially, all the creditors wait outside - until the first brazen creditor storms in and begins hauling out merchandise; moments later, the entire shop is emptied out. It only takes that first insolent mover. So too with theft: because it was forged in brazenness, it is the insolent angel that leaps forward first to accuse.
Yet there is another explanation, which fits our subject very well. We know that when a person sins, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not take his soul first; rather, He takes his monetary wealth - for money serves as an atonement for his life, as "money" (damim) corresponds to "blood" (damim), in place of his soul. All this applies on condition that the money is truly your own. But if the money in your hand was stolen, how can money for which your fellow labored and toiled atone for you? Therefore, theft prosecutes foremost: from the moment you have stolen, it is no longer possible to grant you atonement through the loss of wealth, since the wealth is not yours. Thus it is said, "He who amasses wealth unjustly will leave it in the middle of his days" - with any other person, his money can be taken while sparing his life, for the money substitutes for life; but one who acquired his wealth unjustly, his money cannot be taken in place of his life, so his life is taken instead, and he dies in the prime of his days. And this is what the verse tells us: better to give a little of your own than to give much that does not belong to you.
Ten Gold Coins and Commerce
Another example in the Midrash: Better is one who has ten gold coins and engages in business and earns a livelihood from them, than one who takes other people's money and loses it, doing so only out of vexation of spirit - wanting to be called a "man of commerce." This is a very common scenario, and many stumble into it. A person has a modest sum of money and does business with it; but people tell him: with a small amount you are a small-time trader, whereas with a large sum one can already talk about real estate and far greater profits. He does not have big money, so he takes loans - from this one and that one - and soon he has bought a plot of land and entered a development project. Yet he is not cut out for this, and everything also depends on fortune, and fortune is not on his side, so he falls and collapses. And all of this was out of vexation of spirit - so that he would be called a merchant, a real estate mogul, a trader, a wealthy individual, a businessman. The Midrash tells him: It would have been better had you kept to your modest funds; you do not have a million dollars, you have a hundred thousand or fifty thousand - trade on a small scale, and gradually develop. Surely that is better than taking and imagining that you are filling two fists, when those two handfuls are nothing but toil and vexation of spirit.
Renting One Garden Versus Renting Many Gardens
The Midrash further states: Better is one who rents a single garden and cultivates it, than one who rents many gardens and ruins them, doing so only out of vexation of spirit - wanting to be called a landowner. One who rents a single garden has the time and the capacity to cultivate it, but one who rents many gardens does not have the peace of mind to tend to them all. And the parable says: One who rents a garden eats birds; one who rents gardens, the birds eat him. Look how magnificent this parable is: birds were considered a delicacy eaten at the end of a feast, and one who rents one garden and cultivates it eats birds. But one who rents many gardens, does he have the time to guard them? The birds come and feed from the garden, and thus the birds devour him! Is it not far better to rent a single garden according to your abilities, rather than seeking two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit?
A Palmful of Tranquility in the World to Come
The Midrash further states: Better is a palmful of tranquility in the World to Come than two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit in this world. A palmful of tranquility in the World to Come is better than all the pleasures a person can have in this world, and all the more so than two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit. For whatever you take here from the pleasures of this world is nothing but toil and vexation of spirit compared to a single moment in the life of the World to Come.
We have already explained the words of the Tanna that "better is one hour of spiritual contentment in the World to Come than all the life of this world." What is "spiritual contentment" (korat ruach), and what is that "palmful of tranquility"? One of the great Torah masters explained: contentment is like a person walking on a scorching summer day past an open shop, where a momentary breeze from the air conditioner blows across him for two seconds; or someone who arrives on a sweltering day at a place with nothing but a sputtering fan, and he keeps positioning himself directly in front of it just to catch another hint of a breeze. That is korat ruach - a breath of relief. We are not even speaking yet of actual delights, but merely of a slight spiritual breeze in the World to Come - and that alone is better than all the worldly pleasures of all human beings from the beginning of time to the end. This teaches us that there is simply no comparison, proportion, or resemblance between the pleasures of this world and the bliss of the World to Come.
And for what is one granted this contentment in the World to Come? For mitzvot, one receives actual, full reward, not mere contentment. Rather, an example would be this: a person is sitting in the synagogue with his legs crossed, and suddenly he thinks to himself, "Wait, this is the House of Hashem; this is improper, this is the sanctuary of the Holy One, blessed be He," and he immediately uncrosses his legs and sits respectfully. What did he do? He did not fulfill a biblical positive commandment, nor is this an explicitly codified law; rather, it is a matter of reverence and sensitivity: "In the House of God we walk with feeling" (Tehillim 55:15), and one should not sit that way. For such a small gesture of reverence he earns contentment in the World to Come - and that alone is still better than all the life of this world.
One Hour of Repentance
The Midrash continues: And better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come. In a single hour of repentance and good deeds in this world, one can acquire all the life of the World to Come. As Rebbe said: "There is one who acquires his world in a single hour." There is a clever homiletic interpretation of "acquiring one's world at one o'clock" (be-sha'ah achat): at one o'clock, all the kollel scholars rush to pick up their children from preschool, but this one stays until one-thirty, learning a little more. He has truly acquired his world: the kollel no longer pays for this time, so this is pure Torah study for the sake of Heaven. By contrast, Rav Ovadia Yosef once remarked about teachers who constantly look for ways to end the hour and make an escape: he looks at the clock incessantly, and "with two he flies" - waiting for two o'clock to spread his wings and fly away.
The Midrash further states: "Better is a palmful of tranquility" - this refers to the Sabbath day; "than two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit" - these are the six workdays, for the Sabbath day is an analogy for the life of the World to Come.
The Tribes of Gad and Reuven: A Handful of Tranquility in the Land of Israel
Rabbi Yitzchak interpreted this verse as referring to the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuven. When they approached the Land of Israel, they said: Better is a palmful of tranquility in the Land of Israel than two handfuls in the Transjordan. And we have seen that because of this choice, their exile preceded the exile of the ten tribes, for the Transjordan is not the Land of Israel proper. A palmful of tranquility in the Land of Israel - "a land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God are always set" - is preferable to two handfuls of splendid territory received on the other side.
A proof of this: in their distance from the Land of Israel, murderers multiplied there. The Gemara recounts a Sage speaking of a person who became enraged at his companion, rose up, and murdered him. They asked him: Did this happen in the Land of Israel? He replied: No, it was before entering the Land, still outside its borders. He said: And how could it be otherwise? For it is written, "And Hashem will give you there an anxious heart" - there, but not here. Such a thing could happen outside the Land; how could it ever happen within the Land? From this you can see how much we have corrupted ourselves today, having reached such a reality even in the Land. But we must understand that in their time, it was obvious that the Land of Israel stood on an entirely different plane, where an anxious, wrathful heart could not exist. This is what the tribes of Gad, Reuven, and half the tribe of Menashe realized: better is a meager handful of tranquility in the Land of Israel than two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit in the eastern Transjordan.
The Poor Man's Fistful and the Kohen Gadol's Handfuls
The Midrash adds: The Holy One, blessed be He, also says so - dearer to Me is the poor man's single fistful of a voluntary flour offering than the Kohen Gadol's two handfuls of aromatic incense. If we were asked which is greater - a poor man's voluntary meal-offering, which consists merely of fine flour, or the incense offered by the Kohen Gadol before Hashem? After all, the incense holds immense spiritual stature; offering incense brings wealth, a kohen would merit to burn it only once in a lifetime, and on Yom Kippur the Kohen Gadol fills both his hands with finely ground incense - what could be greater than that? Yet the Holy One, blessed be He, says: The poor man's fistful in a voluntary meal-offering is dearer to Me. And why? Because this one comes for atonement, whereas that one does not come for atonement. The incense does not come to atone, while the poor man's meal-offering comes to atone for him - he has repented and seeks purification. The Kohen brings what he was commanded to bring, to burn before Hashem, not to rectify his own soul. And it is written, "When a soul brings a meal-offering" - the poor man who brought merely a handful of flour offered his very soul, and therefore it is exceedingly precious before the Holy One, blessed be He. Moreover, the poor man brings from his own property, whereas the incense the Kohen burns is funded by the Temple treasury, unlike his daily griddle-cake offering which he provides from his own means.
Rashi: Bringing Pleasure to One's Creator
Rashi explains: "Better is a handful of tranquility" - to acquire modest possessions through one's own toil, in a manner that brings contentment to one's Creator. When a person amasses extensive property, he becomes completely absorbed in it - how much time remains for him to pray, study Torah, delve into mussar, and serve Hashem? But one who acquires modest possessions retains the time to bring satisfaction to his Creator. "Than two handfuls" - of abundant assets gained through transgression, which are mere toil and grievance of spirit before the Omnipresent. And according to Rashi, "vexation of spirit" means that by acting this way, one causes, as it were, distress and grief to the Spirit of the Holy One, blessed be He.
Ibn Ezra: When the Sluggard Quotes the Verse
Ibn Ezra clarifies that there are two harmful extremes diverging from the middle path. One extreme is represented in the preceding verse: the fool folds his hands and does not move a finger. And when you ask him - just as one might ask any idler who does nothing with his life - "Why are you sitting with folded hands?", the fool answers by quoting our verse: "Better is a handful of tranquility than two handfuls of toil and vexation of spirit"! Listen to what a righteous man he seems to be. Why bother with two handfuls of toil and vexation, with people straining their bodies and crushing their spirits trying to make a profit here and there? Better to settle for a little; I do not pursue matters too great or wonderful for me, and I prefer a modest portion accompanied by trust in Hashem.
Rav Dessler observed that often a person who supposedly "trusts in Hashem" does so only in quotation marks: he does not truly rely on Hashem, but simply cherishes his indolence. All his declarations of "there is no need" - no need to chase wealth, no need for this or that - are designed solely so that people leave him alone to rest and sit in peace. For if you tell him: "Listen, there is an opportunity right now to work for one day and earn four thousand shekels," he will immediately ask, "Where, where, where?" Wait a moment; just a second ago you claimed that one must trust in Hashem and that the Holy One, blessed be He, provides sustenance - what happened that for four thousand shekels you no longer trust? It turns out you trust in Hashem only for small amounts, while for large sums your trust suddenly vanishes. In truth, if a person reflects honestly, he will see that very often all these recitations of bitachon are nothing more than excuses for laziness.
Because of this, says Ibn Ezra, in the end he does not even have half a handful of tranquility. When hunger strikes, he snatches and steals whatever he can find; and when caught stealing, he is beaten and bruised - and thus he literally "eats his own flesh." That is how he explains "and eats his own flesh": the food you obtained was paid for with wounds inflicted upon your flesh. You went to steal because you had nothing, since you folded your hands while needing to eat; then you were beaten and struck, so that you ate at the expense of your own flesh. This is the language of Ibn Ezra: The fool says, it is enough for me to have a palmful of bread in tranquility rather than two handfuls with toil and vexation of spirit; and why should a person worry about the future, wondering what he will eat tomorrow, when he does not know what a day may bring? That is to say, the fool recites words of bitachon: "I prefer a little; why are you straining and striving? Who knows what tomorrow holds or what will remain of your money?" He speaks ostensibly in the name of the attribute of trust.
"And I Turned and Saw Vanity" - The Mantle of the Angel of Death
וְשַׁבְתִּי אֲנִי וָאֶרְאֶה הֶבֶל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃ - "And I returned, and I saw futility under the sun."
The Ibn Ezra explains: I returned to reflect on the words of this fool, and I saw another fool who is the exact opposite of the first - and we will see him in the next verse.
Yet before that, we should mention a wondrous Midrash. The Midrash says regarding "And I saw futility under the sun" - this refers to the cloak of the Angel of Death. One might wonder what the Midrash means by this. Looking into the commentators, we find that the sefer Or Shraga on Parashat Toldot explains as follows: I see people immersed in vanity. What does it mean to be immersed in vanity? A person completely forgets that there is a day when he must meet the Angel of Death. He completely forgets that at the end of the supermarket there is a checkout counter, and therefore he lives without a reckoning. And what will all the vanity you engage in profit you? It is futile.
And what caused him to forget? Regarding this the Midrash says: this is the cloak of the Angel of Death. The day of death is as if covered in a cloak, and the Angel of Death is covered in a cloak - you never see him approaching, you never see that he is just about to arrive, and suddenly in a single instant he snatches the person away. Had you seen him from afar, you would have recognized him approaching years beforehand, but because of the cloak, you do not recognize him. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, hid the Angel of Death in a cloak - and there are several reasons for this that have been discussed in the past - but this is also what leads a person not to feel that one must "repent one day before your death." A person does not know when that will be, and therefore every day must be spent in teshuvah; yet he remains confident in himself, as the Zohar puts it: a person walks through this world confident that it belongs to him and that he will remain in it for all generations. This is what causes people to be immersed in futility under the sun, for there is the cloak of the Angel of Death in which he hides, and because of this, people do not repent.
In summary:
King Solomon places two extremes before us, and both are bad: the envious person who ceaselessly pursues "both hands full," and the fool who folds his hands and does nothing - who also in the end "eats his own flesh," both in this world and on the Day of Judgment, when he sees his fellow among the company of the righteous while he stands outside. The path is the middle path: a little of your own, earned honestly and through effort, with time and space to bring satisfaction to your Creator. "Better is a handful of quietness" - a few halachot that you observe, a small amount of tzedakah from your own means, one garden that you tend, small merchandise in which you trade, a handful of quietness in the Land of Israel, the handful of a poor person. And all the pleasures of this world do not equal a single measure of satisfaction in the World to Come. But the cloak of the Angel of Death conceals this from us and makes us forget the reckoning, and therefore we become immersed in vanity; our work is to remember that there is a checkout counter at the end, and to repent every day.