לֵךְ אֱכֹל בְּשִׂמְחָה לַחְמֶךָ וּשְׁתֵה בְלֶב טוֹב יֵינֶךָ כִּי כְבָר רָצָה הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת מַעֲשֶׂיךָ׃ - Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already favored your deeds.
These are the words of the fools: everything is fine, the Holy One, blessed be He, has already approved of your actions, He truly loves you, so go and enjoy life. And they continue along this line:
בְּכָל עֵת יִהְיוּ בְגָדֶיךָ לְבָנִים וְשֶׁמֶן עַל רֹאשְׁךָ אַל יֶחְסָר׃ - Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil.
רְאֵה חַיִּים עִם אִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ כָּל יְמֵי חַיֵּי הֶבְלֶךָ אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לְךָ תַּחַת הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ כֹּל יְמֵי הֶבְלֶךָ כִּי הוּא חֶלְקְךָ בַּחַיִּים וּבַעֲמָלְךָ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עָמֵל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃ - See life with the wife whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your toil which you labor under the sun.
כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תִּמְצָא יָדְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת בְּכֹחֲךָ עֲשֵׂה כִּי אֵין מַעֲשֶׂה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְדַעַת וְחָכְמָה בִּשְׁאוֹל אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה הֹלֵךְ שָׁמָּה׃ - Whatever your hand finds to do with your strength, do it, for there is no action, reckoning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
This is the entirety of their argument: whether you are vindicated or not, in Sheol no one will demand an accounting from you. Do whatever you please; no one will ever call you to judgment. Thus far the words of the fools.
שַׁבְתִּי וְרָאֹה תַחַת הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ כִּי לֹא לַקַּלִּים הַמֵּרוֹץ וְלֹא לַגִּבּוֹרִים הַמִּלְחָמָה וְגַם לֹא לַחֲכָמִים לֶחֶם וְגַם לֹא לַנְּבֹנִים עֹשֶׁר וְגַם לֹא לַיֹּדְעִים חֵן כִּי עֵת וָפֶגַע יִקְרֶה אֶת כֻּלָּם׃ - I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the mighty, neither is bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the knowledgeable, for time and mishap happen to them all.
כִּי גַּם לֹא יֵדַע הָאָדָם אֶת עִתּוֹ כַּדָּגִים שֶׁנֶּאֱחָזִים בִּמְצוֹדָה רָעָה וְכַצִּפֳּרִים הָאֲחֻזוֹת בַּפָּח כָּהֵם יוּקָשִׁים בְּנֵי הָאָדָם לְעֵת רָעָה כְּשֶׁתִּפּוֹל עֲלֵיהֶם פִּתְאֹם׃ - For man also does not know his time: like fish caught in an evil net, and like birds held fast in a snare, so are the children of men snared in an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly.
In this verse, the Ridvaz explains, Shlomo comes to refute their claim. Shlomo tells them: I have seen that man's effort does not avail at all for worldly matters, and ultimately death lurks for everyone, and no one can escape it, because man is like fish caught in an evil net and like birds trapped in a snare. There is no one who is not ensnared by that net, and no one who is not trapped in that snare, and therefore, in the end, everything will be brought to an accounting before the Holy One, blessed be He. And we have already noted that the cemetery is called "the house of assembly for all the living," for that is where all the living will eventually convene. And if you think to grab whatever you can and do as your heart desires, Shlomo comes and says: Man does not know his time; it will come suddenly, and then you will see that you have achieved nothing. What is left to you from all of this?
Rashi explains: "Like fish caught in a net" - like large fish caught in a poor, flimsy net. There is something of a wonder here: to catch a large fish, we would assume that one needs a large net and a formidable trap, yet the verse comes and says that even a flimsy, weak net catches them. Our Sages say that this refers to a fishing hook, which is nothing more than a kind of needle, yet a huge fish gets caught on it. You see an enormous fish, and with what was it caught? With a needle, with a tiny hook that is not even one-thousandth the size of the fish. "An evil net" means a poor net, a weak trap, yet it still possesses the power to ensnare a large fish.
And the Gemara asks: Is there really such a thing as an evil net and a good net? Rather, this refers to a fishing hook, because you have nets that catch in the sea but not on land, or on land but not in the sea, but the hook catches both in the sea and on dry land, for it goes down into the fish's throat and chokes it. This definition is not entirely clear, since a hook does not choke the fish in the ordinary sense, but rather hooks into its palate and hauls it up. It is possible that the intention is that it ultimately suffocates through it, or perhaps they were referring to a different kind of catching implement that genuinely strangles the fish.
"So are the sons of men snared" - just like fish, so do human beings stumble. What does "so are they" mean? Rashi explains: through a small and fragile obstacle, like the evil net and like the snare, human beings stumble at the time of their misfortune. When their time comes to fall, they fall suddenly over something small. And this is clearly seen: a person battles a severe illness for ten years and survives, and then one day a minor bout of pneumonia strikes, he is hospitalized, complications arise, and he passes away. Here is an "evil net" - a small thing, a tiny hook, and that is what took him. As the popular saying goes: all for the want of a nail. It is precisely through this minuscule thing that a person departs from this world.
The holy Alshich explains that there is a grievous ill that befalls man, even those who reach old age, even those who, thank God, were blessed with long life: "that man does not know his time." The worst thing from man's perspective is that he does not know the time when he will be gathered in.
Anyone who has ever waited for a bus knows what a nerve-wracking wait is like. Today's generation does not experience this: people have the exact arrival time on their smartphones, and they know via GPS precisely where the bus is located, so that they can remain calm and avoid stress. In the past, a person would stand and gaze at the horizon. It is told of Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian that he was once waiting for a bus in Kfar Chasidim for over an hour, and the bus did not arrive. He stood up to look over the hill to see if the bus could be spotted in the distance, and immediately rebuked himself: Impatience is a bad trait. And he sat back down. If you stand, will it arrive any faster? Do you have an alternative ride, another car? In any case you will have to wait, and even if a bus was skipped, you will wait for the next one. Who among us has ever thought of this while scanning the horizon looking for a bus? That is how great people work on themselves in every single matter and refine their character.
In any case, the worst thing from man's perspective is that he does not know when he is destined to be gathered from this world, and this is what King David asked to know: "Make me know, Hashem, my end, and what the measure of my days is."
And the Alshich says that this is an open rebuke to every person, because on account of this, people grow lazy about repenting. If a person knew that he had one year left, six months, ten years, or any set period of time, he would be aroused to repent. In reality, however, a person reaches old age and is still indolent about doing teshuvah, saying, "The vision is yet for an appointed time," because death seems distant to them. Consequently, even if he lives seventy years, death comes upon him suddenly.
"The days of our years are seventy years" apparently refers to generations that lived shorter lives. Baruch Hashem, we live in a generation of longevity, thanks to advances in medicine and Hashem's kindness toward us. They say that five hundred years ago the average age of death was forty, but that does not mean people actually died at age forty; rather, many died in childhood from diseases and plagues, and infant mortality brought down the statistical average. In any case, life expectancy was certainly shorter. Even so, a person reaches the age of seventy or eighty, and if the Angel of Death suddenly arrives, he is surprised: Did you come uninvited? You were given a ten-year head start, and you are still complaining? You received bonuses and you complain? Yet this is reality: even at age ninety, a person is taken by surprise, because "man does not know his time."
In this way, a person pushes death out of his mind. We have already mentioned that this psychological reality, which the Holy One, blessed be He, implanted in man, is an act of kindness toward him - that he should forget death. For if he constantly remembered it, he would live in depression: Why achieve anything, why build, when soon enough one must leave? He would live in perpetual grief and distress. The Holy One, blessed be He, spared him from this by making him forget death, granting him the feeling described in the Zohar: "A person walks through this world and imagines that it belongs to him and that he will remain in it for generations upon generations" - a person walks through the world confident that it belongs to him and that he will stay here forever. And this, says the Alshich, is man's greatest pitfall.
Some tell themselves in their hearts: When I see that I am about to die, when I see the Angel of Death approaching, I will immediately confess and turn back from my evil ways, and Hashem will accept my teshuvah and take pleasure in me. The Holy One, blessed be He, will accept our repentance; a moment before the end we will do teshuvah and everything will be fine. Meanwhile, let us enjoy life and do not pressure us.
To this the Alshich replies that sometimes a person will not even have the opportunity to confess at all, because an illness of choking may seize his throat so that he cannot speak. At first glance, this is surprising: is confession not a matter of the heart? In the straightforward sense, one must articulate verbally with his mouth, "We have trespassed, we have betrayed." But if a person is prevented from speaking, such as being connected to a ventilator, and he contemplates repentance in his heart, is that not sufficient? It may be that confession specifically requires verbal articulation, and without shaping the words with one's lips, it does not have the formal status of a viduy. In any event, the Alshich says: an illness of choking could, Heaven forbid, constrict his throat so that he cannot confess.
Furthermore, he says: even if he can speak and confess, this is not the repentance Hashem desires, because such teshuvah comes purely from the terror of death. When a gun is held to your temple and you say, "Master of the Universe, I repent" - is that genuine repentance? It bears no resemblance to one who offers prayer before distress strikes.
Therefore, says the Alshich: I grieve for you, my brother, if you slacken from repenting and mending your deeds until the time of death. Behold, "man does not know his time" - repent today, for you do not know what tomorrow will bring, and do not say, "I will confess when the Angel of Death arrives." For what befalls man is one of two things: the first possibility is "like fish caught in an evil net," like a hook catching the fish by its mouth; sometimes a person dies a choking death, gasping for breath, unable to articulate words with his mouth, and leaves this world without repentance. And if you say that it is rare for someone to be unable to speak before death - one in a thousand - and that there is no need for concern, Shlomo continues: "and like birds trapped in a snare."
When birds are trapped in a snare, already caught inside the hunter's cage, they chirp. So too, you might think: when I reach the snare I will chirp, then I will cry out, then I will confess. The Alshich answers: that is not enough. Does it help the birds chirping and crying inside the trap? It is a one-way ticket; it is over, they are bound for slaughter, and nothing will save them. Had you chirped earlier, you might have chirped and escaped, but to chirp now, when you are already inside the snare, is too late. In other words, even if you are able to confess, it is a late confession, offered only after you have already been caught, when the Satan is already about to take you from this world. When you were free you remained silent, and only when ensnared do you repent - this is not a complete repentance that can rescue one from the clutches of Sheol, and such people will not be spared the judgment of Gehinnom for a time. By contrast, had you repented earlier, every day and every hour, your teshuvah would have been truly accepted. This is the meaning of "so are the sons of men ensnared at an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them": either one is caught in an evil net and cannot confess, or, if he can, he is like birds trapped in a snare, chirping when it is already too late.
The Malbim explains - recall that the previous verse concluded with a difficulty: "for time and chance happen to them all." "Time" (*eit*) implies something fixed, whereas "happen" (*yikreh*) implies mere chance; how do these two concepts fit together? Here Shlomo comes to resolve this. It is indeed a decreed time, which no man can alter, just as one cannot change the seasons of summer and winter, yet in another sense it differs from all other set times. When speaking of the sun, no one imagines that the sun will arrive before its designated time; it has a fixed schedule, an appointed time, and there is no concern that it will be early or late. But the time of man's end is not bound to a known date, and at every moment a person is called upon to do teshuvah because he does not know his time. Therefore, from his perspective, it resembles an occurrence that arrives with sudden randomness.
To illustrate this, the Malbim brings two examples: fish caught in an evil net and birds caught in a snare, each representing a different kind of misfortune. An "evil net" - Chazal say this refers to a fishing hook. In all other types of traps, the fish is brought out alive: when fishing with baskets, one places bread or the like inside, many fish enter, the basket is lifted, and the water drains out; similarly with a net. In all of these, the fish emerges alive, and afterward it is either left outside until it dries out and dies, or it is dealt a blow to the head. But the hook pierces its jaw and brings it to an unnatural, painful death, and therefore it is called an "evil trap": it pulls the fish out already pierced and dead. On the other hand, there is a distinct flaw in how birds are trapped, for the birds come to the trap on their own: grains and seeds are scattered within the snare, and the bird steps inside willingly, only then to be trapped.
And precisely so with man, there are these two kinds of misfortunes. The first is "like fish caught in an evil net": death itself might not have been so bitter were it not for the fact that a person often dies an unnatural death, through illness and agonizing pain, like a fish caught on a hook. The second is "like birds caught in a snare": sometimes a person runs of his own accord to amass wealth and achieve financial success, unaware that it is at the cost of his life, that this pursuit will bring him into danger and death. There are people who, in order to save a few shekels, enter an Arab village to repair their car, and afterward people are reciting memorial prayers for their souls, may Hashem protect us. And for what? For a matter of livelihood, a person endangered his life. The same is true of journalists: every year they publish how many of them died in war zones. Why? Because one must bring a headline that will lead the news broadcast, risking his life for his bread; he ventures into hazardous places and is either captured or killed in the heat of battle. This is just like a bird lured by seeds, and so a person is drawn after his livelihood and thereby brings about his own death. Regarding this it is said: "So are the children of man snared at an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly."
Certainly, the time destined to come upon a person cannot be avoided, but to him it turns into a mere chance occurrence because it strikes suddenly. The appointed time is set, yet from man's perspective it is a "mishap", it is "sudden". With the Holy One, blessed be He, a person's appointed time is established, and only for man does it always seem like a coincidence and a surprise. When someone passes away, for their loved ones it is always sudden. There are cases where people suffered from illnesses, were already on life support, and held on from day to day, but normally, for most people, it falls under the category of "sudden", because a person neither prepares for it nor takes it into account.
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said: All his days, throughout his entire life, a person must learn how to die. The meaning of this is that death is the parting, the finale to the song of a person's life, and if he has not learned this, woe to him at the moment of his passing.
As noted previously based on what is written in the sefarim, the most difficult death is death by thirst, as it says, "Better off were the slain of the sword than the slain of hunger, who pine away, pierced through." At first glance, other deaths also involve suffering, so why was this singled out as an example? There is a wonderful explanation for this: how terrible is the state where, in a person's final moments, all that runs through his mind is a glass of cold water! That is what happens to one dying of thirst - his entire being is fixated on a drop of water. You are standing moments before the end of your life, before meeting the Master of the Universe; shouldn't there be some thought toward that? But that is not on his mind. This is not said as a grievance, but as a description of reality, and that is why it is the most agonizing death. In contrast, with another form of passing, at least a person's mind is free to contemplate that he is about to depart from this world.
And since Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was mentioned, along with his teaching that a person must spend his entire life learning how to die, it is related that at the time of his passing, someone was present attending to him. About half an hour before he passed away, Rabbi Yisrael sat and explained to him that people's fear of death has no substance, and that there is no cause for dread or fear in being alongside a deceased person, as the dead have no power to harm, and all such fears are mere imagination. He sat and explained this to him for half an hour. This was so characteristic of the entire conduct of his life: to ensure that this person would not be gripped by fear and panic when remaining near the deceased, but would remain calm. His fellow was so precious to him that he concluded the song of his life with this act of concern, which speaks volumes about the entire path of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's life.
From this we learn that the reality of departing from this world is something one must constantly prepare for and live with. And although it is an appointed "time", to man it will always appear as an unforeseen event; it will always come as a surprise.
Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian cites in the name of Rabbi Itzele Blazer regarding the verse, "Man knows not his time, like fish caught in a net": When a fish is caught in a net, what does it think? That evil has been decreed upon it right now, that its destruction was sealed just now. But in truth, from when was it trapped? From the very moment the fisherman wove the net. The net was prepared for you, Mr. Fish, and ever since then your life has hung in the balance. Man does not know what is transpiring with him, and if he does not repent, woe to him; but one must always remember that this trap was prepared long before.
These points align remarkably well with what the Ra'avad explains. It is written that on Rosh Hashanah a person is decreed for life or death, and everyone asks: how can this be? We see someone judged as righteous who lives, but on the other hand, we see wicked people living year after year. Some try to resolve this by saying it refers to judgment regarding the World to Come, along with many other explanations offered to address this difficulty. But the Ra'avad presents a wonderful approach: "decreed to die" does not mean he will die today. Suppose a person was originally allotted eighty years of life, and on a certain Rosh Hashanah his spiritual standing is poor and death is decreed upon him - this means two years are deducted, so he will die at age seventy-eight. On the following Rosh Hashanah, another year is deducted, and the year after that another three years, according to Heaven's calculations. In the end, the person dies at sixty-two, and this death was not decreed just now; rather, he was caught in an evil net long ago. The trap ensnared him already at age twenty, subtracting years and months from him, and only when he reached sixty-two did his time arrive according to the years deducted from him. This is the meaning of "sealed for death" - not that death must occur immediately, but that it is sealed that he will die prematurely, and each time another span of life is trimmed away.
This is the deeper meaning of the phrase "snared in an evil net": they are caught in advance. A person fails to notice his sins, that he has been sinning since youth, and those very sins have held him ever since. It does not come out of nowhere in an instant. The fish thinks, "I have just now been caught," but in truth, you were not caught just now: this net has been woven for you for years.
This calls to mind an incident that occurred in the days of Rav Yeruchem of Mir. A bus carrying laborers to work was crossing a bridge - in those days, bridges were made of wood - and the bridge collapsed, killing everyone inside, some forty or fifty people. All the talk in the yeshivah revolved around this tragedy, and everyone began voicing opinions: one said the driver made a mistake by not building up enough momentum, and had he driven faster he would have made it across; another claimed the government was to blame for failing to conduct routine bridge inspections, leading to the collapse; and on and on went the arguments about why they drove and how they drove.
Regarding bridge maintenance, there is the famous story of the Romanian minister and the Russian minister. The Romanian minister visited the Russian minister and saw him living in a luxurious villa. He asked: "Where did all this come from? Just two years ago you had none of this." The Russian pointed to a bridge outside the city and said: "That bridge was supposed to have fifty tons of iron, but it only has twenty-five." The Romanian minister returned home, and since Romanians need no instructions in these matters, before long he had a villa four times larger, complete with a swimming pool. The Russian came to visit, his eyes bulging: "What is this?" The Romanian brought him to the window and asked: "Do you see the bridge?" "No," the Russian replied. The Romanian said: "There was supposed to be a bridge there."
At any rate, Rav Yeruchem of Mir was deeply troubled by this coarse, materialistic perspective, and he delivered a shmuess in the yeshivah: How can people talk like this? Such talk reflects a lack of emunah. If a person truly understood, he would realize that already on Rosh Hashanah, the names of all the people gathered onto that bus were inscribed - that so-and-so and so-and-so would all be assembled in one place, and there their time would arrive. And wherever you investigate, you discover that one person happened to miss the bus that day, while another pushed his way on, taking someone else's seat. In short: everyone decreed from Above to be on that fateful bus was on it, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered them together in one place and brought their souls down to the grave. This is how a person of faith views events. Not that the bridge was unmaintained, or that the driver sped up or slowed down - all of that is trivial; that is a secular perspective. An authentic Jewish perspective grounded in emunah recognizes that everything happens under complete Divine Providence, and everything is written in advance.
And this is what Rav Eliyahu Lopian says in the name of Rav Itzele Blazer: This is the net. Know that one is snared in the net long beforehand, not in a single instant. To man it seems as if everything happened in a split second, but in reality, the net was woven long before. Had a person understood this properly, he would do teshuvah and awaken in time, so as not to be caught in the net.
Shlomo HaMelech refutes the fools who urge a person to indulge and grab what he can, claiming no one will hold him accountable: no one escapes being snared eventually, and "man does not know his time." Sometimes a person is caught like a fish on a hook - through a small and fragile snare, by an unnatural death that leaves no chance even for confession; and sometimes he is like a bird that willingly enters the snare chasing grains of livelihood, chirping only when it is already too late. The appointed time is fixed by the Holy One, blessed be He, but to man it always arrives as a sudden surprise and an apparent chance occurrence. Therefore, one must live with this awareness throughout his life, as Rav Yisrael Salanter taught: all one's life must be spent learning how to die. And as Rav Itzele Blazer and the Ra'avad explained: the net is woven long before the final moment, and one's sins have taken hold of him long ago. There is only one conclusion: to repent today, every day, and every hour, and not wait for the late chirping inside the snare.