Ecclesiastes Rabbah

Um, and he was talking about death in this way that I, um, found really helpful.

Uh, this, this passage comes from Kohelet Rabbah, which is a Midrash on the Book of Ecclesiastes.

And so, um, our rabbi was quoting Rabbi Pinchas, who said that, "Ecclesiastes tells us the day of death is better than the day of one's birth.

When someone is born, everyone is joyous.

one of the midrashim that I came up across was fascinating.

In Kohelet Rabbah, it says, "...see the work of God, for who can mend what he has warped?" It says, "...see the works of God, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam the first man..." He took him and showed him all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and he said to him, See my creations, how beautiful and exemplary they are.

Everything I created, I created for you.

Make certain that you do not ruin and destroy my world, as if you destroy it, there will be no one to mend it after you.

That's as far back as the midrash in Breshit Rabbah.

and Kohelet Rabbah, which is the commentary on Genesis and Ecclesiastes respectively.

Anyway, so people are coming to one of these classes, depending on whether it's a pop-up context where maybe we're in a yoga studio or a dance space that's rented, where it's really about, you know, connective, accessible, warm, community-oriented, building Jewish experiences where nobody's gonna try to make you feel like you're not Jewish enough or you should be, whatever.

And if you're not Jewish, I mean, awesome.

I want to just tell you what he says, and then we'll go back to the story, because I'll tell you what this Midrash seems to be saying.

The Malach HaMavet was upset, according to Marzu, which is one of the Mefarshaya Midrash, quoting a Kohelet Rabbah, take a look there, in the third chapter, I believe.

Because at a Brit, we say, It's a tefillah.

We say, just as the baby merited the Brit, he should also merit the Torah, get married, and good deeds, which is a tefillah.