What is the difference between the death of lads and the death of elders? Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya: Rabbi Yehuda says: This lamp, when it is extinguished on its own, it is good for it and good for the wick; when it is extinguished not on its own, it is bad for it and bad for the wick.68Similarly, when one dies young, it is bad for him and bad for those he leaves behind. Rabbi Neḥemya says: This fig tree, as long as it is harvested at its time, it is good for it69The harvested fruit and good for the fig tree; when it is not harvested at its time, it is bad for it and bad for the fig tree.
There was an incident involving Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and his students, and some say, Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta and his students, and some say, Rabbi Akiva and his students. They were sitting and studying under a particular fig tree. The owner of the fig tree would rise early and harvest his fig tree. They said: Let us relocate, as perhaps he suspects us [of eating his figs].
They sat elsewhere. The next day, the owner of the fig tree rose early to harvest his fig tree, but he did not find them. He searched for them and found them. He said to them: ‘My rabbis, there was one mitzva that you would perform with me, and you have withheld it from me.’70He considered it a privilege that his tree provided shade for the rabbis while they studied Torah.
They said to him: ‘God forbid.’ He said to them: ‘Why did you abandon your place and sit elsewhere?’ They said to him: ‘We said: Perhaps he will suspect us.’ He said to them: ‘God forbid.
Rather, I will tell you why I would rise early and harvest them; because when the sun shines upon it they become worm infested.’ One day, he left them and did not harvest, and they found that the sun was shining on them and they had become worm infested. They said: ‘The owner of a fig tree knows well the time when it is appropriate to harvest his fig tree, and he harvests it. So too, the Holy One blessed be He knows when the time of the righteous person has arrived, and He takes him.’