“All matters are wearying; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8). “All matters are wearying; man cannot….” Matters of platitude render a person weary.51The reference is to the usage of terms or phrases that hint to a different meaning, as in the examples the midrash will now provide. When this is done for no particular reason other than to demonstrate mental acuity, it renders a person weary.
Koreh hayom – assemble there;52Koreh hayom literally means “read there.” However, koreh can be used to mean assemble (see Deuteronomy 33:19) and hayom is translated in Aramaic as yemama, which is similar to taman, there. Thus, one could say koreh hayom is a type of hint or code for “assemble there.” sela ka’oferet – few pieces;53Sela is a coin, and the word for money [ma’ot] is similar to the word “few” [mi’ut].
Oferet means lead, which in Aramaic is avar, similar to evar, a limb, or piece of an animal. mitpalelot betur misken – cut, soaked, cut;54Pal in Aramaic is cut, tur is similar to the Aramaic tar, which is soaked, and misken is an allusion to something cut with a knife [sakin]. shor mishpat betur misken – beets in mustard.55Shor, literally, ox, is tor in Aramaic, and mishpat, justice, is din. Tor-din sounds like teradin, which means beets.
Tur is a mountain, or har, which sounds like ḥar, and misken is another word for destitute [dal]. Ḥardal is mustard. Rabbi Yonatan’s hair fell out. He went to Migdal Tzeva’im to be cured. There was a barber there, who said to him: ‘Did you come due to your hair, to cure it?’
He said to him: ‘My hair has fallen from my flesh, and I heard that there is a medicine to cure it, and I moved here to accelerate the cure.’56He said this indirectly, in the manner demonstrated above, in which each word alludes to the intended meaning for those well-versed in this type of speech. [The barber] stood and prostrated himself to him and said to him: ‘Here, initially, I spoke before the rabbi at night.’57The barber was very impressed and, using a similar style of speech, promised to help Rabbi Yonatan. Thus, the Sages knew how to use this form of communication when necessary (Midrash HaMevoar).