All is ephemeral, both what remembers and what is remembered.
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Koheles 1:11
There is no memory of the earlier generations, and also the later generations that will be, there will not be a memory of them with those that will come later [yet].
Mahari Kara – Koheles 1:11
There is no memory of the earlier generations, for they have already died, and just as it seems like a new world from your own perspective because you don’t remember the years of generations that have gone by, so too, the generation of your children that will arise after you will not be remembered by the generation of your grandchildren who will arise after them.
Rashbam – Koheles 1:11
of the early generations – the human beings who were created before you in the world, there is no memory of them, for they have already died and their memory has been lost.
and also the later generations – that come after us in the world, there will be no more memory of them with those who will be at an even later generation – [that is,] at the end of days of the later generation – for everyone will die, and will no longer be remembered. For if one person dies today, there will never again be born a person like him, since people are not similar to one another. But when other creatures die, there is a memory, for if these die today, similar ones will be born into the world tomorrow. Therefore, the observers can say, “This creature is similar to that other individual creature that has passed on from the world.” Consequently, there is a memory for other species, but not for man.
Yonah 4:10-11
Then God said: “You were concerned for the kikayon, though you neither labored over it nor grew it. It appeared overnight, and perished overnight. So, should I not be concerned for the great city of Ninveh, which contains far more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who don’t know their right from their left, as well as many animals?”
Tehilim 90:4
For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday gone by, like a watch in the night.
Mary Karr – 2015 Commencement Address at Syracuse University
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If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
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Stoic texts:
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Letters from a Stoic Master (Seneca)
The Discourses of Epictetus
The Enchiridion (Handbook) of Epictetus
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