LEV887 Akavya ben Mahalal'el said: Reflect on three things, and you will not come within the hands, the power of sin: know from where you came, whither you are going, and before whom you are destined to give a future account and reckoning. From where you came--from a fetid drop; whither you are going--to a place of dust, worms and maggots; and before whom you are destined to give a future account and reckoning--Before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He. Pirkei Avot, Perek III, mishnah 1. The commentary Yen L'vanon (a commentary on Avoth by Naphtali Herz Wessely, 1725-1805, German Hebrew author and educator, pupil of Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz) interprets Akavya's questions in a comparative sense: You, man, consider yourself to be the crown of creation. You have been given dominion over the creatures of the earth. Yet, wherein lies your greatness? Consider your origin: were you not conceived in gross sensuality? Compare yourself to the lower forms of life and the flowers, where the species are perpetuated in innocence, without sensuality. Again, consider your final end. Here, too, man appears inferior. When a flower dies, one can make perfume of it. When an animal dies, shoes and clothing can be made of its hide. But when a human being dies, he is buried. Even in the length of time needed for development to maturity, man appears an inferior species. We read, "A bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, when it is born.…" [this verse]. The interesting thing about an animal is that it is a "sheep or a goat" as soon as it is born. Very little time is needed before it starts to function as an independent organism. Man, however, has the longest period of infancy and helplessness. Years of growth are required before he becomes self-sustaining. Both in his physical origin and in his bodily destiny man, in comparison with the lesser creatures, is quite unimpressive. Wherein, then, lies his superiority? The answer, inevitably, must be that man's greatness lies in his freedom to be self-transcendent, in his very ability to reflect on his physical origin and destiny and find them lacking in meaning, bereft of significance. And so, contemplation of the first two questions of Akavya must lead us to his third statement: "Know before whom you were destined to give an account and reckoning." This freedom of ours implies responsibility. This inadequacy of and dissatisfaction with our life here and now force to realize a transcendental goal in which we will stand "before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He."