“And I hated all my toil at which I toil under the sun, etc.” (Koheles 2:18). Rabbi Meir was a fine and choice scribe, and he would earn three sela’im every week. With one he would eat and drink, with one he would clothe himself, and with the other he would support the Rabbis. His students said to him: Rebbi, what are you doing for your children? He said to them: If they are tzaddikim, [it will be] like what David said, “And I have not seen a tzaddik forsaken, or his children begging bread” (Tehillim 37:25); and if not, why should I leave what is mine to the enemies of the Omnipresent? That is why Shlomo said, “And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool, etc.” (Koheles 2:19).