Why Does Eliyahu Come To The Seder? | Passover haggadah by Noraa Kaplan

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When making our guest list for the seder, among names of friends and family, bubbes and babies, in-laws and outlaws, there is one stranger on the list who we invite year after year. It’s unclear whether or not he ever shows up. We pour him a cup of wine, some of us even set him a place at the table, but when we open the door we don’t see anyone there. Maybe he’s a ghost? Maybe he’s a story made up to keep children entertained? Or maybe, just maybe, he’s been with us the whole time.

Eliyahu is a fascinating character both in the Tanach and in Jewish tradition. In the Tanach he’s a fiery, often cruel prophet who curses the earth with a drought and kills idolaters. Naturally, this doesn’t make him very popular. The royal family puts a hit on him. Afraid for his life, he hides out in the desert, and prays for Hashem to kill him, “Enough! Now, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4) His prayer for death is striking. While it’s far from the first time a prophet has prayed to die, it’s disarming to see such a strong-willed and righteous person express suicidal thoughts. He’s dismayed that despite all of his passion he can’t get the Jewish people to listen, just like Moshe and the others who came before him, and he loses his will to live.

Hungry, tired, and miserable, Eliyahu falls asleep under a desert bush. Suddenly, an angel wakes him and says, “Arise and eat!” (1 Kings 19:5) He finds a hot cake and a jug of water next to him, so he eats and drinks and lies back down again. The angel wakes him up again, and says, “Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” (1 Kings 19:7) So he eats and drinks and starts walking, and with the strength from that meal he doesn’t stop walking for 40 days, until he finds himself at Mount Sinai, becoming the first and only prophet since Moshe to return to the mountain.

After spending the night in the cave where Hashem first appeared to Moshe, Eliyahu has his own intimate encounter with Hashem. A mighty wind comes and splits mountains, but Hashem is not in the wind. Then an earthquake comes and makes the ground tremble, but Hashem is not in the earthquake. A great fire starts burning, but Hashem is not in the fire. Finally, Hashem comes to Eliyahu in a still small voice, and asks him, “Why are you here?” (1 Kings 19:13) Eliyahu says, “I am zealous and jealous on Hashem’s behalf, because B’ney Yisra’el have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death by the sword! I am alone, and they want to kill me.” (1 Kings 19:14)

According to Midrash, Eliyahu didn’t stop there. He asked Hashem to punish B’ney Yisra’el. Hashem says to Eliyahu, “They abandoned my covenant, not yours; they dismantled my altars, not yours; they killed my prophets, not yours. Why are you more jealous than I am?” Hashem is furious about Eliyahu’s lashon hara about B’ney Yisra’el and his lack of compassion for his fellow human beings. To give Eliyahu the chance to correct his mistake, Hashem tells him that “the mouth which testified that the Jewish people have abandoned my covenant will testify that they are keeping it.” In other words, Eliyahu will watch over the Jewish people forever to joyously report back to Hashem when we follow the mitzvot. This is why Eliyahu is called “the angel of the covenant.” (Malachi 3:1)

According to the Tanach, Eliyahu never died; he was carried away by a chariot of fire led by fiery horses. It was foretold that at the end of time, Eliyahu will announce the arrival of the Moshiach. The possibility that this wise old prophet is still out there, watching over us has ignited the Jewish imagination for millennia. A new Eliyahu has been born in his life after life. Eliyahu is said to wander the earth, often taking the form of a beggar (though he’s able to take any form he needs to) to see how people treat the poor. One common element in all the stories we find about him in the Talmud, the midrash, and Jewish folklore is his kindness. He is typically shown helping people in their times of need, giving them generous gifts or saving them from harm. But sometimes, the things he says and does raise eyebrows.

One evening, the great Talmudic sage Rabbi Joshua ben Levi was busy studying when Eliyahu appeared at his door. This wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, as the two had become good friends. That night, the rabbi asked Eliyahu to accompany him on his wanderings. Eliyahu agreed on the condition that Rabbi Joshua would not ask any questions. The two disguised themselves as beggars and wandered until they found a decrepit farmhouse. The elderly couple who lived there greeted them with open arms, inviting them in and sharing the little food they had with the men and letting them sleep in their own bed, while they themselves slept in the barn. The next morning after breakfast, Rabbi Joshua watched Eliyahu go into the barn and lay his hands on the couple’s only cow. Instantly, it fell to the ground dead. He wanted so badly to ask Eliyahu why he would do such a thing, but he remembered his promise not to ask any questions.

They wandered all day, and that evening they came across a mansion. Eliyahu knocked on the door and a servant came to the door, took one look at them, and said, “I’m sorry, but you better go away, my master does not like beggars.” But Eliyahu insisted that they talk with him. The homeowner came downstairs and told them to go away, saying, “Lousy bums! Why don’t you get a job?” But Eliyahu was persistent, so he finally let the men stay in his barn. They slept on bales of hay with no blankets. The night was chilly and the barn was drafty because of a large hole in the wall. The next morning, the rabbi watched the prophet approach the rich homeowner. “What do you want now?” he snapped. To Rabbi Joshua’s surprise, Eliyahu said, “Only some tools to patch up the hole in your wall.” Grumbling, the man got them some tools and suspiciously watched as Eliyahu and Rabbi Joshua repaired his wall. When they finished, Rabbi Joshua couldn’t take it any longer and ordered Eliyahu to explain his actions. “In the poor couple’s home,” Eliyahu said, “I heard the wings of the Angel of Death rustling, so I snuck outside and talked to him. He had his heart set on killing the kind old woman, but I negotiated to spare her life in exchange for the cow’s.” Rabbi Joshua asked, “Well, why did you fix up the rich man’s wall?” Eliyahu laughed and said, “There was a priceless treasure hidden in the wall that nobody knew about. I patched it up so the miser would never find it.”

Another time, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi found Elijah standing at the entrance of a cave. He asked Eliyahu, “Will I see the World to Come?” Eliyahu replied, “If this master wants it to be so.” Deliberately vague, his answer could mean ‘if Hashem wills it’ or ‘if you want it bad enough.’ So Rabbi Joshua asked him, “When will the Moshiach come?” Eliyahu said, “Why don’t you go ask him yourself?” Stunned, the Rabbi asked, “Well, where is he?” “He is by the entrance of Rome.” “How can I recognize him?” Eliyahu told him, “You will find him sitting among the poor who suffer from terrible illnesses. All of them untie their bandages all at once, but he unties them and ties them up again one at a time, because he has to be ready at a moment’s notice to redeem the world.”

Immediately, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi left to go greet the Moshiach. After a long journey, he arrived at the entrance to Rome and watched the sick tie and untie their bandages. He identified the Moshiach, went up to him and said, “Peace be with you, my rabbi and my teacher.” “Peace be with you, Joshua,” the Moshiach responded. Rabbi Joshua asked, “When will you come to redeem us?” The Moshiach smiled and said, “Today.” But he never came. The next time Rabbi Joshua saw Eliyahu, he said bitterly, “The Moshiach lied to me.” “No, Joshua, this is what he said to you,” Eliyahu explained, “Today, if you listen to his voice.” (Psalm 95:7)

Eliyahu says that the Moshiach is ready to come at a moment’s notice, and is willing to come today. But we have to be willing to let him come. We have to be willing to answer the call, not by sitting around and waiting for a great hero to deliver us, but by being our own salvation. If we want to find the Moshiach, we have to go out and find him in the harsh reality of poverty, illness, and oppression. He won’t be at the Western Wall or Harvard or Yale, and he sure as hell won’t be in Congress or the White House. He will be in a soup kitchen, a psych ward, a sweatshop, and a prison. If we want to find him, we have to go there ourselves and be him, feeding the hungry, comforting the disturbed, disturbing the comfort- able, organizing and fighting, learning and listening, creating and destroy- ing, welcoming strangers into our homes and burning down the prisons. If we open the door for Eliyahu and see a homeless man seeking shelter, that is our sign that the Moshiach is coming, if today we let him in.

haggadah Section: Bareich

Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan