Eliyahu Hanavi to the Rescue:
Significant occasions when Eliyahu came to save the Jewish people
1) Purim: It was Eliyahu who revealed to Mordechai the secret decree of Haman and Ahashverosh to annihilate the Jewish Nation, thus enabling him to thwart the plan by inspiring the people to engage in repentance and prayer.[20]
2) The Oral Torah: In the aftermath of the Second Temple’s destruction (150-200 CE), the Oral Torah was in danger of being forgotten due to the harsh persecution suffered by the Jewish Nation. The famous sage Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi assembled all the scholars of his time and, with the help of Eliyahu Hanavi, composed the Mishna, the written version of the Oral Law and the basic outline of the Talmud.[21]
3) The Secrets of Torah: At around the same time, Eliyahu Hanavi revealed Kabbalah, the secrets of the Torah, to the great kabbalist Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. Rabbi Shimon later put this wisdom into writing, producing the Zohar Hakadosh, the primary source of kabbalistic teaching.[22]
4) Our Present Knowledge in Kabbalah: During the 16th century, Eliyahu appeared to the famous kabalistic master Rabbi Yizhak Luria Ashkenazi, zs”l, or the Arizal (1534-1572), revealing to him the forgotten secrets of Kaballah on a clearer level than ever before for over twenty years. His most prominent disciple, Rabbi Haim Vital, zs”l, recorded these teachings in his Sefer Ess Haim, forming the basic text of all Kabalistic writings which is studied by scholars of Kabbalah until today.[23]
Eliyahu thus quite literally saved much of the Torah from being forgotten, and is thereby responsible for our nation’s spiritual survival throughout the millennia of exile.
These are just a few of the literally thousands of episodes that have been recorded where Eliyahu miraculously intervened to save Jews – and Judaism – from danger.
[1] See Masechet Eruvin 43b; Abarbanel to Malachi 3:23; and Rambam, Hilchot Melachim chapter 12.
[2]Sefer Haim Sha’al by the Hida, chapter 98.
[3]Yalkut Shimoni, Yeshaya chapter 52.
[4]See Tana Debe Eliyahu, chapter 18; Tosafot, Masechet Baba Messia 114b.
[5] Yonatan Ben Uziel, Bamidbar 25:13.
[6] See Malachi 3:24 and commentaries.
[7] Mechilta, Shemot 17:32.
[8] See Rashi to Vayikra 26:42.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Sefer Mal’ach Haberit, p. 185.
[11]Melachim I, chapters 17-22; Melachim II, chapters 1-3.
[12] See Yalkut Shimoni,,Yonatan ben Uziel and Seforno to Bamidbar 25:13.
[13] Ibid.
[14] See Ralbag and Abarbanel to Melachim I, chapter 17.
[15] Yalkut Shimoni to Yehoshua, chapter 5.
[17]Sefer Aderet Eliyahu parshat Vzot Haberacha 34:1
[18] see Yalkut Shimoni in Melachim I chapter 1 and Abarbanel there.
[19] Parashat Vayigash 209a.
[20]Yonatan Ben Uziel to Megilat Esther, 4:1.
[21] See Masechet Baba Messi'a 85b.
[22] See Zohar Hadash, Parashat Ki Tavo; Sefer Toldot Talmide Rabbi Akiva by Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, page 129.
[23] See Sefer Vayashev Hayam by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, vol. 2 page 206.
1 comment:
Thanks for posting. Good stuff.
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