[הנה אנכי שלח לכם את אליה הנביא לפני בוא יום ה' הגדול והנורא]
(23) Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of God. (24) He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of God.
(13) When Elijah heard [God's voice] he wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then the voice addressed him: “Why are you here, Elijah?” (14) He answered, “I am moved by zeal for the Holy One, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.” (15) The Holy One said to him, “Go back by the way you came, [and] on to the wilderness of Damascus. When you get there. . . anoint Elisha son of Shaphat to succeed you as prophet.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin: But what kind of person is Elijah who will be the “messenger of good news, salvation and comfort”? The biblical Elijah was a zealot who slaughtered 450 prophets of Baal after a contest at Mount Carmel, and challenged God to punish the Israelites for having rejected his covenant and allowed Jezebel to murder the Lord’s prophets. But somehow in Talmudic and folk tradition, Elijah morphs into a benign, grandfatherly figure who drinks from a special goblet at everyone’s seder table, graces every newborn male baby with his presence at their circumcision and frequently appears as a deus ex machina to teach important lessons and save people’s lives at critical moments.
Just when, why and how did this fiery fanatic become a venerable sage?
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said to Elijah: When will the Messiah come? Elijah said to him: Go ask him. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked: And where is he sitting? Elijah said to him: At the entrance of the city of Rome. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked him: And what is his identifying sign by means of which I can recognize him? Elijah answered: He sits among the poor who suffer from illnesses. And all of them untie their bandages and tie them all at once, but the Messiah unties one bandage and ties one at a time. He says: Perhaps I will be needed to serve to bring about the redemption. Therefore, I will never tie more than one bandage, so that I will not be delayed. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi went to the Messiah. He said to the Messiah: Greetings to you, my rabbi and my teacher. The Messiah said to him: Greetings to you, bar Leva’i. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said to him: When will the Master come? The Messiah said to him: Today. Sometime later, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi came to Elijah. Elijah said to him: What did the Messiah say to you? He said to Elijah that the Messiah said: Greetings [shalom] to you, bar Leva’i. Elijah said to him: He thereby guaranteed that you and your father will enter the World-to-Come, as he greeted you with shalom. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said to Elijah: The Messiah lied to me, as he said to me: I am coming today, and he did not come. Elijah said to him that this is what he said to you: He said that he will come “today, if you will listen to his voice” (Psalms 95:7).
Teiku: When the Talmud asks a question for which no satisfactory answer is evident, it uses the word teiku as a way of indicating that we'll have to wait for the coming of Elijah--messianic times--to receive the correct answer. Elijah will resolve our questions and difficulties.
A question is raised: why will we bring our questions to Elijah? After all, tradition teaches that the messianic era will include the miraculous resurrection of the dead. That means that Moses will also be among us. Why don't we bring our questions to him, rather than to Elijah? Moses is our ultimate and greatest teacher of Torah.
An answer was offered in the name of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. He explained: when Moses died, he ascended to heaven and has remained there all these centuries. But when Elijah ascended to heaven, he still has managed to stay in touch with humanity. Elijah attends our Passover seders; Elijah is present at the circumcision ceremonies of our baby boys; Elijah turns up to help the poor and needy of every generation. While Moses has lost contact with humanity, Elijah has remained closely involved with us. Thus, we bring our questions to him, and not to Moses. Only a sage who is fully aware of and sympathetic to our situation can offer proper religious guidance.
Robert Levine: There is no messiah--and you're it.