There were two times a year that my Bobie would gather all four sons and their families – Thanksgiving and Pesach. The food for both was pretty much the same. My Zayde led the Seder in Hebrew but we always sang an English language version of the Four Sons to the tune of Clementine. Everyone was at the table until the meal finished – after which some stayed, some went home and others waited out the rest of the Seder in front of the TV.
One moment during the Seder was, for me, magical. We’d open the door for Elijah and I’d stare at the cup in the middle of the table. Maybe the table was shaking or a breeze made the wine waver, but I was certain there was less wine in the cup once the door we opened for Elijah was closed.
I’m sure many of you know the reason for Elijah’s cup. In Exodus, there are 4 actions God promises to take on our behalf. The verse reads, “I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and free you from their slavery. I will deliver you with a demonstration of my power, and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to me as a nation.” “bring you out”, “free you”, “deliver you”, “take you to me as a nation.” That’s why we drink four cups of wine.
But the next phrase perplexed the rabbis. The following verse reads, “And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Thus, some argued that we should drink 5 cups not 4. The disagreement was settled in a compromise – so we pour a 5th cup but don’t drink it. And, like so many disputes in the Talmud, when will we have the answer as to whether we should have 4 cups or 5? When Elijah comes. Thus, this has become known as Elijah’s cup.
Over time, this connection to Elijah has become more significant. At this point in the Seder, Jews dared to open the door to an accusing world to scream in anger while standing in the shadows, because they were girded with hope brought by the invisible visitor, the one who may bring them redemption from this world.
Their hope sprang from the last lines of today’s Haftarah from Malachi, one of the last lines of prophecy from the last prophet. “…I will send Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord.”
Who is Elijah?
Elijah is introduced in Kings. Ahab, king of Israel, does what is “evil in God’s eyes, more than all that before him.” He marries Jezebel, the daughter of the Zidonite king. At this time, the temple is standing in Judah. Ahab decides to erect one in his kingdom, Israel, but his temple is for Baal, Jezebel’s god. At God’s command, Elijah advises Ahab there will be a drought. Fearing Ahab’s wrath, Elijah flees to the Valley of Cherith, where God provides him food and water.
Later, God sends Elijah to Zidon. Here, a widow cares for him. Elijah asks the widow for food but she’s worried that she and her son will die of hunger. Elijah assures her the flour and oil will never be used up, and, per God’s word, it is so. Later, the widow’s son gets sick and stops breathing. The woman cries – for this we were saved? Elijah brings him to the upper story where he lives, lies him down in his bed and prays. The boy is revived.
Years later, God orders Elijah to see Ahab again. Elijah tells Ahab to gather his 450 prophets of Baal in front of all of Israel on Mt. Carmel, where Haifa stands today. Ahab complies. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to sacrifice an ox without striking a match. They pray morning and night, lacerating themselves as was their custom. Nothing happens. Elijah then orders the people to drench his ox and the wood. Elijah prays and fire comes down from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the earth, and the water that was in the trench. The prophets of Baal are killed and the people return to God.
Furious, Jezebel sends a messenger to threaten him. Elijah disappears into the desert a day’s journey, sits under a juniper and asks that he might die. “Oh God, take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.” God would have none of it. An angel brings him food, and prepares him for a journey.
Elijah wanders for 40 days and 40 nights and arrives at Mt. Sinai where he rests in a cave. God asks him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah tells of his actions and of the people’s misdeeds.
God tells him to stand on the mountain before him. There is a great and might wind before God, breaking apart mountains and smashing rocks, but God is not in the wind. After the wind, there is an earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there is a fire, but God is not in the fire, and after the fire, there is that famous sound of quiet stillness.
In the stillness, Elijah hears, he wraps his face with his cloak goes out and stands at the entrance of the cave. A voice asks again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah’s answer is the same. God then orders Elijah to anoint a new king – and to anoint a new prophet, Elisha, to replace him.
Ahab and Elijah face off once again, Ahab repents, but when he dies, his son is overthrown. Elijah’s prophecy about Jezebel is fulfilled - she is devoured by dogs.
Then, “…when the Lord is about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,” Elisha accompanies Elijah to the Jordan. 50 of their disciples stand as witnesses. Elijah takes his mantle, rolls it up, strikes the water, and the river splits. They cross over on dry land. While they are walking and talking, a fiery chariot and fiery horses separate them; and Elijah ascends to heaven in a whirlwind.
This dense, miraculous story has inspired millions for millennia. The Caremelite Order reveres Elijah and his lone, monk-like existence. In their church in Haifa, a stained glass window features him being carried towards heaven in a chariot. The New Testament and the Qur’an include references to Elijah. The Mormons believe Elijah visited Joseph Smith and the prophecy of fathers turning to children and children to fathers is the basis for the church’s focus on genealogy. The Baha’i believe the Bab, the founder of the Babi Faith, was Elijah, and thus he’s buried on Mt. Carmel.
Jewish folklore is filled with references to Elijah. We learn that, when he comes, we may not recognize him. So, we must treat every stranger decently, no matter how difficult or unbecoming, because they may be Elijah.
His story inspires those who have had to outlast misfortune in hiding, those who’ve felt failure, perhaps even despite apparent success, those who had acted faithfully, perhaps even if they’d lost faith themselves, and those who had no wife, child or family to accompany them on life’s lonely, perilous journey.
The sages teach that, when Elijah comes, the Messiah will accompany him. What comes next is in our prayers. In today’s Amidah, we referred to the resurrection of the dead, the ingathering of the exiles, and the restoration of the Temple.
Were the hopes of the Elijah’s coming developed while the Jews were in exile? No.
Malachi reads, “…’When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, it doesn’t matter! When you present a lame or a sick one, it doesn’t matter! Just offer it to your governor: Will he accept you? Will he show you favor? said the Lord of Hosts.”
The people are bringing sacrifices. They have a governor. Malachi prophesied about the coming of Elijah and the coming of the aweful, fearful day of the Lord while the Second Temple was standing.
Why then?
Our Haftarah reads, “You have spoken words against me, said the Lord. But you ask, ‘What have we been saying among ourselves against You?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His charge and walking in awe of the Lords of Hosts? So we account the arrogant happy: they have indeed done evil and endured; they have indeed dared God and escaped.”
The destruction of the first temple – perhaps the biggest catastrophe since the slavery in Egypt occurred not much more than 70 years before this. An idealistic group rebuilt the temple. They have the backing of the world’s strongest power. But the people are corrupt and they are suffering a crisis in faith. Malachi first chastises their behavior but then sympathetically appeals to their hope in hope, and forecasts the coming of Elijah.
But can people stuck in reality believe in the coming of Elijah? Can people stuck in reality believe Elijah’s story?
On Pesach, we’re compelled to consider the Children of Israel in Egypt. To them, slavery was reality. Though they witnessed 10 miracles with their own eyes, it was still hard for them to believe in better possibilities. But the Children of Israel did learn to believe and to trust that the desert may hold a better way of life. They learned that, while they recognized their reality, they didn’t have to accept it. Their redemption led to the formation of a people and we celebrate their change; our change.
We too have the choice to accept everything as it is; but Malachi suggests an alternative. Rather than be complacent, we can believe in the possibilities or, better yet, in the impossibilities. What kinds of impossibilities?
Malachi says, upon the coming of Elijah, God “shall reconcile parents with children and children with parents...”
Talk about a miracle. How many of us have known of a war between two people who were members of our own family? And how many have seen the inconceivable – a resolution of that conflict? It’s like a world reborn. And a relationship that is never fixed is like a world destroyed.
If one lives long enough, one eventually witnesses the inconceivable – the unfathomable – the unbelievable. From the mundane – say, the amount of computing power available in a hand-held device – to the historic – the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the reunification of Jerusalem – or the personally profound - a reunion between unknown sisters, or the birth of a child.
Our tradition is vague about the specifics in the future. It’s an unanswered question. Elijah’s cup represents the unanswered question as well as the belief in the impossible. It allows for hopeful exploration of the unknown. We can land a man on mars. We can roll back the effects of global warming. We can find cures for cancer. Good can come out of bad. Relationships can improve. And all nations can choose to turn their weapons into plowshares.
Fantastic things happen to us in our lives. Anyone who’s had a child knows this. I find I often remember the bad, but forget the good. Some say the reason Elijah ran off after God performed the miracle on Mt. Carmel is because, a day later, most of the people went back to behaving the way they did a day before. Believing in miracles is so hard that, even if we witness them with our own eyes, we deny their existence. Even Elijah had trouble recapturing his own inspiration.
On Wednesday I heard a fantastic story from a close friend. His uncle was parachuted into Luxembourg in 1944 and went missing in action. After six months, his mother was told to consider him killed in action. It was Passover during the Seder. They opened the door for Elijah, and his Uncle Izzy was standing there accompanied by 2 GI’s. Uncle Izzy’s mother and sisters fainted.
Tonight, I plan to look at Elijah’s cup. Yes, it could be the table shaking or a breeze but I plan to brush reality aside so, for maybe just one moment, I will recapture my belief in the impossible.
Tonight, open the door to the possibilities.