I Would Recognize Eliyahu HaNavi

The Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz told this story about his illustrious forebear, the Toras Chaim of Kosov.

The Toras Chaim once spoke about the zemer sung at the Melava Malka meal on Motzoei Shabbos. We sing "ashrei mi shero'a panav bachalom," happy is he who saw the face of Eliyahu HaNavi in a dream. But who knows what Eliyahu HaNavi looks like? If no one knows, how could anyone recognize him in a dream? "I, however, would recognize him if I saw him in a dream," said the Toras Chaim, "because I once saw him while I was awake, together with my father, the Ahavas Sholom. This is how it happened.

"When I was a young child, I often slept in my father's bed. One night I woke to the sound of a conversation between my father and someone else in the room. I looked up and was amazed to see an elderly man with a shining face sitting in my father's chair, while my father sat at his side. I was upset. Who dared to take my father's seat at the head of the table? Then my father said to the guest, 'Eliyahu, here in bed lies my Chaim'nyu. I would like you to give him a bracha.'

"When I heard that this was none other than Eliyahu HaNavi, I was seized with fear and trembling and hid beneath the covers. Eliyahu HaNavi reached in under the covers, placed his holy hands on my head and blessed me. I took a peek from underneath the covers and saw his holy face."

"And so," the Toras Chaim concluded, "if I saw him in a dream, I could recognize him, because I saw him when I was awake."