The Birth of Rav Eliyahu

It is told that in the year 1501 a Spanish Jew named Rav Yosef Yozpa settled in Cracow, when he was about fifty years old. He was unmarried, lived in solitude, and was greatly respected for his righteousness. He spent his days entirely in learning and davening.

Thirty years later, a young merchant was murdered and left a childless widow. At that time, Rav Yosef Yozpa was learning Torah with Eliyahu Hanavi, who told him that he was to marry the widow, in order to bring down to earth a pure soul whose task would be to help all Jews.

Six months passed. Then Rav Yosef Yozpa appeared before the beis din (rabbinical court) and announced his wish to marry her. She was sent for, and when she heard, she burst into tears of relief. She explained that she had dreamed several times of her late father, in his Shabbos clothes, who blessed her and told her to marry Rav Yosef Yozpa. Now that he was ready to marry her, she was overjoyed. The whole community rejoiced and came to the wedding. A year later they had a son, whom they named Eliyahu after Eliyahu Hanavi.

By the age of two the boy was already learning Torah with his father, who taught him, in holiness and seclusion from worldly matters, until his bar mitzvah. Two weeks before the bar mitzvah, Rav Yosef Yozpa called his wife and told her that he had to return his soul to the Creator. He asked her not to cry or mourn too much, and to let their son follow whatever path he chose, without interference. Then Rav Yosef Yozpa passed away.

A few weeks after his bar mitzvah, young Eliyahu told his mother that he wished to leave home and wander. She agreed to let him go. For the next forty years no one knew where he was or what he did.