Navi

Eliyahu HaNavi

אליהו הנביא

The zealous prophet who brought fire down on Har HaCarmel, was taken up to heaven alive, and will return to herald the redemption.

YahrzeitNot recorded

LifetimeTaken up to heaven alive c. 714 BCE (traditional chronology: 3047 from Creation); he did not die

Biography

The Tishbite of Gilad

Eliyahu HaNavi zy"a, the prophet whose fire turned Israel back to Hashem on Har HaCarmel and who was taken up to heaven alive, enters Tanach without a word about his parents or his birth. The verse calls him simply Eliyahu HaTishbi, of the settlers of Gilad, and Rashi explains that Tishbi names his hometown, a place called Toshav. The Midrash relates that when the chachamim once debated whether he came from Binyamin or from Gad, Eliyahu himself appeared and told them he descended from Rachel.

Another tradition goes further. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer and the Targum Yonasan identify Eliyahu with Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, the zealous kohen of the wilderness to whom Hashem gave a covenant of life and peace. Whichever way one learns it, the same burning zeal for Hashem runs through both lives.

He rose in the darkest years of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Achav son of Omri built a temple to the Baal in Shomron, and his wife Izevel, a princess of Tzidon, hunted down the prophets of Hashem. The Gemara tells that Eliyahu and Achav went together to comfort Chiel of Beis El, who had buried his sons when he rebuilt Yericho, as Yehoshua had foretold. Achav scoffed: the curse of the talmid came true, yet Moshe Rabbeinu warned that idol worship would close the heavens, and here idols stood on every furrow and the rain still fell. At once Eliyahu swore by the living God before whom he stood that there would be no dew or rain except by his word.

Fire on Har HaCarmel

Hashem sent him to hide by Nachal Kris, east of the Yarden, where ravens brought him bread and meat morning and evening. When the stream dried up, he was sent to Tzarfas, where a poor widow fed him from a jar of flour that never ran out, and he revived her son. The Gemara teaches that Hashem saw the world suffering from the drought, and through the widow's son He led Eliyahu to hand back the key of rain.

In the third year of the drought Hashem told him to show himself to Achav. On the way he met Ovadyah, the God-fearing steward of the palace, who had hidden a hundred prophets from Izevel. When the king saw Eliyahu he called him the troubler of Israel. It is you and your father's house who trouble Israel, Eliyahu answered, and he summoned all Israel and the prophets of the Baal to Har HaCarmel.

There, before the whole nation, he demanded that they stop hopping between two opinions. The prophets of the Baal called on their god from morning until past noon, and no answer came. At the hour of the afternoon offering Eliyahu rebuilt the broken altar of Hashem with twelve stones, drenched it with water, and davened, and fire fell from heaven and consumed everything. The people fell on their faces and cried, Hashem is God. From this the Gemara teaches that one must always be careful with Minchah, for Eliyahu was answered only at the time of Minchah. Then he davened with his face between his knees until a cloud the size of a man's hand rose from the sea, and the rain came at last.

The Still, Small Voice

Izevel swore to take his life, and Eliyahu fled south past Be'er Sheva into the wilderness. He sat under a broom bush and asked Hashem to take his soul. Twice an angel woke him with bread and water, and on the strength of that food he walked forty days and forty nights to Chorev, the mountain of Hashem. Asked what he was doing there, he answered: I have been zealous for Hashem, for Israel has forsaken Your covenant.

Then Hashem passed before him. A great wind tore at the mountains, but Hashem was not in the wind; after the wind came an earthquake, and after the earthquake fire, but Hashem was in none of them. After the fire came a still, small voice. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer teaches that the covenant he spoke of was bris milah, which the kingdom of Ephraim had cast off, and that Hashem answered: you are always zealous. By your life, Israel will not make a bris until you see it with your own eyes. Eliyahu was sent to anoint Elisha son of Shafat as prophet in his place. He found Elisha plowing behind twelve yoke of oxen and cast his mantle over him, and Elisha left everything to follow him.

Eliyahu still stood up to kings. When Izevel had Navos of Yizre'el killed on false testimony so that Achav could take his vineyard, Eliyahu met the king in the vineyard itself: have you murdered, and taken possession as well? Achav tore his garments and fasted, and Hashem put off the punishment. When Achav's son Achazyahu lay injured and sent to inquire of Baal Zevuv, the god of Ekron, Eliyahu stopped the messengers on the road: is there no God in Israel? Twice fire from heaven consumed the soldiers sent to seize him; only when a third captain pleaded for his life did Eliyahu go down and tell the king to his face that he would die.

Then came the day Hashem would take him. From Gilgal to Beis El, to Yericho and to the Yarden, Eliyahu told Elisha to stay behind, and each time Elisha swore he would not leave him. Eliyahu struck the Yarden with his rolled mantle, the waters parted, and the two crossed on dry ground. Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit. As they walked, a chariot of fire with horses of fire came between them, and Eliyahu went up to heaven in a storm wind. My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen, Elisha cried, and he took up the mantle that had fallen. Seder Olam places this in the second year of Achazyahu.

His Enduring Legacy

Eliyahu did not die. Chazal count him among those who entered Gan Eden alive, and Seder Olam teaches that he was hidden away until the coming of Moshiach and now records the deeds of every generation. Even after his ascent, a letter from him reached Yehoram king of Yehudah, rebuking him for following the ways of the house of Achav; Rashi explains that it came after he had gone up to heaven. The last of the prophets, Malachi, closes with Hashem's promise: I am sending you Eliyahu the prophet before the great and awesome day of Hashem, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

In the days of Chazal he appeared to tzaddikim. He stood guard at the entrance of a ruin while Rebbi Yosei davened inside, and told him that whenever Jews answer yehei shmei rabba in shul, Hashem, as it were, shakes His head and says: happy is the King who is praised this way in His house. He came to the cave of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai to tell him that the emperor had died. He was often found in the yeshivah of Rebbi Yehudah HaNasi, and he told Rav Nasan that Hashem smiled when the chachamim ruled against a heavenly voice, saying: My children have triumphed over Me.

His place in Jewish life is woven into the year. At every bris a chair is set aside and named the chair of Eliyahu, the angel of the covenant, as the Shulchan Aruch records and Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer explains. At the Seder, many communities pour an extra cup, the cup of Eliyahu HaNavi, to express the faith that as Hashem redeemed us from Egypt He will send Eliyahu to announce our redemption. Because he was taken up alive, there is no yahrzeit and no kever. Jews await him, as the Mishnah says, to make peace in the world.

Stories

The Flour and the Oil

A starving widow gave Eliyahu her last handful of flour first, and her jar did not run empty until the rain returned.

The drought had gone on a long time when Hashem sent Eliyahu to Tzarfas, a town of Tzidon. At the gate he found a widow gathering sticks. He asked her for a little water, and as she turned to bring it, he called after her: please bring me a piece of bread as well. She told him the plain truth. She had only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug, and she was gathering two sticks to bake one last meal for herself and her son. After that, she said, they would die.

Do not be afraid, Eliyahu told her. Make me a small cake first, and afterward make for yourself and your son, for Hashem has said that the flour will not run out and the oil will not fail until the day He sends rain on the land. She did as he said, and day after day there was food for her, for him and for her household.

Later her son fell ill until no breath was left in him. In her grief she cried that the man of God had come to bring her sins to mind. Eliyahu carried the boy to the upper room, laid him on his own bed, stretched himself over him three times and cried out to Hashem, and the child's soul returned to him. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer teaches that the boy was Yonah, the future prophet, and that it was through the power of tzedakah, the kindness with which she took him in, that he lived again, just as the dead will one day be revived.

Source: Melachim I 17:8–24; Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 33; Gemara, Sanhedrin 113a (Talmud Bavli). English: The JPS Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition); Pirke de Rebbi Eliezer, trans. Gerald Friedlander (London, 1916).

Practical lessonGive from the last handful

The widow of Tzarfas did not give from plenty. She gave first, from the little she had, and that was what never ran out. This week, when you feel you have nothing to spare, whether money, time or patience, set aside a small first portion anyway. Put a coin in the pushka before you shop, or give the first ten minutes of a busy evening to a child or a lonely friend. Notice how the rest of the day holds up.

Answer Me, Answer Me

On Har HaCarmel Eliyahu davened twice, once for fire from heaven and once that the people should truly know where it came from.

All Israel stood on Har HaCarmel, the prophets of the Baal on one side and Eliyahu alone on the other. How long will you hop between two opinions? he asked the people. If Hashem is God, follow Him; if the Baal, follow it. No one answered a word. So he proposed a test: each side would lay a bull on wood without fire, and the God who answered with fire would be God.

The Midrash relates that two bulls born of one mother were brought, and lots were cast. The bull that fell to the Baal would not move. When Eliyahu urged it on, it answered before all the people: my brother was chosen to sanctify Hashem's name, and I to anger my Creator. Eliyahu told it that Hashem's name would be sanctified through it too, and still it would not go until he himself handed it over.

From morning until past noon the prophets of the Baal shouted and danced around their altar, and nothing answered. At the time of the afternoon offering Eliyahu repaired the altar of Hashem with twelve stones for the tribes of Yaakov and had the offering drenched with water three times. Then he davened: let it be known today that You are God in Israel. Answer me, Hashem, answer me. The Gemara explains the double plea: once that fire should fall, and once that the people should not dismiss the fire as sorcery. The fire fell and consumed the offering, the wood, the stones and the water, and the whole nation fell on its face: Hashem is God, Hashem is God.

Source: Melachim I 18:20–39; Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 23:9; Gemara, Berachos 6b (Talmud Bavli). English: The JPS Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition); The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz).

Practical lessonAsk for the second answer

Eliyahu asked for more than a miracle; he asked that the people see Hashem in it. When something you davened for works out this week, a test result, a sale, a child's good day, do not let it pass as luck. Stop for a moment and say a sentence of thanks in your own words: this came from You. Then tell one person at your table what happened and Who sent it.

Two Jesters in the Market

Asked who in a crowded market had a share in the World to Come, Eliyahu pointed to a jailer who looked like a gentile and to two jesters.

Rav Beroka of Chozai often stood in the market of Bei Lefet, and Eliyahu HaNavi would appear to him there. One day he asked Eliyahu: of everyone in this market, is there anyone who has a share in the World to Come? Eliyahu said no. Just then a man passed wearing black shoes, without the techeles thread of tzitzis on his cloak. That man, Eliyahu said, has a share in the World to Come.

Rebbi Beroka ran after him and asked what he did. Come back tomorrow, the man said, I have no time now. The next day he explained. He was a jailer. He kept the men and the women apart and slept between them so that no sin would happen, and when the gentiles set their eyes on a Jewish girl, he risked his life to save her. He dressed like a gentile so that no one would know he was a Jew, and whenever a decree was issued against the Jews he hurried to tell the chachamim, so that they could pray for it to be annulled. Yesterday, he said, a decree had just come out, and he had run to warn them.

Meanwhile two brothers came into the market, and Eliyahu said: these two also have a share in the World to Come. Rebbi Beroka asked them what they did. We are jesters, they said. We cheer up people who are sad, and when we see two people quarreling, we work hard to make peace between them.

Source: Gemara, Ta'anis 22a (Talmud Bavli). English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz).

Practical lessonLift one heavy heart

The two brothers had no title and no rank, only a habit of lifting people up and making peace. This week, look for someone whose face looks heavy: a coworker, a neighbor, a child after a hard day. Say something warm or light that might make them smile. And if you know two people who are not speaking, find one small, gentle step that could bring them closer, a kind word about one to the other, or an invitation to both.

Teachings

The Hour of Minchah

When Yaakov sent a gift, a minchah, to Esav, the Noam Elimelech hears in the word the afternoon prayer. Minchah, he teaches, is the hour when the dinim, the harsh judgments, grow strong. When a tzaddik must protect himself from a wicked man who has risen against him, he turns those judgments against his attacker. That is why Eliyahu took his vengeance on the prophets of the Baal at that very hour, and that was Yaakov's intent as well: to bring the judgments down on Esav so that he could do no harm. Earlier in the parsha the Rebbe recalls that Eliyahu was answered only in the Minchah prayer, and he adds that through our own Minchah, which we send up to Hashem, we break the judgments that seek to rule over us. The letters of minchah also spell menuchah, rest, and machaneh, camp: Yaakov's gift called down camps of angels to save him and grant him rest.

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Vayishlach (on Bereishis 32:14 and Melachim I 18:36–40), with Vayishlach maamar 4 (on Bereishis 32:19)

Practical lessonKeep the afternoon appointment

Minchah falls in the middle of the day's pressure, which is exactly why it is easy to rush or skip. Tomorrow, set a reminder on your phone fifteen minutes before Minchah time. When it rings, close what you are doing, step aside, and daven slowly, even if only the Shemoneh Esrei. If something or someone is weighing on you, name it quietly before Hashem in that prayer, the way Eliyahu did on the mountain.

God Within Israel

On Har HaCarmel Eliyahu davened: let it be known today that You are God in Israel. The Yismach Yisroel reads the words literally: Hashem is God within Israel, for every Jewish soul is a portion of the Divine from above. This, he teaches, is the root of true prayer. When a person feels that his sins have gone over his head and he is not worthy to ask, he can still ask Hashem to act for the sake of His own portion within him. Eliyahu went on: You turned their hearts backward. The people had come to think of themselves as cast backward, beyond hope. Yet before Hashem there is no difference between the lowest depths and the highest heights, as Dovid HaMelech sang: if I make my bed in the grave, there You are. The Rebbe adds that the word for 'by Your word' is written with an extra yud, the letter of Chochmah, from which miracles beyond nature flow.

Yismach Yisroel, Bereishis, Vayigash, maamar 7 (on Melachim I 18:36–37)

Practical lessonPray for His portion in you

Some days we hold back from davening because we feel we have no right to ask. Next time that feeling comes, try the Yismach Yisroel's words before Shemoneh Esrei: Ribbono shel Olam, I may not be worthy, but answer me for the sake of Your portion that is within me. Say it once, slowly, and then daven as a child speaking to a Father who has never left the room.

Sent to Make Peace

The last words of the prophets promise that Eliyahu will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. What, then, will he come to do? Rebbi Yehoshua received a tradition, handed down from Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and from teacher to teacher back to Moshe at Sinai, that Eliyahu will not come to declare families pure or impure, to push away or to draw near, except to undo what was done by force. Rebbi Yehudah says he will come only to draw near. Rebbi Shimon says he will come to settle disputes. And the Chachamim say: neither to push away nor to draw near, but to make peace in the world. The prophet who once stood alone against a whole nation, burning with zeal, will return as the one who brings hearts together.

Mishnah, Eduyos 8:7 (on Malachi 3:23–24)

Practical lessonTurn one heart toward home

Eliyahu's mission is to turn parents and children toward each other, and we can begin it before he comes. This week, think of one relationship across the generations that has grown cool: a parent you call less than you should, a grown child, a grandparent. Make the first move. Call without an agenda, ask one real question, and listen to the answer. Let the conversation end warmly, even if nothing big is settled.

Family & talmidim

Talmidim: Elisha HaNavi

Historical sources