We open the door at the Passover seder to welcome Eliyahu Ha Nabi....a custom which was not always connected to checking that the Spanish Inquisition (or similar groups) were outside checking on us!
We invite Elijah also because he is the promised harbinger of the era of redemption.
That statement can be interpreted with a sufic inflection:
The Jewish prophet Elijah and the Islamic archetype known as Al Khidr both occupy a place which is between worlds. Moses is not mentioned in the Passover seder and this is partly because Jews avoid all hint of intermediaries and see the Redemption from Egyptian slavery as the sole direct action of the Unique and All powerful G-d.
Elijah somehow escapes this liturgical stricture as he IS mentioned during the seder. This is partly because the Jewish tradition sees "his" activity as being something that was/is continued after his ascent from our world. There is always ambiguity about the nature of both Al Khidr and Eliyahu HaNabi: are they human or are they a symbol for a certain kind of Divine activity?
The mystics of Judaism speak of a "revelation of Elijah" (gilui Eliyahu) that might lead us to interpret the Elijan invitation that we make during the Passover seder to be an invitation to welcome a certain type of contemplative awareness.
ooOoo
The Kotsker Rebbe reminded us that Elijah enters the seder through our hearts and not through the front door.
By increasing our sensitivity to inspiration and intuitive knowledge (opening the door in our hearts) we can (as it were) hasten the time when prophecy will be restored.
We cannot attain 'gilui Eliyahu' without G-d's grace.....but we can all strive to prepare our souls for the possibility that we may one day be granted such an enlightenment.
Eliyahu Ha Nabi is also the Comforter and we certainly need some of that in these difficult days for our nation globally. May we see peace and coexistence flourish in our day.
Hag Pesah Sameah.
Safed
2024