[Avodah] The Rambam and Eliyahu haNavi

[Micha Berger]

The return of Eliyahu haNavi isn't mentioned in the iqarim nor in the
Moreh. And in fact, in the discussion of mashiach in Hil' Melakhim
(12:2), the Rambam explicitly lists it as among the details that "yeish
min hachamim she'omerim" but we won't know what will really happen until
after it does.

The other mentions of Eliyahu's *return* in the Yad are in dinei manunus,
to say that the person must let the money/item remain unused "ad sheyavo
Eliyahu". (Hitting the Bar Ilan Responsa web site...)

Gezilah va'Aveidah 13:10: Someone who finds an aveidah but tries and fails
to find its owner, munachas etzlos ad sheyavo Eliyahu, and he is chayav
be'achriyu8sah.
ibid 12: ... and therefore he cannot use any such aveidos that aren't
aided with constant use with use ad sheyavo Eliyahu.

Mekhirah 20:2: Someone who bought from one of five people but can't
identify which, the payment munach etzlo ad sheyaho eliyahu. But if he's
a chasid, he should pay each, latzeis yidei Shamayim.

Malveh veLoveh 16:11: If you find a shetar and can't remember if it was
collected, munach ad sheyavo Eliyahu.

So, did the Rambam believe that Eliyahu would necessarily return or not?
And if not, why did he repeat Chazal's idiom?


Li nir'eh, the Rambam felt that the return of Eliyahu hanavi was at least
true on a metaphoric level. The return of nevu'ah. But not within Eliyahu
in particular. Veharaayah...

The last mishnah in Edios says that Eliyahu haNavi will not declare tum'ah
and taharah, but will be a major kiruv worker (and perhaps distance
those who are evil, according to R' Yehoshua but not R' Yehudah). R'
Shim'on says also to resolve machloqes, and the Rambanan say *only*
to bring shalom.

On this the gemara in Qiddushin (71a) is meduyaq that Eliyahu will not
clarify who is a mamzer among people for whom this information is lost.
Kivan shenitme`ah, nitme`ah. (I needed to transliteration the ayin in
that one.)

(R' Chaim Markowitz [CC-ed] recently blogged
<http://nefeshchaim.blogspot.com/2011/06/mamzerim-and-moshiach.html>
that the Ran and the Rama (EhE 2) hold this lemaaseh, that it's assur
for anyone to reveal such information. See there for the machloqes
whether this applies to 2 eidim. It's that blog entry that led to this
train of thought.)

However, turning back to Hil' Melakhim, this time halakhah 3 (right after
asserting that we can't know how it will play out and it's assur to try
to), the Rambam says that the melekh hamashiach will identify who is a kohein,
who is a leivi, which sheivet the rest of us are from, but not to ruin
someone chezqas kashrus to say they are mamzeirim - kivan shenitme`ah
nitme`ah.

IOW, WRT not revealing mamzeirus, the Rambam casts mashiach into the
role chazal gave Eliyahu. I would therefore like to suggest that to
the Rambam, the return of Eliyahu could refer to the return of nevu'ah
in the person of the mashiach.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The worst thing that can happen to a
micha at aishdas.org        person is to remain asleep and untamed."
http://www.aishdas.org          - Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm
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