תיקו – מדוע אליהו הנביא, ולא משה רבנו, יענה על השאלות ההלכתיות שנותרו ללא הכרעה בגמרא?

00:00 One of the first things that comes to mind when we talk about is that when Mashiach is gonna come, Eliyahu is gonna come and answer many of the questions in Halakha that we have. So therefore, we're gonna start from there, not just because it's the first thing that comes to mind, but also it's also time-wise, it's one of the first things that happens when Mashiach is gonna come. And additionally, as we're gonna see, there's some important lessons that we could take about paskening Halakha even nowadays. So we find in the Mishnah, in Edaios, in the end of Edaios, perekh heh, Mishnah zayin, that it says one of the things that Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna do before Mashiach comes, he's gonna come, to take away the machloket, to explain, to answer the different questions in Halakha that we have. And from this Mishnah, so we find the famous Tosefta Yom Tov who says that whenever we find in the Gemara the word teku, uh, which literally means that it stands, that the question that we have stands. But he says that teku is a that Eliyahu HaNavi, who's called Tishri, will answer the questions that we have. And this is brought in other places as well, uh, the Shlah in Teshuvot, klal gimmel, eis tes. And we find also the Chida brings that contrary to what the Yavetz on this Mishnah, in his-- on this Mishnah as well, in his, in his Pirush Lacham Shamayim, who laughs a little bit on this, that people say that

01:30 it's teku. So the Chida brings that he found actually that the Rambam in the Kesavim Yad writes that teku is also Tishri . So, but the question is, why is it gonna be Tishri? Why is it gonna be Eliyahu HaNavi? Why not Mashiach? Why not Moshe Rabbeinu? Why specifically Eliyahu HaNavi is the one who's gonna come and answer these questions that we have? So first, we could seemingly answer. We find in the Gemara, in Menachot mem he, mem alef. Gemara brings from the posek in Yechezkel. It says, that you should take on the first of Rish Chodesh Nisan, uh, bring a Korban Chatas, and you should be purified the, the Mikdash. And the Gemara asks, "Why Korban Chatas? On Rish Chodesh it be a Korban Olah." So Rabbi Yechonon says, Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna come and he's gonna darshan. When Mashiach comes, he's gonna darshan and explain what exactly this parasha means. So on this Gemara, we find in Chidushi HaRashba on Menachot, which the truth is, it's probably not the Rashba, not the classic Rashba, as others point out. It's maybe Rabbi Yishai the Tyranni, or perhaps it's the Rashba, not the classic Rashba, but the Rashba who was a little bit earlier than the classic Rashba, Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham Min HaHar, not Shlomo ben Avraham HaTeraz, uh, who was the teacher of Rabbi Yoni the Grande, who was the teacher of the Rashba. So slightly earlier than the classic Rashba. Who he is, it may be it's from one of the Rishonim,

03:06 from the few Rishonim that we have in Kachin, and he asks this question: Why is it gonna have to be Eliyahu? Why is it gonna have to darshan this parasha? If it's talking about when Mashiach comes, you have Yechezkel HaNavi himself. He's the one who said this Nevuah. So let's ask him what's the pshat. So first he answers that maybe Eliyahu is gonna come before Techiyat HaMesim. So Yechezkel is gonna come after Techiyat HaMesim, but, but Eliyahu is gonna come earlier, and therefore he's gonna answer it then. Alternatively, he says maybe it means Eliyahu is gonna-- when we say Eliyahu is gonna come and darshan it, it means Eliyahu, like we find throughout the Gemara and later on as well, that Eliyahu would come to different hakhamim throughout the generations and teach them Torah. So maybe it means Eliyahu, when he's gonna pop into somebody's midrash, he's gonna come and give-- explain what this means, but not necessarily when Mashiach comes. Now, first of all, uh, while this may answer this specific Gemara, but we find in many other Gemaras that Eliyahu is gonna come when Mashiach is gonna come. And second of all, this thing that Eliyahu-- we're saying that Eliyahu is gonna answer because he's gonna be before Techiyat HaMesim, that may answer-- be a good answer about Yechezkel, but it still doesn't answer the question about why can't it be Mashiach or why can't it even be Moshe Rabbeinu, which we know he's gonna come before Techiyat HaMesim as well. And in

04:26 fact, we find four different shitas about when Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna come. We find in the Piskei Rabbosi, uh, peh lamed heh, that, uh, it says that Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna come three days before Mashiach comes. Then we find in the Gemara in, in Eruvin, mem gimmel, lamed beis, it says he's gonna come one day before. We find in the Rambam, the Rambam brings in Hilchot Melachim, perekh bet, halakha bet, a de'ah, an opinion that it could be that Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna come after Mashiach is gonna come, meaning Mashiach is gonna come first and then it's gonna be Eliyahu. And then we find in the, the Chida in Chaim Shaal on, on, on, on the Tosefta Yom Tov. He brings it in, in, in Sanhedrin, perekh kuf, mashre gimel. He, oh, he says that maybe they're gonna come together. Furthermore, even if Mashi- Eliyahu is gonna come before, like the Piskei Rabbosi that we brought, that Eliyahu HaNavi is gonna come before Mashiach is gonna come, three days before, but what's he gonna do in those three days? It says he's gonna come and he's gonna first tell the Yidden, um, he's gonna try to console the Yidden, and he's gonna tell the Yidden that, that Mashiach is coming and e- day by day until on the third day, time finally tells them that, that Yeshuah came. But he's busy in those days. He's not occupied teaching Torah to the, to the Yidden in those days. Um, he's not seemingly sitting down explaining all

05:48 these ibayis, all these questions that we had in the Gemara. That's not what he's doing. And also, if he comes a day before, he's, he's, he has even less time. And the, the Rebbe actually brings, um, this, this Rambam that it could be that Eli- that, that Eliyahu is gonna come after the Mashiach. So the Rab- the Rebbe actually brings that this is the, uh, psak from, from the Rambam. There's no hecher that Eliyahu is gonna come before. It could come-- could be that he's gonna come afterwards. And we... furthermore, we find in the Placei, um, in the end of, uh, in, in Siman Kuf Yod in, in Yoreh Deah. So in the end, he has, uh, kuntres beis ha-safek. So right at all the way at the end, he wants to be Messiah metayiv, and he gets into about Eliyahu coming to, to answer the sfekes that we have. So he says this thing that we say that Eliyahu has to come before Mashiach, that is only if Mashiach is gonna come be'ita, in its right time. But if he's gonna come earlier, so then it doesn't have to be that way. It could be that Mashiach will come before Eliyahu, and this answers many other questions. But the bottom line is that it's not so simple to say that the reason why it has to be Eliyahu is because Eliyahu is gonna be before Mashiach. It's not simple that he's gonna be before, and even if he is gonna be before, he's not

07:05 gonna be necessarily that much before that there's time to get into and explain all these things. So to understand this question, understand another question that's asked about it being Eliy- a- about Eliyahu answering all the boyes that we have, which is questions asked in, in Sefer Chemed, on What-- Seemingly, why, why did he have to come late? We know he comes to every bris. He comes Pesach. Why, why, so why does he have to come late to save Ram Nona? Because of there, he went melubush in, in a guf, in a body, in clothing, a body. If he comes in clothing, a body, he has all the limitations of a body. However, if he's coming as a neshamah, as a malach, so then he doesn't have those, those limitations. So therefore, if he's coming not in a guf, so then you taca he's only coming as a malach, as a navi, and therefore it's torah l'shmaimi. But if it's how he's melubush in a guf, in a body, so then he's saying the halacha as, as someone who's in a body. Now, similarly, we find the Rebbe in the Kol Sicha chelek daled. He also says, uh, slightly differently, but the same-- in the same vein, that you could have... that there's, there's how the navi understands it. And then the navi, the navi is also, uh, s-s-somebody who learns Torah. So he-- if, if the, the attack have Leba Shamaim, if the navi is saying over Torah, that is only based on a voi-

12:15 nevuah. But if it's after he understands it, and now he's passing based on what he understands, which is obviously after it's, it's-- if he's in Leba Shem HaKov. So then it could be then, then we don't say Leba Shemaim because it's based on his sechel. But now comes the question, if it's only based on-- if it's-- if it could be based on the sechel, and we're having Eliyahu HaNavi, he's not coming out a malach from the Shamayim. He's coming out Eliyahu HaNavi in, in, in, in a body, and that's how he's coming to answer the questions. So then taka, why is this Eliyahu HaNavi any better than, than Moshe Rabbeinu? It's, it's not about-- it's about-- not about nevuah. It's just about understanding in, in the sechel, understanding the sechel so you can have someone else also. It doesn't have to be seemingly Eliyahu HaNavi. So we find in the Kedushei Levi, in the Lekutim, in the end of the Sefer, so Rav Yisroel Kaparditz on the word tekuf, which he brings up Sirash Tevis for Tishri Torres Kushie Zevais. So he asks the same thing. When Mashiach is gonna come, why is it gonna have to be Eliyahu HaNavi? It could be Moshe Rabbeinu. We got the Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu, so why won't he answer the questions? So he explains based on what we find, uh, interesting story in, in the Seder Haderes. So the in-- the Seder Haderes on, on-- by Rabbeinu Tam. So it's Dalet Lamed Tav Tav Kuf Lamed in

13:49 Seder Haderes. It brings-- So the way the Kedushei Levi has it is that they were arguing. It's about the argument between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam about the Tefillin. But if you look in the Seder Haderes, it's not exactly-- that wasn't-- that's not the-- that's not the way we have the argument. We have the argument that they were arguing, it's Rabbeinu Tam and not Rashi, but others about whether tying the Tefillin or whether you have to make the tie-- retie the, the Kesher every day or not. And that's what they were arguing about. But be as it may be, whatever they were arguing about. So you have Rabbeinu Tam and others, whe-whether it's Rashi or others, they're, they're having an argument about Tefillin, and they ask navi who's there, the Neviim who's there. Um, some say it's the, it's the father of, of, of Yehuda, Chased, who-- it may be whoever it was. Um, to, to ask Moshe Rabbeinu, to Moshe Rabbeinu should say who, who, who, who's the Halacha like? And Moshe Rabbeinu says, "Not like Rabbeinu Tam." Either not like Rabbeinu Tam's Tefillin or not like the Ket-- not about the Kesher, meaning that you don't have to. Rabbeinu Tam said you have to tie it every time. Moshe Rabbeinu said you don't. And Rabbeinu Tam, after he hears what Moshe Rabbeinu says, he says, "Okay, that's nice, but I don't-- I'm not, I'm not Mekabel. The Torah was given down here in our hands, in our sechel to be moreira, and therefore, we

15:08 have to pass based on our sechel." And therefore, he disagrees with Moshe Rabbeinu. The Rebbe actually brings this story. Uh, the Rebbe actually says that he doesn't have to worry about publicizing such a story because it's already published in, in the Seder Haderes. And the Rebbe brings it interestingly about Rabbi Hillah Parcha and the Tzemach Tzedek, that the Tzemach Tzedek said Chassidis, and then the Chazon, which most of the Chazon were the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek, explained Pshat in the maimer that Tzemach Tzedek said one way, and Rabbi Hillah Parcha said, "No, he understood it a different way." And eventually, they went, and they asked the Tzemach Tzedek what's Pshat in the maimer, and the Tzemach Tzedek said the way the Chazon said the maimer. Rabbi Hillah Parcha said, "No, I still echaltzach bamaints." Why? Because when the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek says over Chassidis, so then it's Shechinah Medvader Shetech Greineh. That's the Mekabel Hatorah then. But afterwards, it has to be based on our sechel, and based on the sechel, I have to explain it the way I understand it, and every person has to say it the way they understand it, and this is how I understand it, and therefore, he's still held by what he held. So taking this, we also find in the Gemara, right? We find there's a Machlokes many times between Tannaim. For example, there's Machlokes between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, and we say that el v'eilo divra elokim chayim, that in some, some level both

16:34 are right. In other words, Beit Shammai, who's usually strict, Gevurah, and Beit Hillel is usually more lenient, Chesed, each one has a place. But then later we come, in later generations, we have to come, and we have to pass it, even though el v'eilo divra elokim chayim, but in Halacha, we have to pass it like one of them. How do we pass it? So it has to be someone, the, the, the Rabbonim, the Beth Din, look at the situation, they look at the Tnaei HaMakom, the, the place and the time and the people that it's ta-- that it's dealing with, and based on that, they're able to pass it. So the same thing we have when it comes to Eliyahu HaNavi. What we have to have on the one hand, we have to have somebody who's part of the Masorah. We have to have somebody, Eliyahu HaNavi is part of the Masorah. I think it was Mekabel from Echi HaShlani or, or even earlier, Pinchas Eliyahu, again from Moshe Rabbeinu. So on the one hand, you have, well, some-- Eliyahu is part of the Masorah, but on the other hand, you need someone to pass it, somebody who's down here in this world, who's able to pass it like his sechel, but he's-- he knows what's going on, the situation, both Tnaei HaMakom and Tnaei HaZman of what calls for it to be psakten, and for that, the only one who fits the bill, who is around throughout the generations, not as a malach. He

17:56 was a malach also, but he also comes down not as a malach as he knows what's going on. So only Eliyahu HaNavi is the one that's able- To be-- to pasken these halachas. And this is similar to what we find, the rabbi would sometimes say when you have a question in halacha, sometimes the rabbi will say, "Yeah, it's for the rabbonim al asar to say what the, what the halacha is." Because it's not enough that the, the person's there of wherever he is, but he has to know involved in the situation al asar to be able to pasken. Similarly, you have to have Eliyahu Hanavi that someone who was around in general, that he's gonna be able to pasken and answer these questions in halacha that arose throughout the generations. Now, this all sounds very good, but the truth is, we find seemingly a Zohar that seemingly says the-- differently than we just said. 'Cause we find in the Zohar, in Rayy Mehemna on Parshas, Parshas Tzav, uh, Zohar Chelek Gimel, the Chaf Zayin on the page, that, uh, that they-- it's in Rayy Mehemna. So they says they asked, everybody stood up and they asked, uh, Moshe Rabbeinu, your, your Rayy Mehemna, "Why is it-- why-- what is this that we say? Now we learned, "Yeheemuna achari Shem Eliyahu." Why does it have to be Eliyahu? So Moshe Rabbeinu said that the reason is because I'm a kvad peh. And we-- and when, when Moshiach's gonna come, I'm gonna get up. I'm also gonna

19:23 be a kvad peh, someone it's hard, hard, hard to speak. Why? Why am I gonna get up as a hard-- someone who's hard to speak also? The reason is because if I'm gonna get up differently healed, so people are gonna say, "Maybe it's someone else, it's not Moshe Rabbeinu." So therefore, I'm gonna get up as a kvad peh. And just like by, by Moshe Rabbeinu, in times of Moshe Rabbeinu, since Moshe was a kvad peh, so he had Aharon ha'viacha. Aharon was the one who said over, he was the peh, the one who spoke for Moshe Rabbeinu. So the same thing, Eliyahu. Well, Eliyahu is Zeh Pinchas. So Eliyahu is gonna speak for Moshe Rabbeinu. He's gonna be his spokesperson, so to speak, and he's going to, to explain all the sfekas that we have. Now this, this Zohar, this Zohar seemingly goes according to the deya that Moish-- that, that although everybody was healed by Matan Torah, we find however that, that Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't... We find this, for example, Rabbeinu Bechaye on, on, on Perek Dalet, Pasuk Dalet in Shemos, and in other places as well that say that no, Moshe Rabbeinu was not healed. Moshe Rabbeinu was a kvad peh. Even though everybody else was healed, Moshe Rabbeinu wasn't healed. Rabbeinu Bechaye says maybe because he was punished. Um, I saw Rabbi Daviditzki in his Sefer, Meish Maiyach Bahalacha, Chelek Gimel, Pe-- Siman Yud Aleph explains perhaps that this is based on what the Jewish-- we find in Jewish Zohar, um, Drash

20:45 Gimel, that we find in general, Moshe was kvad peh, not as a punishment, but it's as this is the mehus of, of Moshe Rabbeinu, and people shouldn't say that we got-- that Moshe convinced us to take the Torah, because therefore Moshe wasn't somebody who was able to speak well. Now be as it may be, gives other explanations also. Be as it may be, Moshe's gonna get up as a kvad peh, and therefore, if he's gonna be a kvad peh, so therefore, you're gonna have to have Eliyahu Hanavi. Really, it would be Moshe Rabbeinu. But Eliyahu is the spokesperson of Moshe Rabbeinu because Eliyahu is Zeh Pinchas. So some explain why Eliyahu is Zeh Pinchas. What is Pinchas' connection? 'Cause we find in the Torah also when Moshe had a safek about halacha, Pinchas was the one who explained it about killing Zimri. So therefore, it's gonna be Eliyahu. So this is seemingly not how we explained until here. However, however, we find another Zohar. The Zohar elsewhere says that Mo-- in, in Zohar, in Chelek Beis, in Parshas Behaira, Chaf He on the Beis, says that Moshe Rabbeinu was healed by, by, by Matan Torah. And we find this also in the Midrash, Midrash, Midrash Rabah, where Rabah, Parsha Alef, that Moshe Rabbeinu was healed by Matan Torah. Now, if Moshe Rabbeinu was healed by Matan Torah, so then we must say that this, this Zohar disagrees with the Rayy, with, with the, with the Rayy Mehemna because based on this, if Moshe Rabbeinu was

22:04 healed, so then following the logic of the Rayy Mehemna that he has to get up in the same way he passed away, in order people shouldn't say someone else. So if Moshe Rabbeinu was healed in Matan Torah and he was healed for the next forty years, he was not a kvad peh. So then, if he's gonna get up as a kvad peh, so it's gonna be the opposite. People are gonna say that it's not the same one, it's not the same Moshe Rabbeinu. So you have to say based on this Zohar, you have to say that no, Moshe Rabbeinu is not gonna be a kvad peh. So then comes the question, why is it-- does it have to be Eliyahu Hanavi that's gonna answer the questions that we have? And on that, we can have-- we have the answer that we said before, that the reason why it's gonna be Eliyahu Hanavi, it has to be somebody w-- that was around throughout the generations, is able to pasken halacha based on what was going on then and now, and then and now. Let us taka bizeycha to the coming of Mashiach, bimheira b'yameinu, amen.