‘En Ya‘akov (The Wellspring of Jacob)

Rabbi Yose said: I was once traveling on a road, and I entered one of the ruins of Jerusalem to pray. Elijah [the prophet], who is remembered for good, came and waited for me at the entrance [of the ruin] until I finished my prayer. Elijah said to me: “Peace to you, my teacher.” And I responded, “Peace to you, my teacher and master.” And he said to me, “My son, for what [reason] did you enter this [ruin]?” I said to him, “To pray.” And he said to me, “You should have prayed on the road.” And I said to him, “I was afraid that people passing by would interrupt me.” And he said to me, “[In that case,] you should have prayed an abridged prayer.” And Elijah said to me: “My son, what sound did you hear [when you were] in this ruin?” And I said to him: “I heard a heavenly voice cooing like a dove and saying, ‘Woe to the sons because of whose sins I destroyed my house and burned my temple and exiled them among the nations [of the world].’” (b. Ber. 3a)

In interpreting [the aggadic passage where Elijah asks], “What did you hear in the ruin,” I [ibn ḥabib] think that there is a hidden idea included in this passage, written in symbolic language. [This idea] is that, when Rabbi Yose saw that many days had passed since the destruction [of the Temple] and still the messiah had not come, he dedicated his heart and his thoughts to prayer regarding this issue, as Daniel had done. . . .

And the truth is that the generation of Rabbi Yose followed the generation of Rabbi Akiva, who despaired over the delay in the coming of the messiah and erred in the counting of the days and thought that Ben Kosibah was the messiah. This [Talmudic] passage was constructed against the backdrop [of these events], when it says, “And once [Rabbi Yose] entered a ruin,” that is to say, [Rabbi Yose entered the ruin] to inquire of God regarding the desolation of Jerusalem.

And because of the great devotion of his [Rabbi Yose’s] soul to this thought [the desolation of Jerusalem], what came to him was a perception, in the image of a small prophecy that was not even [delivered to him] by an angel, but rather [by a being] lower than this, that is, by the living being, Elijah. And [Elijah] said to him: “Why did you enter the ruin?” In other words, “Why are you preoccupied with this thought [about the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of the messiah]? God forbid [you should be thinking this way], because perhaps . . . you are like the one who lodges a complaint against the qualities of God. . . .”

[Therefore,] it is possible that [Elijah] was hinting to [Rabbi Yose] that the time [of the messiah’s coming] had still not arrived. And in symbolic language, [Elijah] hinted to [Rabbi Yose] that it is fitting and necessary for him to pray on the path [outside the ruin] for the existence and the establishment of Israel during all the lengthy days of their exile, [because it] parallels the path [that one is on during the premessianic age]. . . . Many days are coming before [the arrival of the messiah], and therefore it is necessary to pray on the path. . . .

To this Rabbi Yose responded that he feared those who would pass [him] by [on the road]. [This] is parabolic language for the many oppressions that happen over and over again when we are exiles among the nations, from the perspective of the difficult decrees [these nations invoke] against God’s nation and also [from the fact that such nations] stand in the way of our desire [to take care of our daily] physical needs. But all this will go away at the time of redemption in the ways that were spoken of [by the rabbis of the Talmud who said], “The future of the land of Israel is that we will draw from it fine cakes and woolen garments” [b. Shabbat 30b]. And this is not exactly the literal meaning [of b. Shabbat 30b]. It is only [that I want to] say that in the coming days [when the messiah comes] the inhabitants of the land of Israel will get bread to eat and clothing to wear without depending upon their hands or toil. And the land will be filled with the knowledge of God.