Opening the Door for Elijah | Passover haggadah by Noraa Kaplan

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On the Shabbat before Pesach, we read the very last prophecy from the book of the very last prophet, Malachi. Hashem promises us that He will send us the prophet Eliyahu at the end of time before the World to Come comes to be, to “return the hearts of ancestors to their descendents, and the hearts of descendents to their ancestors.” (Malachi 3:24) On one level, this means that he will make peace, healing old wounds, allowing families to reconcile. On a deeper level, this means that our hearts and the hearts of those who came before us will be reunited.

Midrash tells us that every Jew who has ever lived, and every Jew who will ever live was at Mount Sinai for the giving of the Torah. The covenant was made with “those who are standing here with us today and those who are not with us here today.” (Deuteronomy 29:14) We all left Mitzrayim together, we all received the Torah together, and one day we will all dwell together in the World to Come. That’s why it’s so important to keep the memories of our ancestors alive. Instead of saying “may they rest in peace” about the dead, Jews say zichrono livracha, “may their memory be a blessing.” Instead of expressing our wishes for the ones we’ve lost to rest peacefully in heaven, we offer our hopes that they will live on in a different kind of afterlife: our people’s memory.

On the first day of Pesach, we recite Yizkor, a special memorial prayer for the dead. In it, we promise to donate tzedakah on their behalf, in order to “bind their soul in the binding of life.” It’s curious that the liturgy puts the phrase צרור החיים, tzeror ha-chayim, the ‘binding of life’ in a positive light. Tzeror comes from the same root as Mitzrayim, a root meaning narrowness, oppression, strife. Perhaps a better translation of tzeror ha-chayim would be the ‘struggle of life.’ How should we honor the dead? How should we honor our ancestors, who lived so we could live? We should fight on their behalf, not only giving tzedakah but pursuing tzedek, justice, in their name. And we should let their memory bless and guide us in our struggle.

Belief in the World to Come is the twelfth of Maimonides’ 13 articles of faith. Belief in the resurrection of the dead is the thirteenth. Every day during the Amidah we say mechaiyey ha-meitim, thanking Hashem for bringing life to the dead. We recite this same blessing upon seeing a friend for the first time in a year. This teaches that being cut off from our community is equivalent to death. When people we love are locked inside of prisons for years at a time, it is as if they are dead, but when they are released, they are resurrected, perhaps even reborn. When Eliyahu comes and we burn down all the prisons, all the graves on earth will be deserted, and we will fulfill our faithfulness to those who sleep in the dust.

(Some may choose to add the following prayer:)

מַשִׁיב הָרוּחַ וּמוֹרִיד הַגֶשֶׁם
מוֹרִיד הַטָל

On the first night say: Mashiv Ha-Ruach U-Morid Ha-Gashem (make the winds blow and the rains fall)
On all other nights of Pesach say: Morid Ha-Tal (let the dew fall)

מְכַלְכֵּל חַיִים בְּחֶסֶד מְחַיֵה מֵתִים בְּרַחֲמִים רַבִּים סוֹמֵךְ נוֹפְלִים וְרוֹפֵא חוֹלִים וּמַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים וּמְקַיֵם אֱמוּנָתוֹ לִישֵׁנֵי עָפָר, מִי כָמוֹךָ בַּעַל גֶבוּרוֹת וּמִי דוֹמֶה לָךְ מֶלֶךְ מֵמִית וּמְחַיֵה וּמַצְמִיחַ יְשׁוּעָה
וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי מְחַיֵה הַמֵתִים

Mechalkel chayim be-chesed, mechayey meitim be-rachamim rabim, somech noflim, u-rofeh cholim, u-matir asurim, u-mekayem emunato lisheney afar. Mi chamocha ba’al gevurot, u-mi domeh lach? Melech meymit u-mechayeh u-matzmiyach yeshu’a.
Ve-ne’eman ata lechayot meytim. Baruch ata Adonai, mechayey ha-meitim.

You sustain life with kindness, with great compassion You bring life to the dead, lifting up all who have fallen, healing all the sick, and freeing the prisoners, fulfilling Your faithfulness to those who sleep in the dust. Who is like You, harnesser of strength, who can be compared to You, King who brings death and restores life, and causes deliverance to grow. You are faithful in giving life to the dead. Blessed are You, who gives life to the dead.

(Others continue here:)

According to Jewish legend, Elijah has already returned and he walks among us, disguising himself as a homeless person, wandering the earth, waiting for someone to treat him with kindness instead of fear or contempt so he can tell them the Moshiach is coming. This implies that the World to Come, a world without police or prisons, is always possible, and all we need to do is recognize the opportunity to bring it about. The opportunity to spark the revolution is always within grasp, hidden in plain sight. In the words of the historian and prophet Walter Benjamin:

The past carries a secret index with it which is called resurrection. There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. Like every generation that preceded us, we have been endowed with a weak messianic power. The myth of progress has made the working class forget both its righteous anger and its spirit of sacrifice, for both are nourished by the image of enslaved ancestors rather than by the ideal of liberated grandchildren.
What characterizes the revolutionary class at their moment of action is the awareness that they are about to make the continuum of history explode. The Jews were prohibited from inquiring into the future; the Torah and the prayers instruct us in remembrance. This does not imply that for the Jews the future became homogeneous, empty time. For each second is the small gateway in time through which the Messiah might enter. There is no moment that doesn’t carry revolutionary possibility.

❉ What’s the difference between fighting for enslaved ancestors and fighting for liberated grandchildren? Which inspires you more?

A ritual that you can perform at your seder: everyone sits down in silence, and thinks about what they would do if they opened the door and the prophet Eliyahu was on the other side. Would they be ready to accompany him, or to invite him inside? Everyone meditates on the doubts and fears that might prevent them from joining the revolution if it began tonight. Whenever each person feels ready, emotionally, to let those fears go, they stand up. The last person to stand opens the door for Eliyahu.

Open the door for Eliyahu to let him in.

.אֵלִיָהוּ הַנָבִיא, אֵלִיָהוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּי, אֵלִיָהוּ הַגִלְעָדִי
בִּמְהֵרָה בּיָמֵנוּ, יָבוֹא אֵלֵינוּ עִם מָשִׁיחַ בֶּן דַוִד

Eliyahu ha-Navi, Eliyahu ha-Tishbee, Eliyahu ha-Giladi
Bim’heira be-yameinu, yavo eleinu, im Moshiach ben Daveed.

Elijah the prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah the Gileadite.
Quickly, within our days, come to us with the Moshiach, son of David.

haggadah Section: Bareich

Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan