ברכות ג.: תניא א"ר יוסי, פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בדרך ונכנסתי לחורבה אחת מחורבות ירושלים להתפלל, ובא אלי' זכור לטוב והמתין לי על הפתח עד שסיימתי כו', אמר לי מפני מה נכנסת לחורבה זו, אמרתי לו להתפלל, אמר לי הי' לך להתפלל בדרך, א"ל מתיירא הייתי שמא יפסיקוני כו', באותה שעה למדתי ממנו ג' דברים, שאין נכנסים לחורבה וכו', א"ל מה קול שמעת בחורבה זו, א"ל שמעתי בת קול שמנהמת כיונה ואומרת אוי שהחרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי. אמר לי חייך וחיי ראשך, לא שעה זו בלבד אומרת כך, אלא בכל יום ויום ג"פ אומרת כך, ולא עוד אלא בזמן שישראל נכנסים לב"כ ולבמ"ד ואומרים יהא שמי' רבא מברך, הקב"ה מנענע ראשו ואומר אשרי המלך שמקלסין אותו בביתו כך, ומה לו לאב שהגלה את בניו, ואוי להם לבנים שגלו מעל שולחן אביהם.
It has been taught: R. Yose says, I was once travelling on the road, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Eliyahu of blessed memory appeared and waited for me at the door till I finished my prayer. After I finished my prayer, he said to me: Peace be with you, my master! and I replied: Peace be with you, my master and teacher! And he said to me: My son, why did you go into this ruin? I replied: To pray. He said to me: You ought to have prayed on the road. I replied: I feared lest passers-by might interrupt me. He said to me: You ought to have said an abbreviated prayer. Thus I then learned from him three things: One must not go into a ruin; one may say the prayer on the road; and if one does say his prayer on the road, he recites an abbreviated prayer. He further said to me: My son, what sound did you hear in this ruin? I replied: I heard a divine voice בת קול, cooing like a dove, and saying: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world! And he said to me: By your life and by your head! Not in this moment alone does it so exclaim, but thrice each day does it exclaim thus! And more than that, whenever the Israelites go into the synagogues and schoolhouses and respond: ‘May His great name be blessed!’ the Holy One, blessed be He, nods His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in this house! Woe to the father who had to banish his children, and woe to the children who had to be banished from the table of their father!
A few הערות -
1] Why is Eliyahu called זכור לטוב - unlike anybody else?
2] What is the significance of him waiting at the פתח - opening?
3] How could R' Yosi learn from Eliyahu's psak - we know that לא בשמים היא and this was long after he went to Shomayim?
4] Why didn't Rav Yose say "shalom" first?
5] Eliyahu said למה נכנסת לחורבה זו - Why did you enter THIS churvah. Why "this" and not "a churvah"?
6] החרבתי את ביתי - The house was "destroyed" while the heichal was "burned" שרפתי - What is the difference?
7] Hashem nodded his head". What head? The Rambam speaks not kindly of one believes that Hashem has a body... And what is the significance of
"nodding".
8] How did he know it was Eliyahu? Was he wearing a name tag perhaps? And why was this lesson learned from Eliyahu and nobody else?
9] At the end, Hashem goes from being our "father" to being our "king"?
10] Why a "dove"?
11] Why three times a day??
12] Why is a Divine voice called a בת קול??
13] What is the significance of being banished from the "table" of our father?
14] Most importantly - WHAT IS THIS TEACHING US???
PLEASE HELP!!! Ask your mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, wives, future wives, Rabbeim, guy behind the counter at the pizza store in Woodburne, the fellow who sits in front of you in shul and can't keep his mouth shut during Krias Hatorah - ANYBODY. We need to get to the bottom of this deep teaching.
