72. Rabbi Yosi opened a discussion of Elijah with the verse, "And he cried to Hashem, and said, 'Hashem my Elohim, have You also brought evil upon the widow with whom I lodge, by slaying her son?'" (I Melachim 17:20). Come and behold, There were two who said harsh words to the Holy One, blessed be He - Moses and Elijah. Moses asks, "Why have You dealt ill (lit, 'evil') with this people?" (Shemot 5:22), and Elijah said, "have You also brought evil...by slaying her son?" They both said the same thing.
73. HE ASKS, Why DID THEY BOTH SAY, "WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT EVIL?" HE ANSWERS, Because permission was given to the Other Side to rule over Yisrael. Moses said "dealt evil," which means gave permission to the Other Side of evil to reign upon them. Elijah said "brought evil," WHICH ALSO MEANS THAT You allowed the Other Side to take his soul. This is why he said "brought evil." All is one mystery - "BROUGHT EVIL" IS THE SECRET OF GIVING SWAY TO THE OTHER SIDE CALLED 'EVIL.'
74. Come and behold, Elijah said, "have You also brought evil upon the widow with whom I lodge," because the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Elijah, "behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you" (I Melachim 17:9). Whoever nourishes and sustains the needy, especially in days of famine, is united with and cleaves to the Tree of Life, and draws life unto himself and his children, as has already been explained. Now, Elijah said, Whoever sustains one soul in the world merits life and merits to be united with the Tree of Life. Yet now the tree of death, the evil side, has power over the widow, whom You commanded to sustain me. Hence HE SAID, "have You brought evil."
75. HE ASKS, What if you say that no evil is brought on man by the Holy One, blessed be He. HE ANSWERS, Come and behold, When a man walks to the right, the Holy One, blessed be He, always protects him, and the Other Side cannot have mastery over him. Evil is subdued before him and cannot rule. When the protection of the Holy One, blessed be He, is removed because he cleaved to evil, then evil sees him unprotected, obtains power, and comes to destroy him. Then it is given permission to take away his soul.
76. Moses said, "Why have You dealt ill?" -- because the evil side was given permission to reign over Yisrael, who became its slaves. Another explanation of "why have You dealt ill?" is that he saw many FROM YISRAEL die and be given to the side of evil.
77. Come and behold, When good, the right, is stirred, then gladness, goodness, and blessings abide, all in secrecy, as has already been explained in connection with THE SONS OF JACOB, who said 'Blessed be the name of His kingdom forever and ever' in a whisper. There is secrecy because union is then carried out properly. THUS IT IS CLEAR WHY JOSEPH SAID AT THE TIME OF UNION, "CAUSE EVERY MAN TO GO OUT FROM ME" - AS UNION HAS TO BE PERFORMED IN SECRECY.
78. Rabbi Chiya asks, How could Elijah, who, once he decreed the Holy One, blessed be He, executed such as the one that heaven will not let dew or rain fall, be afraid of Izevel, who threatened him with the words, "and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time" (I Melachim 19:2). How could he take fright and immediately run for his life?
79. Rabbi Yosi replied, It has been explained that the righteous do not wish to trouble their Master, where harm is obvious to the eye. Shmuel, for example, asks, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And Hashem said, Take a heifer with you ..." (I Shmuel 16:2). For the righteous do not wish to trouble their Master about obvious harm. Elijah, too, when he saw danger, did not wish to bother his Master.
80. He said to him, I have heard here that scripture does not say of Elijah, 'He feared (Heb. vayira) and went for his life,' but rather, "When he saw (Heb. vayar) that" (I Melachim 19, 3), which means he saw something. What did he see? He saw that the Angel of Death has been following him these many years, yet he was not delivered into his hands. And now he "went for his life (lit. 'Nefesh')," which means that he went to the source of the sustenance of the Nefesh, which is the Tree of Life, to cleave to it, SO THE ANGEL OF DEATH WOULD NO LONGER FOLLOW HIM.
81. Come and behold, It is written everywhere else "to his Nefesh," yet here it is written, "For his Nefesh." I have heard a secret from Rabbi Shimon, who said that all the souls in the world come from the same river, YESOD OF ZEIR ANPIN. They are all received by the Bundle of Life, THE NUKVA, and the female conceives from the male when the two sides are both desirous - the female of the male, AND THE MALE OF THE FEMALE. When the male has GREAT passion, the souls are of greater endurance, because everything depends on the desire and passion of the Tree of Life, ZEIR ANPIN. Elijah, who came from that passion OF THE MALE more than other people, endured AND DID NOT DIE.