For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 114
To download, click/tap here: PDF
Our Daf tells of Rabba bar Avuh meeting Elijah the Prophet in a non-Jewish cemetery. Seizing the opportunity he asked him a number of questions:
“Must a borrower be left with enough for him to continue living normally?”
Eliyahu replied that he must, citing a parallel between the laws of mashkon and the laws of arakhin (when someone declares that he will give his worth to the Temple).
Steinsaltz :
"The idea of Elijah the Prophet appearing to the righteous is one that we find often in the Talmud, and, in fact, in post-Talmudic literature, as well. It is clear from the story in our Gemara that Eliyahu does not come to offer prophetic solutions to problems in Jewish law – since halakha cannot be decided based on prophecy – rather he makes use of the ordinary tools of the halakhic decisor. "
We explore this enigmatic passage with the help of Rav Dr Feintuch as well as other scholars.