Berachot 3a: Rabbi Yossi ben Chalafta in a ruin in Yerushalayim

In Berachot 3a, we read of Rabbi Yossi's hearing of a Bat Kol and his encounter with Eliyahu Hanavi:

• תניא, אמר רבי יוסי: פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בדרך, ונכנסתי לחורבה אחת מחורבות ירושלים להתפלל. בא אליהו זכור לטוב ושמר לי על הפתח, (והמתין לי) עד שסיימתי תפילתי.

לאחר שסיימתי תפילתי, אמר לי: "שלום עליך, רבי", ואמרתי לו: "שלום עליך, רבי ומורי". ואמר לי: "בני, מפני מה נכנסת לחורבה זו?" אמרתי לו: "להתפלל". ואמר לי: "היה לך להתפלל בדרך". ואמרתי לו: "מתיירא הייתי שמא יפסיקו בי עוברי דרכים". ואמר לי: "היה לך להתפלל תפילה קצרה".

באותה שעה למדתי ממנו שלושה דברים: למדתי שאין נכנסין לחורבה; ולמדתי שמתפללין בדרך; ולמדתי שהמתפלל בדרך, מתפלל תפילה קצרה.

ואמר לי: "בני, מה קול שמעת בחורבה זו?" ואמרתי לו: "שמעתי בת קול שמנהמת כיונה ואומרת: 'אוי לבנים, שבעוונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין האומות'". ואמר לי: חייך וחיי ראשך! לא שעה זו בלבד אומרת כך, אלא בכל יום ויום, שלוש פעמים אומרת כך. ולא זו בלבד, אלא בשעה שישראל נכנסין לבתי כנסיות ולבתי מדרשות ועונין: "יהא שמיה הגדול מבורך", הקדוש ברוך הוא מנענע ראשו ואומר: "אשרי המלך שמקלסין אותו בביתו כך! מה לו לאב שהגלה את בניו, ואוי להם לבנים שגלו מעל שולחן אביהם:

Or, in English:

It has been taught: R. Jose says, I was once travelling on the road, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah of blessed memory appeared and waited for me at the door till I finished my prayer.12 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.13 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, 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!'14 the Holy One, blessed be He, shakes His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in this house! Woe15 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!

It is obvious, yet bears mentioning. Rabbi Yossi was entering one of the ruins of Yerushalayim. Besides being a quiet place to daven undisturbed, it also is a physical manifestation of the churban.

A Bat Kol is literally an echo. To cite a discussion on this by Philologos:

Bat-kol is indeed a unique Hebrew expression that has no real equivalent in any other language that I know of. Literally the “daughter of a voice,” it goes back to early rabbinic literature, in which it has two meanings. One is that of an echo. We find this, for example, in an ancient midrash on a verse in Deuteronomy that describes the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai: “These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly at the mount… with a great voice and He added no more.”

The midrash reads: “What is the meaning of ‘He added no more’? When a man speaks to his friend, his voice has a bat-kol. But the voice that went forth from the Holy One Blessed Be He had no bat-kol.”

If a human voice regularly has a bat kol, then it is an echo. Meanwhile, the usual use of bat kol is more mystical, some sort of manifestation of Hashem's will revealed to non-prophets.

Perhaps, from a rationalist perspective, we can treat this as Rabbi Yossi reflecting while in prayer and communion with Hashem. Hashem still has a relationship with His people, and loves His people, even as they connect to him from the churvos Yerushalayim. And He wishes that it did not have to have been so.

So too, the shul and bet midrash is the substitute for the Temple in Rabbi Yossi's days, and so there is a positive element. But on the other hand, it is a substitute, which is a negative element.

Bat Kol aside, we have here a revelation of Eliyahu Hanavi! How are we to understand it? I'm not so convinced that the pesukim describing Eliyahu's ascension to heaven in a fiery chariot (II Melachim 2) describes him becoming a quasi-angel who still deals with humanity rather than simply his death, in miraculous form. Certainly he does not interact with humanity in the lifetime of his student, Elisha; he has passed on the mantle to Elisha; and the other prophets look for him, but Elisha knows that they will not find him.

The only possible suggestion otherwise in Tanach is in the second to last pasuk of sefer Malachi:

כב  זִכְרוּ, תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה עַבְדִּי, אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי אוֹתוֹ בְחֹרֵב עַל-כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל, חֻקִּים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים.	22 Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.
כג  הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם, אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא--לִפְנֵי, בּוֹא יוֹם ה, הַגָּדוֹל, וְהַנּוֹרָא.	23 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.
כד  וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב-אָבוֹת עַל-בָּנִים, וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל-אֲבוֹתָם--פֶּן-אָבוֹא, וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת-הָאָרֶץ חֵרֶם.  {ש}	24 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with utter destruction. {P}

which could be taken metaphorically to a prophet like Eliyahu (perhaps Malachi, who was sent above?); or via techiyat hameitim.

This seems to be a dispute between Radak and Ibn Ezra, whether we still presently have Eliyahu haNavi running around performing errands.

Radak assumes that techiyat hameitim must be functioning here. He explains pasuk 23 as follows:

ג, כג]
הנה אנכי שולח לכם -אע"פ שאני מזהירכם על תורת משה בכל דור ודור, אעפ"כ לטובתכם אשלח לכם את אליהו הנביא והטעם שישיב נשמתו שעלתה לשמים אל גוף נברא כגופו הראשון, כי גופו הראשון שב אל הארץ בעלותו כל יסוד אל יסודו ואחר שיחיה אותו בגוף ישלחנו לישראל לפני יום המשפט והוא יום השם הגדול והנורא והוא יזהיר האבות והבנים יחדיו לשוב בכל לב אל השם והשבים ינצלו מיום המשפט

"Although I warn you concerning the Torah of Moshe in every generation, even so, for your benefit, I will send you Eliyahu HaNavi. And the meaning is that his soul, which ascended to heaven, will return to a created body just like his original body. For his original body returned to the ground when he ascended, each element to its base. And after He resurrects him in a body, He will send him to Israel before the day of judgement. And this is 'the great and awesome day of the Lord'. And he will warn father and son together to return full-heartedly to Hashem, and those who repent will be saved from the day of judgement."

Meanwhile, Ibn Ezra (!) believes that Eliyahu HaNavi is still running around. See here in a Mikraos Gedolos, with a slightly different text than linked, on the basis of which I fixed the slightly corrupted text:

ועתה אחתום פירוש זה הספר בדבר אליהו מצאנו שהיה בימי אחזיהו בנו של אחאב ומצאנו כתוב כי יהורם בן אחאב ויהושפט שאלו אלישע הנביא וכתוב שם פה אלישע בן שפט אשר יצק מים על ידי אליהו וזה לאות כי כבר עלה בסערה השמימה כי לא אמר הכתוב יוצק מים. 

ועוד: כי לא נפרד אלישע מעל אליהו אחר ששרתו עד עלותו והנה מצאנו אחרי מות יהושפט בימי אחזיהו בנו, כתוב: ויבא אליו מכתב מאליהו הנביא וזה יורה כי אז כתבו ושלחו אליו ואילו היה כתוב לפני עלותו היה כתוב וימצא או ויובא אליו מכתב שהניח אליהו, ואין ספק כי בימי חכמינו הקדושים נראה וה' ברחמיו יחיש את נבואתו וימהר קץ ביאתו.

"And now, I will end my commentary to this sefer [Malachi] with the matter of Eliyahu. We find that he was in the days of Achazyahu the son of Achav; and we found written that Yehoram the son of Achav and Yehoshafat asked Elisha the prophet, and it is written {II Melachim 3}:

יא  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוֹשָׁפָט, הַאֵין פֹּה נָבִיא לַיהוָה, וְנִדְרְשָׁה אֶת-ה, מֵאוֹתוֹ; וַיַּעַן אֶחָד מֵעַבְדֵי מֶלֶךְ-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיֹּאמֶר, פֹּה אֱלִישָׁע בֶּן-שָׁפָט, אֲשֶׁר-יָצַק מַיִם עַל-יְדֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ.

11 But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?' And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said: 'Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.'

and this serves as a sign that he [Eliyahu] already ascended in a whirlwind to Heaven, for the verse does not say 'pours water' [in present tense, but 'poured water' in past tense].


And furthermore, Elisha did not separate from Eliyahu from when he began serving him until he [Eliyahu] ascended. And behold, we find after the death of Yehoshafat in the days of Achazyahu his son, written (II Divrei Hayamim 21:12):

יב  וַיָּבֹא אֵלָיו מִכְתָּב, מֵאֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר:  כֹּה אָמַר ה, אֱלֹהֵי דָּוִיד אָבִיךָ--תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר לֹא-הָלַכְתָּ בְּדַרְכֵי יְהוֹשָׁפָט אָבִיךָ, וּבְדַרְכֵי אָסָא מֶלֶךְ-יְהוּדָה.

12 And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying: 'Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah;

And this teaches that at that time, he wrote it and sent it to him. And were it written before his ascension, is should have been written 'and it was found', or 'and a letter came to him which Eliyahu had left'. And there is no doubt that in the days of Chachmeinu hakedoshim he appeared. And Hashem should speed his prophecy and hurry the ketz of his coming."

How does Radak handle that pasuk in Divrei Hayamim? He writes as follows:

ויבא אליו מכתב מאליהו הנביא -זה היה אחר שעלה וענין זה כי נגלה אליהו ברוח הנבואה לאחד מן הנביאים ושם בפיו דברי המכתב הזה ואמר לו שיכתבם במכתב ויביא המכתב ליהורם ויאמר לו שזה המכתב שולח אליו אליהו כדי שיחשוב יהורם שזה המכתב בא לו מן השמים ויכניע לבבו וידע כי רעה גדולה עשה.

והיאך אנו יודעים כי זה היה אחר שעלה? 
כי בימי יהושפט כבר עלה, כי כתיב כאשר התחבר יהושפט עם יהורם בן אחאב ללכת למלחמה על מואב, ויאמר יהושפט האין פה נביא ויאמרו פה אלישע בן שפט אשר יצק מים על ידי אליהו ואלישע לא נפרד מאליהו עד עלותו. 

ועוד שאמר אשר יצק ואלו לא עלה עדיין היה אומר אשר יוצק מים.

ובסדר עולם אמר: 

כי כבר היה לאליהו שבע שנים שנגנז כשבא ליהורם המכתב ממנו.

"This was after his [Eliyahu's] ascension, and the import of this is that Eliyahu appeared via the spirit of prophecy to one of the prophets, and placed in his mouth the words of this letter, and told him to write it in a letter. And that letter came to Yehoram, and he said to him that this letter Eliyahu sent to him, so that Yehoram should believe that this letter came to him from heaven, and his heart should be humble, and that he had done a great evil.

And how do we know that this was after he ascended? ... [J: What follows are the proofs that Ibn Ezra brings.] ... And in Seder Olam it states that Eliyahu was already hidden away seven years when the letter from him came to Yehoram."

Based on something in Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, some scholars think this might simply have been a typographical error of Eliyahu for Elisha, which would eliminate all problems. See here, book 9, chapter 5, paragraph 2, and in the footnote.

If, according to Radak, Eliyahu is not running around, then we need to account for his appearance in our gemara here and in other places, to Chazal. This could simply be something mystical; a sort of quasi-prophetic revelation, either real or imagined. We know that many acharonim had prophetic revelations, real or otherwise; see the maggidim of Rav Yosef Karo, the Ramchal, and Natan HaAzati. From a rationalist perspective, no, I don't think that any of these were liars who were simply making it up.