Elijah and Passover

[J_s_Friend]

I’m sitting at our Passover seder with my family and the question came up, why do we leave the door open and a glass of wine sitting for Elijah? The best that any of us could come up with is that it has to do with the Jewish coming of the messiah. More than that though we are stumped. So my question goes out to you guys what is Elijah’s relevance to Jewish culture and what is his significance during Passover?

[samclem]

After a number of Google searches, this site seemed to have a handle on the tradition.

For what it’s worth, I watched the Rugrats Passover show tonight. My kids left it on, and I watched it. There’s serious messages in them there kiddie shows! It taught me much.

[Lsura]

The google search that I used gave me this site.

. Our tradition teaches that as history approaches the climactic era of universal peace and brotherhood, it will be Elijah the Prophet who announces the heralding of the messianic era. Additionally, when the Talmud is unable to definitively resolve certain questions of law or practice, it often states that the question have to wait for Elijah. With the advent of the final era, one of Elijah’s roles will be to resolve all those lingering scholarly quandaries.