[Elijah’s] eternal zeal now
impels him to care deeply for all of Israel—not only those who faithfully keep
the Sabbath, but even those suffering in hell. The Talmud teaches that the
tranquility of Shabbat extends throughout the world, including hell; so one day
a week all those condemned to be there are allowed to rest. As soon as the
Sabbath departs, however, they return to their torments. Yet according to a
medieval source, if someone has suffered enough in hell and been purged of
sinfulness, Elijah comes on Saturday night to transport that person straight to
paradise. And if someone led a basically virtuous life on earth but is still
being purged on account of some minor sins, Elijah offers to accept that person’s
punishment upon himself, thereby liberating the person immediately from hell. (Daniel
C. Matt, Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation [New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2022], 142)
The tradition about Elijah helping
those in hell appears in Bonn, Shikheḥat Leqet, eliyyahu ve-elisha, §7. On Elijah’s power of atonement, see Seder Eliyyahu
Rabbah, 26, p. 141, . . . On the tranquility of Shabbat even in hell, see Bereshit
Rabbah 11:5; BT Sanhedrin 65b. (Ibid., 192 n. 43)
