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One day, Rabbi Eliezer prayed to the Almighty for a vision of Elijah. Elijah the Prophet appeared before Rabbi Eliezer and said to him, "What can I do for you?" Rabbi Eliezer said, "I'd like to follow you around. I'd like to watch you do your work in the world for the Holy One, Blessed be He. I just want to follow you around and watch you do your work."
Elijah the Prophet said to Rabbi Eliezer, "Sorry, you can't follow me around. You'll have too many questions, and I don't have time for your questions." Rabbi Eliezer responded, "I promise I won't ask you any questions. Will you allow me the honor of watching you do your work?" Elijah the Prophet agreed to that condition, and off they went.
That night, the two were looking for lodging and saw a dilapidated shack. They approached the shack and discovered a young, poor couple, impoverished and owning little else besides one cow, living there. Elijah the Prophet and Rabbi Eliezer approached the couple and asked them for lodging, and the young couple greeted them warmly, welcomed them in, and gathered some straw to make the two strangers as comfortable as possible. They offered their guests whatever they had, and Rabbi Eliezer and Elijah the Prophet spent the night.
When he awoke the next morning, Rabbi Eliezer overheard Elijah the Prophet praying to the Almighty, asking that the Almighty kill the cow. No sooner had Elijah the Prophet expressed this prayer than the cow suddenly died.
Rabbi Eliezer was outraged and said to Elijah, "What did you do? Why did you ask the Almighty to take the life of the cow? They were such lovely people. They have next to nothing. Why did you take their cow?" Elijah the Prophet looked at Rabbi Eliezer and said, "See, you have so many questions. Eliezer, though confused, quickly responded, "Please forgive me. I want to follow you. I won't ask you any more questions." Elijah gave him another chance, and off they went.
The next evening they were looking for lodging and arrived at a big mansion. They knocked on the door, and the owner of the mansion came out. Greeted them coldly, and agreed that they could stay down in his cellar. He offered them no human warmth, no physical warmth, and no food, and down to the cellar they went. During the night, Rabbi Eliezer awoke upon hearing a commotion. He watched as Elijah the Prophet patched up an area of the cellar wall that was unfinished and crumbling.
The next day, they continued traveling and arrived at a synagogue of wealthy congregants. The pews were made of gold and silver, and the people in the synagogue were cold and unfriendly. When Elijah the Prophet and Rabbi Eliezer entered the synagogue, nobody greeted them, and nobody performed the mitzvah (good deed/commandment) of welcoming guests. In fact, they noticed people whispering about them behind their backs. Before they left the synagogue, Elijah the prophet looked at the congregation and said, "I pray that you should all become leaders."
They entered a neighborhood that was impoverished. The people were living in squalor, but they were very lovely, sweet, warm, gentle people. Elijah the Prophet looked at this neighborhood, looked at these people, and said, "I want to bless you that one of you should be a leader."
It was at this point that Rabbi Eliezer couldn't hold his questions in any longer. He said to Elijah the Prophet, "I know you are going to send me away. I know that you required me not to ask questions, but I beg you, please can you give me some understanding of what you've been doing? I don't understand anything that you're doing. I beg you. Can you offer me some kind of explanation?"
Elijah the Prophet looked at Rabbi Eliezer and said, I'll offer you some explanation, but then you'll have to leave. Remember the first night when we encountered that lovely yet poor couple living in their shack with their cow? And remember how outraged you were the next morning when you heard me praying to the Holy One, Blessed is He, that he should kill the cow? What you didn't know was that it was time for the wife to die. But I pleaded with the Lord; I beg you don't take the wife, take the cow."
Elijah said, "You recall the next night when we were put in that rich man's cold cellar? And you woke up puzzled when you saw that I was repairing his walls and fixing them up beautifully? I wasn't doing that. I knew that there was a treasure buried within the walls. The man who owned that mansion didn't deserve the mansion, let alone the treasure buried in the walls, so I patched and finished up the walls nicely so that no one would ever discover that treasure."
Elijah the Prophet went on. "Remember the next day, when we went to that synagogue that was so wealthy, with the gold and silver pews, but all the people were so unfriendly? I noticed how confused you were when you thought that I'd offered them some big blessing by saying that they should all become great leaders. That wasn't a blessing; it was a curse. Anyone who has ever been in an organization knows the chaos that results from everyone thinking that he or she is a leader. I prayed that they all should become leaders. And then we went to that poor neighborhood, and the people were so sweet and so lovely, and you wondered, in comparison to the earlier so-called 'blessing' why I would just say, 'I bless you that one of you should be a leader.' You see, that indeed was a blessing. All that neighborhood really needed was one good, strong leader who could take the people out of the poverty and squalor that they lived in."
Elijah the Prophet then said to Rabbi Eliezer, "Yes, you have to leave now, but please don't forget that what you see in the world is not the whole picture. It's only part of the grand picture in the mind of the Almighty."
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