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Elijah Rock India The Elijah Rock is large rock, which is holy to Bene Israel Jews and local Hindus. It is located near the town of Alibag on the Konkan coast, south east of Mumbai. The Bene Israel Jews of India believe that Elijah visited the Bene Israel community and took off to heaven from this rock, his chariot leaving a groove in the rock and his horses leaving hoofmarks in the rock as well. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites of the Bene Israel.[1]
Members of the Bene Israel have a custom of cracking a coconut and pouring the milk on the rock. Afterwards, they perform a Malida ceremony. There is a nearby house owned by a Hindu family, with posters of Ganesh and other Hindu deities. Adjacent to these posters is an area dedicated for the Bene Israel, with a large poster on the Elijah Rock, as well as a lamp that can be lit. It is at this spot that the Malida ceremonies are performed.[2]
Elijah also Elias (in Hebrew, אֱלִיָּהוּ Eliyahu), was a famous prophet and a wonder-worker in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Biblical Books of Kings. According to the Books of Kings, Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Phoenician god Baal; he raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky, and was taken up in a whirlwind (either accompanied by a chariot and horses of flame or riding in it). In the Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord," making him a harbinger of the Messiah and the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible. Derivative references to Elijah appear in the Talmud, Mishnah, the New Testament, and the Qur'an. In Judaism, Elijah's name is invoked at the weekly Havdalah ritual that marks the end of Shabbat, and Elijah is invoked in other Jewish customs, among them the Passover seder and the Brit milah (ritual circumcision). He appears in numerous stories and references in the Haggadah and rabbinic literature, including the Babylonian Talmud.
In Christianity, the New Testament describes how both Jesus and John the Baptist are compared with Elijah, and on some occasions, thought by some to be manifestations of Elijah, and Elijah appears with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Elijah plays a significant role in the lives of the Bene Israel and his name is repeated frequently during the Malida cermony, which is conducted at the rock on important ocassions.
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