Halakhah for Sanhedrin 195:20
אמרו לו ואף על פי כן אמר להם אם כך יהפכו מי מערת פמייס לדם ונהפכו לדם
He replied, 'Have you a hundred-hued steed?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [This jest is explained by Krochmal, (Hechalutz, I, p. 83) as an overt invitation to the Jews to help Shapur in his struggle with the Romans.] ');"><sup>38</sup></span> R. Joshua b. Levi met Elijah standing by the entrance of R. Simeon b. Yohai's tomb. He asked him: 'Have I a portion in the world to come?' He replied, 'if this Master desires it.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He referred to the Shechinah, which was with them (Rashi). Maharsha renders: when thou art worthy thereof. ');"><sup>39</sup></span>
Chofetz Chaim
And, in truth, not against Him (G–d forbid) is our plaint, but against ourselves; for it [the redemption] is not beyond His powers, viz. (Isaiah 59:1-2): "Behold, the L–rd's hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too heavy to hear. But your sins have made a separation between you and your G–d, and your transgressions have hid [His] face from you, from hearing." And we find (viz. Sanhedrin 98a) that in the days of R. Yehoshua ben Levi he was told (viz. Tehillim 95:6) that the Messiah would come "today, if you hearkened to His voice" — even though the time of the exile decreed for Israel (one thousand years, corresponding to the one thousand year "day" of the Holy One Blessed be He, had not yet passed [viz. Chida, Petach Eiynayim, Sanhedrin, Ibid.]) In spite of this, the power of repentance would have annulled the decree. How much more so, more than eight hundred years after the end of that [one-thousand-year] "day", [should the Messiah come if we repented]! The fault is ours alone — that with our many sins we do not allow Him to repose His Shechinah in our midst.
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