Elijah seat

plural Elijah seats

1. JudaismIn Jewish ceremonies, an unoccupied seat reserved for the prophet Elijah.

   The Elijah seat on which the sandák sits and the performance of the brit at the synagogue as a religious ritual are elements that help affirm the link to Judaism.

   2004, Matilda Koén-Sarano, King Solomon and the Golden Fish: Tales from the Sephardic Tradition, Wayne State University Press, page 193

   2 more examples

   But Cohn can and does extend "recognition," suspecting from the beginning a significant core of feeling in the immense isolato, seeing hints of a "true gentleman" and even going so far as to offer him the Elijah seat at the Seder.

   1987, Joel Salzberg, Critical Essays on Bernard Malamud, G. K. Hall, →ISBN, page 219

   Because of my schedule of chores, the seder was half-over when I arrived and there was a choice of two seats: one right beside the rabbi, or else Elijah's seat, a chair that sits empty in case the prophet Elijah turns up with the Messiah in tow, on his donkey. I sat beside Michael as I am not Elijah, and I have absolutely no messianic pretensions or connections, and thus the Elijah seat implied responsibilities that I did not care to take on.

   2003 September 7, Bonnie Glassford, Living the Sacred Story: A Journey Into the Landscape of the Bible, iUniverse, →ISBN, →OL, page 196

   Synonyms: Elijah chair, Elijah's seat