1) Rabbi Eliyahu makes the connection between the Carmel fire and events brought in the Tanakh.
2) Although not mentioning the fire per se, Rabbi Sitorsky makes the connection in his weekly parsha shiur between Hanukah and Eliyahu Hanavi at Har Carmel using the Targum Yonatan. He also brings the pasuk from Midrash Shir Hashirim that Rabbi Brody wrote about.
3) Rav Yehuda, who oversees our blog, called to comment on the previous post and brings yet another event from Tanakh. Citing Melachim 2, chapter 2, he brings the story of Elisha who inherited Eliyahu's prophetic office. He says that the 42 youths who died after mocking the prophet parallel the 42 who perished in the fire (and additionally the 42-letter Name of God). And that the two bears who killed them parallel the two who set the fire. The story tells us that Elisha went immediately to the Carmel.
4) The latest message on the fire from the autistics includes a reference to the Carmel being destroyed by fire in Yirmiyahu, chapter 2, verse 26. According to someone who submitted a question regarding this, Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote that this prophecy would be fulfilled in the last generation.
Thank you to everyone who commented. I was however a bit surprised at the emphasis some put on the aspect of idolatry; however, that was not what was uppermost in my mind when I wrote my post and I don't think I even used the word. In the sense that anything which we put ahead of Hashem in our lives could be described as a form of idolatry, I guess that works, but what I wanted to communicate foremost is what the autistics also say in their message about the fire.
"There are many matters about which it is possible to say because of this the fire occurred, but the biggest message and the clearest is that it is 'Mi l'Hashem alai!' This is the main message."
Hashem must come first in our minds, in our hearts and in our lives and we must be holy and pure in our worship of Him and remain entirely true and faithful to His Torah. This is the choice we are all urged by Heaven to make at this time---to choose Hashem above anything else!
Shabbat shalom.
Good stuff here.
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