Pensiero Ebraico su II Re 2:9

To the extent that man is able to amass both physical and material assets, he is able to share his wealth. A rich man can enrich others in accordance with the amount of personal wealth in excess of his needs. A man of renowned moral stature can transmit to others some of the qualities he has acquired. Whereas physical powers have a tendency to decline with advancing age, spiritual powers are enhanced by the onset of old age. As a result of this phenomenon, blessings and prayers for others are usually reserved till near life's end, since at that point the person bestowing them is at his spiritually most potent. Jacob imparted both blessings and insights to his children when on his deathbed. The prophet Elijah bequeathed his insights to his disciple Elisha when he was about to depart this earth. (Kings II chapter 2) In fact, he warned Elisha that unless the latter was able to watch him ascend, there was no guarantee that he, Elijah had bequeathed enough insights to ensure that Elisha's mission as his successor would be successful. Moses too, had not divested himself of sufficient earthly shells to communicate the maximum amount of blessings he was capable of to his people, until he had actively prepared for death. When Elijah had told Elisha that the latter's powers of observation held the key to the amount of prophetic spirit he would acquire, he was in effect telling him that in order for blessings to be fully effective, both the donor and the recipient have to be in a state of preparedness. This is somewhat like the waters of a fountain going to waste, unless they are absorbed by containers especially prepared to receive them.

And this is how I see the episode of Elisha with Elijah, viz. (II Kings 2:9-10): "And it was, when they passed over, that Elijah said to Elisha: 'Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken away from you.' And Elisha said: 'I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.' And he answered: 'You have asked a hard thing. Still, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.'" The plain meaning is that Elijah tells Elisha that he has asked a difficult thing. For since you are affected through me and receive the effluence through my agency, it is impossible for you to attain a level higher than mine, the effect not being able to rise above its cause. But if you see me when I am taken from you, being present when the effluence reaches me with greater intensity than it does today, as will be the case when I am taken from you (for there is no question that at that time Elijah rose immeasurably above what he was until then) — if you see me at that time, and the effluence reaches you through me, it shall be so for you, i.e., you shall have a double portion of what I have today through the agency of the level that I attain to at that time. But if not, it shall not be so, for you cannot, through my agency, reach a level higher than my own unless you are with me when I attain the great effluence, at which time through my mediation and through your participation with me in the accession of that effluence, more of it will reach you than you are now ready for. And this is the idea behind calling Moses together with Aaron and Miriam, as it is behind the progressive diminution of prophecy and wisdom generation after generation, as I have explained.